Rousset banishes his Cup final nightmare

When the chance of vindication came, Hearts' goalkeeper grabbed it eagerly.

By Roddy Mackenzie

IT has taken two years and numerous sleepless nights for Gilles Rousset to erase the most painful memory of his football life.

Goalkeepers are accustomed to having their mistakes magnified, but his slip during the 1996 Cup final against Rangers which Hearts lost 5-1 was beamed throughout the world.

From the moment Brian Laudrup's second-half shot squirmed through his grasp on that afternoon, the French goalkeeper's bottle for the big occasion had come under unfair scrutiny.

Yesterday, all that doubt was removed as the 6ft 5in goalkeeper - one of Jim Jefferies' first signings for Hearts - gave an assured display which provided the foundations for Hearts' first Scottish Cup win for 42 years.

Hearts' failure at the final hurdle has often been down to goalkeeping errors, but Rousset claimed every cross with confidence and punctuated his performance with some instinctive shot-stopping to keep out a Rangers team that became more eager as the match wore on.

Only once did he have to look behind him to see his net bulge, but Ally McCoist's 81st-minute shot was played with such precision that few goalkeepers would have come close to stopping it.

The most unfortunate thing about his bloomer two years ago was that it was shown in his native France, but Rousset went from jackass to jackpot yesterday.

It was fitting that he should receive the most valuable player award as he has been around for almost all of the Jefferies era.

One of the manager's first decisions when he took over was to get a reliable goalkeeper and if Rousset's first match - at Brockville when he was beaten twice as Hearts slumped to the bottom of the League - did not seem to augur well, it was a result that hastened the surgery that Jefferies had to perform.

The metamorphosis of that team was completed yesterday.

Everyone was baffled that Jefferies could land a French international goalkeeper on a free transfer from Stade Rennais in November 1995, but it was a signal of the manager's wily ways.

He continued to trawl Europe for talent that escaped the notice of others and it was no coincidence that another Frenchman, Stephane Adam, should supply the clinching goal.

Adam, before he came to Hearts, had watched his compatriot's mistake in 1996 on television and he emerged yesterday to say: "I was very happy for him today.

I think he had played in three or four Cup finals and lost them all, so this goes some way to redressing the balance."

Jefferies was equally delighted for his goalkeeper.

"If you're looking for someone to make up for the mistake, he certainly did it today.

He was nervous before the game and the pressure was mounting.

But I am delighted for him as that will erase that memory."

From the early moments, when Rousset dealt capably with firmly-struck shots from Rino Gattuso and Brian Laudrup, until deep into injury time when he pulled down a hanging cross in the full dazzle of the sun under pressure from Sergio Porrini, it was clear that Rousset was determined to wipe out that 5-1 match.

The goalkeeper leapt to his right late in the first half, when Amoruso thundered in an unexpected 35-yard shot to prevent the ball finding the top corner of the net.

He also stopped a point-blank effort from McCoist late in the game when it seemed as if the Rangers striker was certain to score.

Importantly, he also kept his concentration at key points - most notably when Rangers were howling for a penalty after a clumsy challenge from Dave McPherson in a cluttered penalty area.

Laudrup was alive to the situation as he ducked in to direct a header towards goal, but Rousset had remembered the most important unwritten law of football - play the whistle - to keep the Dane's effort out.

It was another sign that Rousset was ready to thwart Rangers at every turn.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk