If Heart of Midlothian are to win their first Scottish Cup in 12 years they will have to achieve a feat for the first time in their history: Beat Rangers at Hampden Park.

Monday's draw after Hearts overcame Greenock Morton at Cappielow in the quarter-final saw a rerun of the League Cup semi-final. Defeat in November made it 15 matches and counting without a win over Rangers in Mount Florida.

“We just need to believe we can put on the performance we are capable of against them," Stephen Kingsley said. "I feel we’ve been guilty of not giving a great account of ourselves the last couple of times.

READ MORE: Hearts and the surprising Scottish and League Cup double semi-final record

“The manager talks about small margins and we’ve been on the wrong end of them. We’ve not quite been at the levels we should be. Against teams like them, you are going to get punished. So it’s really about taking the belief we have built up over the latter part of this season and putting on a performance we can be proud of.

“We need to give ourselves the chance to get a foothold in the game and go on to get a positive result. It’s a great occasion for the club and fans. We have to make them proud."

To overcome Rangers they will have to improve on their previous two performances against their semi-final opposition outside of Edinburgh.

“It’s our second one this season and these are the games you want," Kingsley said. "We are delighted to be there and it’s a great challenge for everyone. We absolutely want to do better against Rangers than we have, 100 percent. It reflects on us as players.

“We didn’t give the best account of ourselves the last time we played Rangers at Hampden, so we have that inspiration of getting to the final which is the goal for us."

The good news for the Hearts squad and head coach Steven Naismith is that they have lived experience. This is a squad with individuals who have been there, got close to cup success but have not been able to get across the line. There may be a theory that if it happens too much it becomes a weight, a burden but the pain and frustration should act as inspiration.

Kingsley subscribes to the latter view.

READ MORE: Hearts to push for 50-50 Scottish Cup ticket allocation split with Rangers

"I’ve been at Hampden God knows how many times, so I’m hoping we can give our best this time," he said. “The last time was definitely disappointing. I don’t think we were at it. We’ve had a couple of tough results against Rangers. It’s going to be a big occasion for us so we’ll make sure we are ready for it.

“It’s my fourth year with Hearts and the previous experiences at Hampden can help. It also just makes you hungrier to go that one step further."

The other semi-final will be of much intrigue. If Celtic can secure a place in the final then Hearts will know they have secured group-stage European football provided they continue to keep a stranglehold on third. 

Of course, producing a cup win and third place would cement the season as one of the club's since 2005/06. 

“We are in a great position in the league," Kingsley noted. "I’m not an idiot - we are 13 points clear of fourth place and people will be thinking we are out on our own. But as players, we can never think like that. If you start thinking like that, you are setting yourself up for a big fall.

“We’ve got Ross County away on Saturday which is going to be a tough fixture. We always get tough games up there. We need to win that and move on to the next one.

“And what a carrot we’ve now got to look forward to in a few weeks at Hampden.”

READ MORE: Dougie Imrie: It should be Morton and not Hearts in the Scottish Cup semi-final

Meanwhile, reflecting on the 1-0 win over Greenock Morton, the victory could have been more comfortable if the chances Kingsley created had been converted. He twice put in tantalising crosses, one of which was headed over from close range by Beni Baningime and then slipped in Aidan Denholm with a cute pass.

If those had been converted the defender could have been consulting his contract to see about an assist bonus.

He said: “I don’t know - but I could have got about six against Morton if Aidan and Beni had their shooting boots on!

“It was good we were creating those chances. As I said, it does get nervy the longer it goes at 0-0 but on a tough pitch, as long as you keep doing the things you are good at you hope you are going to take one of those chances.

“I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t get a couple of assists but we got the win and that’s the main thing."