All I remember from 1986 is the silence in our dressing room.. now in 2025 I'm quietly confident

Mackay suffered last-day title pain so he's loving the Jambos noise now and says McInnes can keep it going

- BY FRASER WILSON

Gary Mackay's words drift off into a silence that suggests the Hearts legend really doesn't want to revisit the scene of the biggest near-miss in the Tynecastle club's history.

Fittingly, when he does pick up the memory of Dens Park on May 3, 1986, it's to paint a picture of utter silence.

An away dressing-room where Jambos icons including Henry Smith, Sandy Jardine, John Colquhoun, John Robertson and, of course, manager Alex MacDonald sat in disbelief.

It's no wonder that, four decades on, Mackay is revelling in the noise currently blaring round Gorgie.

The club's all-time record appearance holder insists fans are 100 per cent right to be dreaming that their table topping side can finally end the Old Firm duopoly.

And maybe even remove some - if not all - of that lingering pain from 1986.

For context, it's best to rewind 40 years to this very day, an afternoon when Hearts beat Celtic at Parkhead courtesy of another goal from Midas man Robertson.

It was the second of a stunning 27-game unbeaten run that left them heading into the final day of the season showdown with Dundee in Tayside needing just a point to pip Celtic - who were at St Mirren - to the title.

What transpired will forever live on in Gorgie infamy.

Two Albert Kidd goals in the closing seven minutes saw Dundee run out 2-0 winners while Celtic's 5-0 win in Paisley meant the Hoops beat them to the title on goal difference - and by just three goals.

Mackay admits he walked away from Dundee thinking their time would come.

But, despite spending another 11 years in Gorgie, the title never did arrive and every one of the last 40 have been shared between the Old Firm.