PAY PER PHEW, VLAD
No value for money for relieved Romanov
Euan Mclean At Tynecastle

HEARTS 2

PARTICK THISTLE 1

VLADIMIR ROMANOV would have expected better than this from Hearts to justify the £3000 he spent to watch the game on pay per view back home in Lithuania.

But what their disjointed display lacked in quality was more than made up for in nerve-shredding drama, Partick's passion and two moments of individual brilliance that kept Hearts' cup bandwagon on course.

Craig Gordon's wonder save and a stunning winning goal from Deividas Cesnauskas were worthy of deciding any match - but Thistle deserve enormous credit for pushing the hot favourites all the way after recovering from a nightmare opening.

It took Paul Hartley just five minutes to make his presence felt in his first game back from suspension when he helped give the Tynecastle side a flying start.

His cross was begging to be attacked and Edgaras Jankauskas obliged by rising at the front post to bullet a header inside Kenny Arthur's top right corner.

It was the hammer blow the visiting fans had dreaded but this dangerously early setback did not spark panic among the Jags' ranks.

Instead they dug in and battled hard to test Hearts' hunger with regular forays in search of the perfect response.

Mark Roberts and Billy Gibson were both a foot wide with shots from distance and the more the gallus Glaswegians imposed themselves the more awkward Hearts' play became.

The capital club lacked fluidity and seemed incapable of finding their front two in a golden spell of domination by the underdogs midway through the first half.

Then on the half-hour mark came a critical 60 seconds in which both sides came within a whisker of scoring.

First Jankauskas flashed a header across goal after taking another first class delivery, this time from Cesnauskas.

Rattled by that scare the Jags went straight to the other end and winced as Scott Boyd's looping header finished agonisingly wide with Gordon scrambling to cover.

And in 34 minutes Thistle passed up a glorious chance to score the equaliser they deserved.

Roberts' cross was troublesome for Takis Fyssas and he steered it across goal where Stephen McConalogue was rushing in at the back post - but the striker couldn't keep his shot down under pressure from Steven Pressley.

That was painful and McConalogue's misery continued with a booking for fouling Calum Elliot and he was followed into the book by Grant Murray eight minutes after the restart for felling Jankauskas.

Then came the turning point as Jags' plucky spirit was crushed by two moments of individual brilliance. The first was from keeper Gordon after Thistle had won a free-kick on the edge of Hearts' area.

Substitute Ricky Gillies - who had replaced McConalogue two minutes earlier - rolled the ball to Billy Gibson.

The midfielder's strike deflected off Jankauskas on its way to goal but somehow Gordon managed to adjust his diving body in mid-air to claw the ball away with one hand.

It was a superb save but it was yet another super solo contribution, this time from Cesnauskas, that floored the Jags in the 62nd minute.

It was reminiscent of Kenny Dalglish's classic strike for Scotland against Spain in 1985.

Cesnauskas got the ball on the right flank and cut inside two players to make the angle for his shot - and what a shot it was.

He hit an exquisite left-footer that looped over the helpless keeper into the opposite top corner. Superb.

That should have been it for the Second Division side - but no one could have legislated for the stupidity of Jambos sub Roman Bednar who put his team-mates in trouble with a senseless sending-off in 71 minutes.

He had been on for only 11 minutes, having replaced Elliot, and in that time was booked for kicking the ball away at a Jags free-kick and got a second yellow for diving over the keeper as he tried to con a penalty from ref Craig Thomson.

Bednar's crazy antics gave Thistle a glimmer of hope which soon became a dazzling full beam when they pulled a goal back with 15 minutes to go.

It, too, was a solo spectacular as Roberts went on a mazy run on the edge of the box, turned Pressley inside out and hooked a low curling effort past Gordon.

You could sense the nerves as Hearts stacked their defence with boss Graham Rix sacrificing Cesnauskas for defender Christophe Berra.

Jags sub Darren Brady, on for Paul Ritchie, should have made himself a hero two minutes later when the ball broke to him in front of goal - but he blasted it over from just eight yards.

He wasn't the only to miss a sitter as Saulius Mikoliunas, a replacement for Rudi Skacel then headed wide from close range.

But the real sickener for Hearts fans will be the injury time booking of Julien Brellier for a needless hand ball. That rules the Frenchman out of the semi-final along with Bednar.

If Hearts are to clear that hurdle to reach the final on May 13 they will have to raise the standards they showed in this game.

refwatch

GRAIG THOMSON had a busy day but every booking was spot on, particularly the two he dished out to Roman Bednar. Rating: 8/10.

Taken from the Sunday Mail