Hearts striker Liam Boyce's quest to score past a third England international when he faces Celtic's Joe Hart

On Sunday, Liam Boyce will come face to face with Joe Hart in the Premier Sports Cup clash between Celtic and Hearts at Parkhead.

Boyce in training ahead of Sunday's League Cup game. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

The 75-cap England international is the latest big name to make the move to Scotland as Ange Postecoglou looks to eradicate the goalkeeping issues which have plagued the club since Craig Gordon fell out of favour and eventually returned to Tynecastle Park.

For Boyce, he will be looking to add Hart to a list of England international goalkeepers he has scored past.

During his time in England with Burton Albion the Hearts ace got the better of both Tom Heaton and Sam Johnstone.

Liam Boyce will lead the line for Hearts at Celtic. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Neither, however, have the reputation of Hart, who showed his class for Celtic against Jablonec in the Europa League qualifiers on Thursday having been beaten twice on his debut in the first leg.

How to take advantage

"I’ve not come up against him before but I saw him in his first game against Jablonec in Europe,” Boyce said. "I watched that one and we know how good a player he is.

"You don’t play for England and win that many caps if you’re not a good player

“So, he’s going to be tough to beat but as a striker you just try to hit corners and try to make it hard for any keeper to stop.”

Boyce is in fine form, scoring four in six appearances already this season, including an excellent low drive which proved to be the winner in the last outing with St Mirren.

He is the last player a Celtic defence finding their feet will want to see.

“They are such a good team but every formation has its weaknesses and you have to play on that,” he said.

“They try to play out of the back and they are open, and that’s when you need to try and keep your shape.

“But the first pass is the most important thing when you win it back to try and set up your own counter attack and take advantage of the spaces they leave.

“You need to earn your chance to play against them, which we did in the first game.

“And when you do that and the game settles down a bit that’s when you can get on the ball and start passing.”

Brora nightmare and Ross County dream

This is Hearts’ first knockout cup match since that infamous loss to Brora Rangers but the team and club are in a new, more positive place.

Boyce wants to put that pain behind him and create positive memories, like when he won the competitions with Ross County after beating Hibs in 2016.

"We still think about the Brora game when we got put out," he said. “It hurts because we should have won that game. It was such a disappointment.

"Everyone’s in football to win trophies and we know this is a good chance. You don’t get that chance often and you have to take it when you do. So, we know how important it is.

"We won it at Ross County and it was a great day.

"It was probably the worst I’ve played but the rest of the squad played well and we won it.

“Winning any trophy and getting any medal to look back on when you stop playing football is massive.”

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