Hartley left wanting even more medals

Published on Monday 28 May 2007 12:00

FORMER Hearts midfielder Paul Hartley says Saturday's Scottish Cup win has made him even more determined to add to his collection of winners' medals.

The 30-year-old had to wait until last year to claim the first trophy of his career when Hearts won the same competition after a penalty shoot-out against Gretna.

But this season he has taken his medals haul to three, thanks to the league and cup double achieved by Celtic, and Hartley insists he's not about to stop there: "This means everything to me. To win the double in my first season at Celtic is just fantastic.

"But I want to push on now and try to win more silverware. Before the Scottish Cup win with Hearts last season I hadn't won a medal in my career. Now I have three and I want even more." Hartley was sent off at the end of extra-time in last season's Scottish Cup final, leaving his team-mates to clinch the trophy on penalties, and he was determined there would be no repeat this time round: "I admit it was in the back of my head that it could go all the way to penalties just like it did last year. I was also thinking to myself that I didn't want to get sent off again.

"I looked at the clock as the time ticked down and if the tie had ended up going to extra time who knows what could have happened? And a penalty shoot-out is always an absolute lottery.

"But we managed to sneak that goal with five minutes to go, which is a great time to score any goal. So, it was a great feeling."

Hartley is now looking forward to a well-earned break from football for a few weeks - but not before heading out to Austria and the Faroe Islands on international duty this week.

The Scotland squad flies to Austria tomorrow and the player insisted he's looking forward to the double header despite coming to the end of a long and gruelling campaign: "You know that when the season starts, so it's not a problem.

"The cup final was the last game for Celtic this season, but now we have to hard games with Scotland: Austria away then the Faroe Islands. They they are games I am looking forward to."