While Stenny were impressing in the League Cup group stage, Scottish Premiership runners-up Hearts were not idle despite being handed a bye to the last 16.

New head coach Wouter Vrancken was given a tough introduction to life at Tynecastle, losing his first four games in charge, including hefty exits from Champions League and Europa League at the hands of Sturm Graz and Benfica respectively.

However, they have since gone eight games unbeaten, including a Conference League play-off win over Rapid Vienna and a 6-2 thrashing of Caley Thistle to reach tonight's quarter-final.

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Stenny had to take the long route out of the group stage to reach the quarter-finals.

They topped the section ahead of Livingston, who were relegated from the top flight, and Championship runners-up Partick Thistle.

They drew their head-to-heads with both but then bettered that by beating top-flight Motherwell 1-0 after extra-time in the last 16.

And, of course, Marvin Bartley's side are also the surprise early leaders of the Championship.

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Hearts head coach Wouter Vrancken tells BBC Scotland: "All the credits for them [Stenhousemuir], it's nice to see this, but now we have to be ready for a difficult game because they are full of confidence, but we have to also show the confidence we built up over the last weeks.

"They also won against Motherwell, who are a really good side, so that also shows that they are competitive.

"So we will not underestimate them.

"We prepared the game like we prepare every other game, also the European game.

"So we're well aware that we have to play a good game to qualify for the next round and to go to Hampden, but this is the goal.

"Some changes are also forced, others are like giving guys a chance and showing confidence in our squad.

"For example, Josh [McPake] didn't train for two, three days, so we don't want to take a risk with him."

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Stenhousemuir manager Marvin Bartley tells BBC Scotland: "There's going to be an element of nerves and it is important that we understand that and don't hide away from that.

"We need to use it as positive energy.

"We deserve to be here, we're here for a reason and we need to make sure we go out and perform.

"We come in, we train for an hour and 15 minutes on a Tuesday and a Thursday, and it's an hour and 15 minutes of hard work.

"We have to keep these players fit and I think you see from our games that this is a really fit group.

"That's down to hard work, and that has to continue.

"If we're both at our best, we know what the result is going to be, but if they're not at their best, we need to be in a position to take advantage of that.

"Where we were in terms of being part-time and in terms of budget, the boys are performing miracles week in, week out."

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Marvin Bartley sticks with the same starting XI that won 1-0 away to Livingston in the Championship exactly a week ago.

Midfielder Gus Stevenson and defender Matthew Gillies will be unable to come off the bench this time as the teenagers are on loan from Hearts and unable to face their parent club.

However, former Hearts youth striker Dale Carrick returns after missing out against Livingston and is among the substitutes.

Wouter Vrancken has been insisting he is not treating Stenny lightly, but Hearts' Belgian head coach nevertheless makes six changes, with much-praised forwards Claudio Braga and James Wilson, as well as lauded wingers Josh McPake and Calvin Miller, dropping to the bench along with defender Jordi Altena.

Into defence come Christian Borchgrevink and Harry Milne, Sabri Geundouz is in midfield, while Sabah Kerjota, Rogers Mato and JJ Williams are up front, the latter making his first start since his arrival from Rhode Island.

Utility man Oisin McEntee misses out after picking up an injury in the dramatic comeback win at home to Dundee.

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Stenhousemuir: D Jamieson, Meechan, Young, Robson, Shinnie, O'Donnell, Bilham, Anderson, Bright, Hodgkiss, Grant.

Substitutes: Hemfrey, Buchanan, O'Reilly, Aitken, MacIntyre, Carrick, Scally, Jamieson, Penman.

Heart of Midlothian: Reus, Borchgrevink, McCart, Williams, Findlay, Milne, Guendouz, Magnusson, Kerjota, Mato, Mendy.

Substitutes: Fulton, Kingsley, Miller, Braga, Kabore, McPake, Wilson, Altena, Dhanda.

Let's get to the all-important team news...

In years gone by, Stenhousemuir wouldn't be given much of a hope against Hearts.

Oh how times have changed.

The part-timers surprised many by running Inverness Caledonian Thistle close for the League 1 title last season before winning promotion to the Championship for the first time ever via the play-offs.

Losing manager Gary Naysmith to Ayr United this summer has not halted their momentum and they sit top of the second tier under new boss Marvin Bartley - and are the only team in Scotland not to have lost a game this season, albeit they did lose a bonus-point penalty-shoot in the group stage.

Ten games unbeaten is a club record.

Sportsound's build-up to the game is just starting on BBC Radio Scotland.

Ryan Stevenson, the former midfielder who was in the Hearts team who last reached the League Cup final, and man of many clubs Ian McCall are the guests joining host David Currie, with commentary from Ochilview courtesy of Thomas Duncan.

Press the button at the top of the page to listen.

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It's Premier Sports Cup quarter-final weekend and first up tonight is the battle of the maroons.

Like Hibernian's visit to Ross County tomorrow, Heart of Midlothian's trip along the M9 to visit Stenhousemuir is all about the romance of cup competitions and potential for the minnows to shine.

Stay with us for the build-up, live commentary and post-match reaction here online and on BBC Radio Scotland.

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