So, as our players will probably be a bit weary, there are likely to be a few changes to the side for tomorrow's game. The good news is that Mo Camara will be fresh as he was unavailable last night and he is likely to slot in at left back, with David Barron making way. The defence will probably stay the same - although Will Haining could return - and the main changes will probably be in midfield or up front.
Garry Brady and Dennis Wyness were both quite poor last night and it will be a surprise if the pair find themselves in the starting line-up tomorrow. Stephen McGinn or Gary Mason could come into midfield, while Craig Dargo will surely start after last night's fine display. The only thing that could prevent this is a lack of fitness, but if he's capable of lasting for an hour or so we have to start him. We looked a far more dangerous team when he came on and he could cause the Hearts defence a few problems. Billy Mehmet also fared well, scoring once and missing a good chance, and the pair could form a good partnership. On the injury front, Steven Robb, Tom Brighton, Franco Miranda and Stephen O'Donnell are all out.
Sadly, things have been relatively sane at Tynecastle this year. We've been able to take advantage of the unrest in Gorgie in recent years to pick up some handy points, but there isn't any sign of that at the moment. Owner Vladimir Romanov has been reasonably quiet and hasn't interfered (as far as the rest of us are aware). Even more surprisingly, we've got to February and Hearts still have the same manager who started the season in the form of Csaba Laszlo. The Hungarian comes across as a bit of an oddball in interviews, but he's taken the Jambos to third in the league so he must be doing something right (although that doesn't usually stop Mad Vlad from acting).
Hearts will have to make do without two key defenders tomorrow, with Christophe Berra recently sold to Wolves and Marius Zaliukas suspended after yet another red card. However, they have a reasonably big squad and have already coped with Berra's absence for a few weeks, while they've been used to doing without Zaliukas on a number of occasions. They have a number of players who can cause us problems - Michael Stewart is good in midfield when he's not getting himself sent off and the likes of Andrew Driver and Laryea Kingston are capable of providing the ammunition for the strikers. Youngster Gary Glen is an exciting prospect up front and scored in an Edinburgh derby earlier in the season, while he also scored against us last year.
This should be an interesting tie. Last night will have given us a confidence boost and our recent results have been solid, if unspectacular. Let's just hope fatigue doesn't cause us problems.
Note: Due to time constraints, there will be no "Know the Ref" feature for tomorrow's game. The match official is David Somers and you can read the most recent feature on him at http://www.stmirren-mad.co.uk/news/loadroll.asp?cid=ED16&id=416854