Bednar almost sells the jerseys

Scottish Cup: Hearts 2 - 1 Partick Thistle
Michael Grant at Tynecastle

THERE was a natural inclination to side with the underdog and exaggerate just how close the side from the second division came to upsetting the Tennent’s Scottish Cup favourites at Tynecastle yesterday.

Hearts were magnanimous in their slender victory, verbally beating themselves up over a lacklustre performance, while Partick Thistle were permitted some dignified crowing about how much they contributed to an absorbing tie.

Even allowing for Hearts’ mediocrity and Thistle substantially raising their game, though, the potential for a shock was never extended beyond the prospect of a replay being required.

Goalkeeper Craig Gordon produced a save which his opposite number described as world class, and Deividas Cesnauskis swept home a goal of such majesty it was being compared to Kenny Dalglish’s finest.

However it was the general equalisation of play between the sides which made this a more interesting quarter-final than would otherwise have been the case if Hearts had built, as expected, on their fifth minute opening goal.

In the end owner Vladimir Romanov’s decision to spend £3000 for television rights to watch the game at home in Lithuania was rewarded. A couple of his countrymen – Edgaras Jankauskas and Cesnauskis – scored the goals which allowed them to endure Roman Bednar’s late red card and a fine Thistle goal before taking their place in tomorrow evening’s semi-final draw.

This laboured display will barely affect their status as favourites to win the cup on May 13. “No team will fancy drawing us in the semi-final,” said Gordon. “Our fans are getting excited. There are no Old Firm teams left . But the players know it’s going to be difficult.”

Bednar and Julien Brellier will miss the semi-final through suspension.

Conscious of a UK-wide audience courtesy of live Sky coverage, Tynecastle’s public address announcer encouraged supporters to join in a collective swirling of scarves before kick-off because it would look good for the cameras. Thistle’s large support provided a vivid backdrop too, their red, yellow and black balloons spilling into Gordon’s goalmouth.

The scene gave the impression of a spectacle, but it hardly helped the match as a contest that Hearts took the lead with almost effortless ease when their brisk opening play was rewarded with a goal after just five minutes.

Rudi Skacel earned a free-kick on the left which Paul Hartley took, and when the ball was worked back to him he swept a terrific cross into the penalty area for Jankauskas to rise above Sandy Hodge for a firm header into the top corner.

The prospect of this route becoming a rewarding one for Hearts all afternoon was obvious: Jankauskas stood several inches taller than any of the Thistle back four.

When the same sides had met here in the cup last season it was Thistle who had taken the lead, but Hearts are a far more substantial proposition these days and it was surprising when they began to allow their visitors a spell of encouraging play which forced some corners and had their defence scrambling to deal with a Scott Boyd header and a close range shot jabbed over the bar by Stephen McConalogue.

A central partnership of Steven Pressley and Andy Webster ought not to have been subjected to such indignities, but with Jankauskas missing a similar headed chance to the one he had scored, and Hartley poking a shot into Kenny Arthur’s arms, Thistle’s play was gradually infused with the growing confidence which comes with surviving a lengthy passage of play without conceding to superior opposition.

There was a relaxation about Hearts borne of their obvious belief that there would be further goals as and when required, but that meant their tempo was not as unremitting as it normally would be in an SPL fixture.

Thistle had more of the play than many top flight clubs have managed at Tynecastle this season.

The importance of maintaining a relentless pressing game is not lost on Hearts’ battalion of coaching staff and at half time they introduced a novel method of addressing the team’s recent tendency to fade in the second half of matches.

Fitness coach Tom Ritchie had the side out for a warm-up in one corner of the field and they were put through a couple of minutes of drills before the second period began.

This little innovation was not immediately beneficial. Thistle manufactured their best chance of the match when Ricky Gillies rolled a short free-kick to Billy Gibson. The midfielder, Thistle’s liveliest player, struck a firm shot which deflected off Jankauskas and forced Gordon into an magnificent save. “I think it’s the best save I’ve ever seen in a game I’ve played in,” said Arthur. “World class.”

When Hearts doubled their lead in the 64th minute it looked more likely to kill the match than enliven it, but the reverse was the case.

Cesnauskis delivered one of their rare flashes of class when he took the ball from near the corner and cut right to left along the edge of the Thistle area before executing a superb finish high into the far corner with his left boot.

Unimaginably, that became merely the precursor to a couple of major twists in Thistle’s favour.

First Bednar was booked for encroaching three minutes after coming off the bench and that became significant when he dived for a penalty under Arthur’s legitimate 70th minute challenge and was sent-off.

The decision was correct yet it rattled Hearts. Closing out the game ought to have been routine. Instead, Mark Roberts, a cup winner with Kilmarnock eight years ago, jinked this way and that in their penalty area, wrongfooting Pressley twice and digging out a shot which crept inside Gordon’s post.

Thistle would have had an equaliser, too, had Darren Brady not snatched his shot over the bar.

They held on, even shoring up their defence, but Hearts’ unconvincing defence of their lead may have had Romanov toying with the idea of changing his television channel.

Or his manager.

Taken from the Sunday Herald