HEART-STOPPING; Paul: I was scared jinx was going to strike.

Paul Ritchie felt sure fate was going to kick Hearts in the guts again with just five minutes left at Celtic Park on Saturday.

The young defender has had to endure many of the Edinburgh side's silverware near misses and when he saw Ally McCoist flattened by Davie Weir as he moved into the box all the bad memories came flooding back.

Ritchie, outstanding at the back all afternoon, felt sure ref Willie Young was going to award a penalty and indeed was honest enough to admit he felt it was one.

However, Young saw it differently and pulled the last chance of salvation away from the fading Ibrox side by awarding a free kick instead.

At that moment, Ritchie knew it was finally to be Hearts' day.

He admitted: "The ref's decision for the Weir foul could have gone against us. It was borderline, so it could have gone either way.

"So we were fortunate to get away with that one. At 2-1 with 10 minutes to go we had everyone behind the ball.

"McCoist broke through again, Weir had the foul and I thought `here we go again'. The ref could have given it and I was thinking `not again' - I'd seen it all before and saw it all pass before me.

"I knew the script was set for McCoist. It was his last game, a cup final, at Parkhead and it had Ally McCoist written all over it.

"But fortunately we were two up before he got his goal. We defended well in the last five minutes and it was great to hang on."

Ritchie believes having now broken the 36-year trophy hoodoo, the Hearts fans will never have to wait so long for silverware again.

The 22-year-old was left in tears on the pitch when Rangers destroyed Hearts 5-1 in the Scottish Cup Final of 1996.

But now he knows what it's like to be a winner and said: "Nothing can compare to this, it is different class. This win is absolutely fantastic and hopefully the fans will never have to wait so long again.

"This win gets us over that hurdle. Thirty-six years is a long time for any team, but especially the so-called third biggest team in Scotland, to wait for a trophy.

"But this is my first win in my third season, so hopefully it will not be too long before the next ."

Ritchie was also on the losing side against Rangers 4-3 in the Coca-Cola Cup Final in 1996.

On Saturday, he eventually killed those demons which have affected him and his team- mates for a year.

He said: "This definitely gets over the disappointments of before. One out of three is not too bad. It makes up for the last two, but particularly the last Scottish Cup Final.

"That day, Rangers just demoralised us and Durie and Laudrup ran riot. It took us all of last season to get over those two final defeats, and our form was so up and down.

"But this season we found consistency for three quarters of the season. We dropped some silly points going for the title, but to end with silverware is well worth it.

"If Jim Jefferies can strengthen the squad this summer, which he will have to, we can run the Old Firm close again next season."

Ritchie pledged his future to Hearts for a further two years in cup final week, ending speculation that he would move to the English Premiership.

And after being part of the history-making team on Saturday he was delighted to have signed.

He said: "It was totally different. I was back to playing the way I played before and I was enjoying my football again.

"When the speculation arose and when I knew my contract was up, it did affect me. So it was great to get that out of the way."

Ritchie can now look forward to his wedding in a fortnight - and a double celebration.

He said: "This win sets me up wonderfully for that and if it is half as good a day as today, I'll be over the moon."

Taken from the Daily Record