Celtic keeper Rachael Johnstone knows the Hoops will need to be aware of the danger Hearts will bring to the Penny Cars Stadium on Wednesday after the sides played out a tense Scottish Cup semi-final encounter just over a week ago.

The Celts came out on top 2-0 to advance to the final and keep alive the ambitions of achieving a domestic cup double and Johnstone expects Hearts to arrive for the SWPL clash with a point to prove.

With just a week left in the league season, the Hoops kicked things off with a win over Spartans at the weekend and the 18-year-old hopes they can keep the ball rolling as the season comes to a close.

She said: “It was really important. It was a tough game but it was important to build momentum and to get three points against Spartans was big.

'Hearts are a really good team. They’re really strong defensively and they showed that in the semi-finals but it's important we keep switched on, especially for me.'

"Although I didn’t have much to do all it takes is one counter-attack and one shot, but I definitely think Hearts are going to come out with something about them wanting to prove a point that they could actually take something from the game.

"We just need to stay disciplined and do what we did in the semi-finals."

With the Scottish Cup final on the horizon, the teenager explained the importance of playing strong oppositions in the build-up to the showdown against Glasgow City, with Hearts on Wednesday and then Rangers on Sunday.

“It’s good having difficult games," she added. "It means we have to work a little bit harder to get the results so if we do manage to get three points it's more of a rewarding win and makes it better.

'It’s important the fact we are playing three really good teams in the lead up to the final.'

“I enjoy midweek games. It obviously changes up the schedule a little bit, but you want to play as many matches as possible so if you have three in one week it’s great.”

Fran Alonso echoed his keepers’ sentiment that the tricky schedule ahead of the final will serve them well and touched on Hearts’ ability to frustrate the Hoops.

“We don’t have any easy games in this league, which is a good thing," said the manager. "On Wednesday we play Hearts and we saw in the cup semi-final how difficult it is to play against them, how well-organised they are and how difficult it is to score against them, so we know it’ll be another tough game but that’s what we want.

“We want tough tests ahead of our toughest test of the season which is the cup final and we definitely want to put in an outstanding performance and try to lift the trophy."

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Rachael Johnstone: We are wary of Hearts' threats after Scottish Cup semi-final battle