Hearts seal semi-precious win

Patrick Glenn at Tynecastle
Sunday February 26, 2006
The Observer

Hearts are in the Scottish Cup semi-finals, but even their most committed supporters may feel that, on this one fretful outing, they used up all the luck normally required to win the trophy.

Having led through Edgaras Jankauskas's header and added another by Deividas Cesnauskis, the Edinburgh team, with substitute Roman Bednar sent off in the 71st minute, had to endure a series of threats from an admirably resurgent Partick, the Second Division side having come back into contention with a goal from Mark Roberts.

That goal by Jankauskas seemed to come too easily and too early to a Hearts team who spent much of the time thereafter in show-off mode.

In cup ties against opponents from a lower division, any tendency towards the aesthetically pleasing needs to be accompanied by a measure of grit. The Tynecastle team's failure to recognise this requirement gave Partick enough encouragement to become a regular and serious threat for most of the rest of the first half.

The move that gave them the advantage would be sweet enough to persuade the home team that a repetition would be merely a matter of time. Paul Hartley played a free-kick on the left short to Panagiotis Fyssas and the left-back knocked the ball forward to Rudi Skacel. The midfielder rolled it back to Hartley, whose right-foot cross was perfectly measured, allowing Jankauskas to send a header far to the right of Kenny Arthur from about eight yards.

But instead of meek acceptance of a bad day, Partick responded with the kind of spirited and committed work that invariably informs the endeavours of long-priced outsiders in the cup and were unfortunate not to be level by the interval.

Scott Boyd's header from a cross on the left dropped marginally wide of Craig Gordon's right-hand post and Stephen McConalogue, coming in from the left to meet another header across the area from Boyd, hurried his volley over the bar from close range.

But it was the overall closeness of the play, the result of the Glasgow team's refusal to be subdued, that caused anxiety among the home team's fans. Partick played a smothering game that at times imprisoned the Hearts players.

Stubbornly resistant as they were, however, the visiting team must have experienced the dread sense that it was not to be their day when they conceded the second goal soon after they had come frustratingly close to equalising.

Having continued to rattle the favourites beyond any hope of establishing a rhythm, Partick's lengthy periods in the vicinity of the Hearts penalty area finally brought a free-kick in a promising position, just outside the box.

Ricky Gillies, who had replaced McConalogue, played the ball short to Billy Gibson, and the midfielder's powerful drive was deflected away to the right of Gordon. It was a fortuitous twist that made the big goalkeeper's extraordinary save the more meritorious.

The second goal, from Cesnauskis, proved to be a handy piece of insurance, with Bednar ordered off for a second booking soon after the advantage had been extended and Partick halving the deficit five minutes after that. It was a wonderful solo effort from the Lithuanian, who dribbled in from the right and sent a ferocious left-foot drive high to the right of Gordon from 15 yards.

Bednar had replaced Calum Elliot shortly before being booked for kicking the ball away and was shown a second yellow for diving as Partick goalkeeper Kenny Arthur challenged at his feet.

An uncomfortable day for Hearts was made fraught when Roberts completed his own run, feinting past three defenders, by sliding the ball low to the left of Gordon from just inside the 18-yard line.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer