Hearts 2 - 1 Partick Thistle

ROB ROBERTSON at Tynecastle January 20 2005

Hearts sneaked a victory over Partick Thistle last night to set up a difficult Scottish Cup tie against Kilmarnock.

A swirling wind meant mistakes were plentiful in a game which was finely balanced right up until the final whistle.

Armand Oné's opener for Thistle was cancelled out by Neil MacFarlane, both goals being sloppy efforts and at the death Dennis Wyness popped up with the winner. The little striker had been out of touch all evening, but was allowed plenty of time to slot home the winner from close in.

It was a fortuitous win for Hearts and dreadfully unlucky on Thistle who nearly equalised at the death through Oné. Paul Hartley continues to shine in the Hearts midfield and it was his promptings which were the only bright spot for the home side. He had what looked like a perfectly good first-half goal ruled out for offside and showed the form which suggests he is worthy of a Scotland call up.

Without him Hearts would have struggled even more than they did against Dick Campbell's dogged first division outfit.

Thistle played with a passion and commitment which had been lacking earlier in the season. But Oné's early strike sparked them into life and they never gave up the fight from then on in. The Frenchman nearly scored again early in the second half with a magnificent shot which Craig Gordon did his best to tip over.

Campbell, the former Brechin City manager, has clearly restored faith in the ranks and spent the 90 minutes demanding total effort from his players.

It was a surprise his bunnet didn't blow off in the wind as he prowled the touchline, chain-smoking. Such was his enthusiasm the referee, Craig Mackay, had to halt proceedings after only 21 minutes to tell Campbell to calm down.

The old campaigner pulled out a few cup tie tricks and his players did their best to slow the game by delaying free kicks to stop Hearts gaining any momentum.

The goal was a simple affair. A curling corner from Derek Fleming was met by the French striker whose point blank header was brilliantly tipped onto the bar by Gordon.

However, with the Hearts defenders, ball watching the Thistle striker reacted quickest to steer the ball into the net.

For long periods after that Thistle passed the ball around with aplomb and harried and chased everything. Their midfield was tight and only the Hartley's direct running of Hartley caused them problems.

But the goal they conceded was a carbon-copy of the one they scored. Phil Stamp put in an in-swinging near post corner which was touched on by Robbie Neilson to MacFarlane who bundled the ball home from close in.

It was one of the few times the Thistle goal was really troubled. Their tight defending was one factor but another was the paucity of talent Hearts have in attack. Ramon Pereira, Kevin McKenna and Denis Wyness looked the most toothless trio the Tynecastle side have had for a long time. With Mark de Vries enjoying pastures new at Leicester City and Lee Miller ineligible they struggled to make any real impact.

McKenna was denited by Kenny Arthur, the Thistle goalkeeper, in the second half but the Canadian struggled with the responsibility of leading the line. With 20 minutes remaining John Robertson, the Hearts manager, had clearly seen enough and made a double substitution.

Stephen Simmons and Joe Hamill replaced MacFarlane and Pereira as the home side tried to find the inspiration to secure the win. It nearly had the desired affect as Hamill and Wyness both had chances to score but strong Thistle defending kept them out.

Indeed when Stevie Fulton, the former Hearts captain, came on to shore up the midfield, Thistle looked capable of preventing the game from going to extra time by finding a winner.

However, despite presenting a serious threat to Hearts it was the more illustrious hosts who got it eventually.

Hearts Gordon, Pressley, McKenna, Webster, Wyness, Stamp, Hartley, MacFarlane (Simmons 71), Neilson, McAllister, Pereira (Hamill 71).

Subs Moilanen, Weir, Berra.

Partick Thistle Arthur, Anis (Andy Gibson 77), Milne, Murray, Madaschi, Dowie (Fulton 72), Billy Gibson, One, Ramon, Ross, Fleming. Subs Not Used: Pinkowski, Hinds, Strachan. Booked Anis, Dowie, One Attedance 7340

Referee C Mackay

Taken from the Herald