Ruthless Hearts crushed Auchinleck Talbot’s Scottish Cup dream with a jitter-free display at a packed Beechwood Park.
The eyes of Scottish football descended on one of its most magical venues but found little in the way of romance as the Jambos made light work of Tommy Sloan’s giant-killing specialists.
First-half goals from Andy Halliday and Liam Boyce put the Premiership side in control, despite a further two finishes from the latter being wrongly denied by the offside flag.
Boyce added another after the interval, Peter Haring lashed home following a slick move and finally Alex Cochrane tapped home to sign off a dominant 5-0 victory.
Burned by a cup horror show against Brora Rangers not even a year past, Neilson’s side were in no mood to risk a repeat of such ignominy, shutting down Talbot’s hopes of springing the biggest shock of them all.
Not even the 3,500-plus packed inside Beechwood, as buoyant as they were throughout, could summon the spirit that spurred the West of Scotland League side to previous victories over Hamilton Accies and Ayr United on this very venue.
Pre-match, an ankle injury kept John Souttar out of what could well have been his final Hearts appearance - though Neilson remained tight lipped on that situation - while it was a first for Nathaniel Atkinson.
Fresh from the A-League final on the other side of the world, he’ll have been well versed on the culture shock awaiting deep down in Ayrshire.
His Hearts team-mates looked ever so slightly jittery in the opening moments, presenting Talbot with two openings that required an early rearguard action.
That encouraged an already lively home crowd, led by a raucous young team camped behind Andy Leishman’s goal.
Barrie McKay found himself singled out for some early attention, but the first time he drifted unattended between Talbot’s back four and midfield, Hearts had the ball in the net.
By the time Halliday’s fizzing ball found his elusive team-mate in space, Atkinson was already on his bike for a splitting pass in behind.
He squared for Boyce to tap home but the offside flag spared the home side on this occasion.
A reprieve for Talbot, but it was clear Hearts weren’t going to be rattled.
And when McKay dinked a teasing ball from deep towards the penalty spot, Halliday was there to head beyond Leishman.
Moments later Halliday turned provider, cutting a reverse pass through for Boyce to finish, only for the flag to go up again.
The striker will have later felt aggrieved upon discovering both his efforts should’ve stood.
“Higher!” was the constant cry from both Sloan on the touchline and Talbot’s lone striker Bryan Boylan, separated from his besieged team-mates by what must’ve felt like miles.
The three behind him – Kieran Healy, Gareth Armstrong and Graham Wilson - were covering a punishing amount of ground, it’s just that 99 per cent of it was spent shuffling sideways as Hearts pushed and probed.
The quite glaring issue for Talbot is that burning legs and lungs aren’t best equipped to deal with the ball when you do eventually get it back.
And so it went on, wave after wave of Hearts attack until Boyce played the ball against the arm of Chris Stafford to claim a penalty and, finally for him, a goal.
The interval brought a chance for Talbot to regroup, but they were three down within minutes of the restart.
Halliday escaped down the side of the home defence and he hung a cross up for Boyce to nod home.
Surely home and dry, Hearts allowed their guard to drop momentarily and it so nearly yielded the goal Talbot’s fans, refusing to be deflated, so badly craved.
A low drive from left-back Aiden Wislon bounced in front of Craig Gordon and out to Wilson, but he could only turn his shot over on the swivel.
It was to be a brief wobble in what was otherwise a clinic in controlling a football match from the team in sky blue.
Fresh legs in the shape of Aaron McEneff and Gary Mackay-Steven helped end a mid-period lull and a fourth looked on the cards.
Given Talbot had run the equivalent distance from Beechwood to Tynecastle and back already, the gaps started to appear again and Hearts pounced.
A slick exchange through midfield saw Haring slipped through and he lashed a fierce effort beyond Leishman.
Cochrane adding a fifth from a back post cross was academic and the final whistle soon followed.
A heavy defeat for Talbot, but there were few heavy hearts in the home end, singing their heroes off the pitch with the same vigour they’d been welcomed 90 minutes earlier.
Here's three talking points from Beechwood Park:
A day to remember
It was clear from the moment you stepped onto the streets of Auchinleck that nothing, result or otherwise, would stop this being a special occasion.
Queues for pubs at opening time, locals sinking pints of Guinness in the shadow of Beechwood and buses motoring in from all corners of Scotland and beyond; the atmosphere in this tiny corner of Ayrshire was magical before you even stepped into the ground.
Talbot’s history of defying the odds in this competition fuelled a belief, although it was one not without humility in the face of the task Sloan’s underdogs faced.
The ingredients were here for the most famous of results, all except one – they needed Hearts to have an off day that never really looked like materialising.
Officials have a mare
It feels almost blasphemous to pour any negative on what was a wonderful afternoon of football, but it would be remiss to ignore a slew of quite baffling decisions in the first period.
Liam Boyce could well have returned to Edinburgh with four goals to his name, had two early strikes not been ruled out for offside.
The first, admittedly, was tight, but the second was so far on that it was obvious even from a distant perch in the stand.
That the officials then missed Craig McCracken punching clear in a fashion his goalie would have been pleased with was bizarre.
Granted, the incidents made no difference to the tie’s outcome, but on another day the fallout from this most special of ties could’ve fallen entirely on those officiating it.
And that would’ve been a real shame.
Jambos thoroughly professional
Hearts’ remit was to suck the romance right out of the occasion and they did so with a minimum of fuss.
A nervy opening minute aside, the gulf between these sides was clear from the outset and the tie was all but over by the interval.
Credit to Hearts, these ties are somewhat of a no win for the bigger club – win and nobody really bats an eyelid, lose and you’ll never be allowed to forget it for the remainder of your career.
Plenty of them already knew that from a trip to Brora Rangers last year.
It can’t be all that easy when the rest of the world, outwardly or otherwise, wants to see you lose – the TV cameras didn’t descend en-masse for a routine Hearts victory – so this was about as professional as it gets from Neilson’s team.
