There was no penalty kick coup at Tynecastle Park on Saturday afternoon, or on the training ground in the days that preceded Heart of Midlothian's 2-0 win over Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership.

Lawrence Shankland had missed his third penalty in succession in the 3-2 win over Dundee on Tuesday night. In the aftermath, Hearts head coach Steven Naismith said it would be his captain who decided the future of penalty kicks. 

The decision was confirmed to the Hearts support when Jorge Grant stood with the ball as Kevin Clancy consulted the monitor after a handball from Aberdeen defender Nicky Devlin. It was a decision that was taken earlier that day in the changing room, Shankland confirming to his teammate that he would be on penalties.

READ MORE: Jorge Grant Q&A: Hearts form, penalty pressure, squad mentality

"I think he said it would be selfish of him to take another penalty," Grant said. "It's about the team and that just shows the type of character he is.

"We spoke about it in the changing room before. We then had a little chat on the pitch as well. Obviously, he has scored so many penalties for us but at the moment it is just not happening for him so if I can take that pressure off of him and he gets his goal anyway."

It could have been easy for Grant to feel plenty of pressure. There was the long wait due to a lengthy VAR check, the expectation, the game state with the score at 0-0 and Hearts not being at their best. 

"When you've missed your last three and the delay in taking it, I think Granty was the coolest man on the pitch as you could see from the penalty," Naismith said. "It was some finish. It just eased everything, it made us be able to play the way we want to."

It was an important moment.

Speaking about it in the media suite afterward, Grant was just as cool as he was on the pitch.

"I watched the keeper before the game to see where he was diving and he's been diving that way a lot," he said. "I watched the keeper and I was always going to go that way."

The pressure of penalties is not new to Grant.

"I put myself forward straight away to take penalties," he said. "I took them down in England. I felt confident then and I still feel confident in myself to take them."

READ MORE: What Steven Naismith said to his players at HT and why Jorge Grant took penalty

While Shankland may have faltered from 12 yards, there is no doubting him from 18 yards. With Grant having put Hearts in front, the midfielder was ushered out of the way by his striker for the second goal.

"That split-second finish is actually a joke," Grant said. "I just went 'oh wow'. I was stood right next to him. He has got that quality so we want him to be here.

"I said to him in the changing room after, that he actually pushed me out of the way because I wanted to shoot as well. That's what he is about. It's a quality finish."

READ MORE: Hearts 2-0 Aberdeen: Shankland makes xG mockery, duo thwart Dons, deserved win

Grant has still not found his top level since joining Hearts in the summer of 2022 but believes he is on the right path, even if there was frustration of picking up an injury in the win over Celtic which kept him out of games prior to the winter break.

"I was probably lucky in that there was a small amount of games in a short period and then we had the break so it gave me more chance to recover quickly," he said. "I felt like I started to get a run in the team. I caught in in the first five minutes of that Celtic game. I just wanted to do what I could for the team and stay on. Since the break, I've started two out of the three so it's all good.

"I feel like that [I am playing the best football since joining Hearts] but I feel that there are loads of aspects I still need to work on. That comes with games. The manager has put his trust in me throughout December as well. I had my little knock but to come straight back in and play games is good for me. That's what I want to do, I want to play."