By his own admission, Michael Smith’s memory tends to let him down.
But the Hearts star can’t forget how it feels to conquer Celtic.
The Northern Irish internationalist was part of the Jam Tarts side that dumped the Hoops 4-0 at Tynecastle last season.
It stands as the top victory in his career.
Now he intends to use it as fuel, both today at Celtic Park and next weekend at Hampden, to lift him towards a new, silver-kissed high point.
“I don’t have the best memory in the world,” said the former Bristol Rovers and Peterborough United man.
“The victories that have been most pleasing for me have been in Scotland.
“The 4-0 against Celtic is the stand-out one from my career. We look to draw inspiration from things like that.
“I think it is better to draw from your own experiences, then hopefully go out there and do what we need to do.
“We’ve given Celtic a couple of games over the last few seasons and it gives you a little bit of hope.
“It is a one-off game and anything can happen.
“We are under no illusions. It is going to be tough. They are the best team in the country and we have got to go there and try to cause an upset.
“There is less pressure on us, but there is still pressure. We will work hard to prepare for the game and will look to go and influence the game.”
Craig Levein doesn’t plan on fielding a team today that will allow Celtic counterpart Neil Lennon to do any Cup Final homework.
As such, Smith, a virtual ever-present when fit, may not take part.
However, if selected, he will give everything to win a place in Saturday’s side, where he hopes to help Hearts to glory for his gaffer, who is fit again after an early-season heart scare.
“That would be massive. He’s had a tough year, not just with football but with illness as well,” said Smith.
“So to cap off the year with a winners’ medal would not just be great for him, it would be great for all the coaching staff and the admin people at the ground.
“It would be great to give them all something to cheer about.
“The manager’s illness was a shock at the time.
“I don’t think anyone knew how serious it was.
“We weren’t fed the most information and that was for the best because it would probably have affected us a bit more.
“We’re glad he was OK in the end. He is definitely back to normal, laughing and joking.
“He’s one of the good guys and it would be great to get him a medal.”
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