Scottish Cup: Hamilton Accies captain Dylan McGowan on facing 'special' Hearts

Dylan McGowan in action for Hamilton Academical against Ross County in the Scottish Cup

Day one of a new job can be daunting. Many want to lay low, get familiar with surroundings and just hope people call you by the right name.

Dylan McGowan wasn't quite so lucky when he joined Hamilton Academical on loan from Kilmarnock last month. He was immediately given the captain's armband.

The job description? Steer the side out of a relegation battle, book a place in the Challenge Cup final and lead the team out against the "special" club where it all began for the defender.

'I wanted to be wanted'

McGowan found game time in Ayrshire hard to come by under Derek McInnes. Having played 90 minutes in 17 of the first 20 games of Kilmarnock's Championship campaign last season under Tommy Wright, since McInnes' arrival, he appeared for just 93 minutes.

Not making a single Premiership matchday squad this term, the 31-year-old was low on confidence. Then, John Rankin called.

"John was really keen to get me in," the Australia international said of the Hamilton manager. "I played against him many years ago, he spoke to a lot of people who know me and he played with my brother so he kind of knew the character he was getting.

"After the last couple of months at Kilmarnock, going somewhere I was really, really wanted was huge for me and having a manager who has that much faith in me from the moment I walked in the door, really helped my confidence."

If that wasn't a big enough booster for the centre-back, Rankin handed him captaincy while his name was still being printed on a shirt and a squad number picked.

"It's not the most ideal way to meet your team-mates like that, it's a bit awkward at the start," he admitted.

"The manager sat me down before the game and said, 'I'm going to do this, are you comfortable with it?', and I think it was a bit of a rhetorical question because he was going to do it anyway. It's an honour to captain this group of players and the club.

"I've started to enjoy my football again."

'We're definitely not dead and buried'

An honour it may be, but heavy is the bicep that wears the armband. Accies find themselves in a precarious position at the foot of the Championship. Three points adrift of Arbroath, but crucially, with a game in hand over the Lichties.

Unbeaten in their last three league games, including a 1-1 draw at the weekend against promotion hopefuls Dundee, has them the most in-form side in the bottom four, so there is a case for optimism.

On top of that, Accies will face Raith Rovers in the Challenge Cup final next month. Add in the win against Ross County in the last round of the Scottish Cup, and it's an unbeaten run of six.

But now McGowan must face a familiar foe.

It's been 15 years since a bright-eyed, teenage Dylan McGowan first landed in Scotland to join Hearts back in 2008.

Dylan McGowan made his debut for Hearts in 2010 and played over 60 times for the club

After six years at the club, he is gearing up to face the maroon side of Edinburgh for the first time in a career that has seen him return to Australia, with stints in Portugal, South Korea and Denmark in between.

"It's a nice draw for me personally. I was out watching the Edinburgh derby when the draw happened and I thought, 'what are the chances of me moving to Hamilton Accies and drawing Hearts?'" he said.

That Edinburgh derby victory - the second in three weeks - was Hearts' ninth unbeaten game. That run extended to 10 before Rangers halted Robbie Neilson's side. No doubt, two in-form teams meet on Friday night under the lights.

"When you watch the draw and you get Hearts you think, 'here we go' - they're an outstanding side," said McGowan.

"They take a big travelling support and with that comes expectation that they just come and blow us out the water. We have to use that to our advantage and if there is any complacency, we are there to capitalise on it."