Hearts beat merry tune to leave Rangers broken; Scottish Cup

Hearts 2 (Cameron 1 pen, Adam 52) Rangers 1 (McCoist 81).

AN UNBREAKABLE spirit has at last been rewarded. The Scottish Cup was won by the Hearts players but merited, above all, by supporters who, in many cases, were not even born when the club last lifted an honour, back in 1962.

At Celtic Park yesterday, Hearts went 2-0 ahead before entering the desperate phase that followed Ally McCoist's goal for Rangers.

And when a club has not collected a trophy for 36 years the conviction becomes established that it is cursed. The Hearts supporters long ago acquired the habit of keeping their eyes peeled for any omen that might promise a change of fortune and the manner in which their side took the lead was full of the appropriate oddity.

Hearts scored before the designated kick-off time of three o'clock had arrived. Willie Young, the referee, started the match early and one of those taken by surprise may have been Sergio Porrini, the Rangers defender. His recklessness was certainly the act of a man not quite attuned to the demands of the match.

Steve Fulton, by contrast, was full of purpose and, when he collected the ball on the left wing, felt no need to play the easy pass that settles a footballer's nerves. Instead, he drove forward, beckoning Porrini into the ill-advised challenge on the edge of the area that led to a penalty after 38 seconds. The Italian defender's contact seemed to occur marginally before Fulton stepped into the box.

Colin Cameron scored the penalty, sending Andy Goram the wrong way as he fired the ball into the top corner. It was an opening that could not have been anticipated and it immediately broke the strict conformity of expectations. Hearts, beaten 5-1 by Rangers in the final of this tournament two years ago, fully understood the folly of a devil-may-care attitude. With only Stephane Adam in attack, that error, at least, was not to be repeated.

The aggression of Rangers could always be counted upon, giving that several factors had conspired to incite them; the loss of the championship to Celtic, made this their only chance of winning a trophy this season. Beneath the hard-bitten professional traits, an element of sentiment was also at work, as this was the last match for Walter Smith, the Rangers manager.

He stands down to be replaced by Dick Advocaat. The Dutchman's plans to recast the side also ensured that about half of the team were making their farewell appearance for Rangers.

Determination, all the same, has its limitations. A circumspect Hearts were inclined to remain in their own half as Rangers came crashing towards them, but all the exertion led to scant refinement. The exception was Brian Laudrup, a man who could have been shackled by his own irritation with Rangers over the club's attempts to secure compensation from Chelsea for his impending move to Stamford Bridge.

The fleet-footed Dane, however, did not look like a man who was burdened by a grievance. Laudrup evaded defenders with aplomb and forced a good save from Gilles Rousset, in the ninth minute, but, for the most part, his teammates could not respond adequately to his promptings.

In a poor game, it was symptomatic that Rangers should first truly threaten from a set-piece. After 36 minutes Lorenzo Amoruso hit a rising free-kick from 35-yards forcing Rousset to stretch and push the ball away. The ability of Hearts to contain Rangers looked dubious in the passage of play that followed. A flustered Fulton yielded possession just before the interval and Laudrup gathered Porrini's cross before manoeuvring and poking the ball against Rousset's right-hand post.

The trend of the match, misleadingly, looked irreversible and was even accentuated by the introduction of Ally McCoist, at the beginning of the second half. The veteran quickly had two chances, fluffing his kick when Rino Gattuso crossed and, soon after, firing narrowly wide. Rangers' unreliability, surfaced again in the 53rd minute.

Rousset pumped a long free-kick forward, Amoruso slipped and allowed Adam to run loose. The angle on the right was unfavourable, but the forward's shot proved hard and accurate. Although Goram got a hand to the ball it crept into the net at the far post.

Despite that two-goal cushion, Hearts' resolve did not dwindle. With Jonas Thern injured and Jorg Albertz suspended, the side lacked class in midfield but asserted itself with sheer effort. David Weir and Paul Ritchie continued to be excellent in central defence, yet Rangers had their moments.

The stadium began to swell with the happiness of Edinburgh supporters who were beginning to persuade themselves that those 36 years of disappointment really were about to end.

But there was to be no easy passage to the full-time whistle. McCoist has always treated his occasional mistakes as if they were a preparation for perfection and his confidence was apparent, nine minutes from the end, when he gathered Gattuso's through-pass and methodically fired low past Rousset.

Then in the 86th minute McCoist was brought down by Weir and there was a pause before the referee signalled for a free kick outside the penalty area. Rangers could not capitalise and when the final whistle blew to unleash Hearts' celebrations, the victors could at least claim that a sliver of luck had been pending for decades.

Hearts: Rousset, McPherson, Weir, Ritchie, Naysmith, Salvatori, Flogel, Cameron, Fulton, McCann, Adam (Hamilton 73min).

Rangers: Goram, Porrini, Gough, Amoruso, Bjorklund, I Ferguson, McCall (Durant 68min), Gattuso, Stensaas (McCoist 46min), Durie, Laudrup.

Booked: McCann 41, Amoruso 74, Hamilton 74, Gattuso 90.

Referee: W Young (Clarkston). Attendance: 48,946.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk