Dundee 0 Hearts 1

By Lisa Gray, PA Sport

A late Robert Tomaschek header proved enough to book Hearts a place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup after a closely fought contest at Dundee.

For 71 minutes the tie looked like it could go either way as both Hearts and Dundee enjoyed decent chances at goal.

But neither could find the breakthrough until Tomaschek nodded the ball past goalkeeper Marco Roccati with 19 minutes to go, heaping misery on the Dens Park side for the second time in the competition.

It was a late goal by Juanjo that cancelled out Juan Sara's opener at the first time of asking to force the replay that would eventually allow Craig Levein's men to progress in the competition.

Within the first minute of the game Andy Kirk had a decent chance to give Hearts the lead with a long-range effort that fell just wide.

But the early stages proved to be poor with both sides failing to create much in front of goal.

Claudio Caniggia had looked impressive early on and seemed to be linking well with Sara up front but they could not break down the Hearts defence.

After 12 minutes the away support screamed for a penalty when Tomaschek fell in the box under pressure from Barry Smith but referee John Underhill was unimpressed and waved play on.

Six minutes later Caniggia went on a good run and this time the Argentinian managed a decent attempt at goal but sent the shot just wide.

Caniggia went on another great run down the left wing after 30 minutes, sending a cross in to the awaiting Sara in the box but his close-range effort was cleared off the line by Austin McCann.

A minute later the combination of Sara and Caniggia proved dangerous once again.

This time Sara was the provider and Caniggia looked set to grab the opener until goalkeeper Antti Niemi produced a superb block.

Gavin Rae followed up with the rebound but was denied by Thomas Flogel, who nodded the ball off the line.

Just when Dundee looked like they were making more of an impact in front of goal, the Dens Park side found themselves down to 10 men.

Lee Makel was booked for a foul on Rae after 33 minutes but Marco de Marchi seemed to retaliate to the original challenge and was shown the red card after assistant referee Stuart McAulay alerted the referee to the incident.

It was Hearts who had the first real chance after the restart when Kirk again came close, bursting through on goal before unleashing a shot that was just inches wide.

Caniggia almost managed to set up Sara after 53 minutes. He swung the ball into the box and Sara looked set to connect at the far post but the danger was cleared by Flogel.

A couple of minutes later Caniggia could have opened the scoring himself. Javier Artero provided the cross but Caniggia's shot was weak and easily held by the goalkeeper.

Just when the game looked like it might be destined for extra time the breakthrough came for Hearts after 71 minutes. Robbie Neilson's cross picked out Tomaschek, who nodded the opener past goalkeeper Roccati.

Hearts almost added a second six minutes later. This time Roccati came to the rescue to save a Juanjo shot after Colin Cameron had provided the cross for the Spanish hitman.

Dundee tried to fight back a minute later and came close when Georgi Nemsadze sent a free-kick just over which was swiftly followed by a Chris Coyne header which also flew just over.

Makel tried to kill the game off for Hearts after 84 minutes with an opportunist strike from 20 yards but the Dundee goalkeeper did well to produce a one-handed save.

Teams

Dundee: Roccati, Smith, Tweed, Coyne, de Marchi, Artero, Nemsadze, Rae, Marrocco (Carranza 74), Caniggia, Sara.

Subs Not Used: Langfield, Del Rio, Russo, Falconer.

Sent Off: de Marchi (32).

Booked: Marrocco.

Hearts: Niemi, Flogel, Pressley, Severin, McCann, Boyack (Neilson 59), Makel, Cameron, Tomaschek, Durie (Juanjo 46), Kirk.

Subs Not Used: McKenzie, Murray, McAnespie.

Booked: Makel, Juanjo.

Goals: Tomaschek 71.

Att: 7,155

Ref: J Underhill (Scotland).


Taken from sportinglife.com