Scottish football: Rob Maclean on Craig Levein, Gary Mackay-Steven & Brora Rangers

Craig Levein
Craig Levein oversaw Hearts' first win over Hibernian since 2014

BBC commentator Rob Maclean provides his take on a weekend of Scottish Cup action.

Levein loving life at Hearts

It wasn't part of his plans but Craig Levein is clearly relishing his return to the managerial front line.

Combining the roles of football director and head coach, he's gradually putting the pieces in the puzzle to get Hearts back to where he wants them to be.

The return to Tynecastle of commanding defender Christophe Berra has been a crucial bit of business. It's Levein's former Scotland connection with Steven Naismith which has produced the Scottish surprise of this transfer window.

The unsung hero for me is Jon McLaughlin. He's a goalkeeper in the mould of Aberdeen's Joe Lewis. Low key but very reliable.

All three made sizeable contributions in Sunday's Scottish Cup Edinburgh derby win over Hibernian. There's still a lot of rebuilding to be done at Hearts but Levein is making significant progress.

Consistency the key for GMS

We all love a football entertainer. Gary Mackay-Steven certainly qualifies in that category.

But we only really get occasional glimpses of his considerable talent. More of a flicker than a flame.

You get the feeling Thurso-born Mackay-Steven just needs to believe in himself a little bit more. And he should do, based on recent on-field exploits.

I got a close-up view of his stunning strike in Aberdeen's 4-1 Scottish Cup defeat of St Mirren on Saturday. Last month he scored a hat-trick in the 4-1 league win against Hibs.

GMS is an exciting player. He just needs to show it a bit more often.

Buddies & Brechin fans do their team proud

Mackay-Steven picked up the man-of-the-match award at Pittodrie. I would have been tempted to make it fan of the match and share it out among the 595 St Mirren supporters who did their club proud in the nippy north-east.

Our television presentation platform couldn't have been much closer to them and they never stopped singing, even when their team's cup hopes evaporated just a couple of minutes into the second half.

That's what true support is all about. The Buddies fans made an incredible noise.

Brechin fans merit a mention as well. There were around 1200 of them at Celtic Park on Saturday. That's a terrific turnout and their team were far from disgraced by the 5-0 scoreline.

Tokely & Brora march on in cup

He's a Scottish Cup shock specialist, which isn't easy to say. And Ross Tokely is at it again.

He was a young Inverness player when, in the words of the legendary back page headline, Super Caley Went Ballistic at Celtic Park in 2000. And the giant-killing didn't stop there. That was a team which reeled off a series of cup upsets.

Now Tokely is manager of Highland League Brora Rangers, who won at League One East Fife on Saturday to reach the last 16 of the Scottish Cup for the first time in the club's history.

Their victims in the competition have also included Stranraer, Girvan and Civil Service Strollers.

A trip to Kilmarnock is coming up next which will take their cup mileage close to the 2,000 mark.

Brora, certainly far travelled, will be hoping it's not too far fetched - with Tokely at the helm - to imagine another cup shock on the cards.