Craig Levein said his Hearts players beat Aberdeen thanks to "guts and determination" and insists his team won't go to Hampden to make up the numbers in the League Cup semi-finals.

The Tynecastle side came from behind twice to take Aberdeen to penalties and were ruthless from the spot as the Dons missed three spot-kicks.

The victory came days after Hearts bounced back from a goal down to beat Hibs at Easter Road and Levein was impressed with the attitude of his side.

"I said before the game that it would be a tight match because every time we play Aberdeen it's exactly the same," he said. "That was the case, it went right to the wire.

"We were determined on Sunday and that's what won us the match. We had guts and determination again tonight. When we play like that we've got a chance of winning every match.

"If you want to do it the hard way, we've done it two weeks in a row. We gave Aberdeen two goals tonight, but I don't know how much longer we can do that and keep winning matches."

Levein believes that the importance of the occasion helped his players settle and show their best game.

"The difficulty has been that we've been very nervous at home," he said. "What helped us tonight was the size of the match and the opposition and we weren't favourites to win the game.

"All of those things allowed us to relax and for the first half hour I thought we were fantastic. The only thing was that we didn't take our chances."

Hearts will now face Rangers in the semi-finals and Levein said he wants to be booking a return trip for the final.

"Getting to both semis last season was good, getting to the Scottish Cup final was great," he said. "We got a taste for it and it was good to see everyone at the end tonight with smiles on their faces, enjoying it.

"I don't just want to go to Hampden and have a day out, I want to go to Hampden and get to the final. We shall see."