Hearts advance as Partick miss their chance

Partick Thistle’s young substitute had the chance to earn a replay towards the end of a remarkable quarter-final at Tynecastle, but shot over the bar in the same manner as Scotland’s rugby hero did a few hours later. Dick Campbell, the manager, refused to blame Brady, but the Bell’s Scottish League second division side knew then that they were going to run out of time and luck.

By Graham Rix’s own admission, Partick deserved to win this tie at the first time of asking, never mind the second. It took a combination of two sublime goals from Edgaras Jankauskas and Deividas Cesnauskis, breathtaking goalkeeping from Craig Gordon and bad luck for Brady to prevent Hearts going the same way as Celtic and Rangers.

They may be favourites for the trophy now that the Old Firm have been jettisoned, but Rix’s team did not wear the mantle well on Saturday. Mark Roberts’s composed 75th-minute finish that halved the deficit was the least Partick deserved.

That goal had been coming for more than 50 minutes and as Campbell’s side launched a furious quest for an equaliser, Tynecastle’s collective nerve crumbled.

“It was not an easy chance for Darren,” Sandy Hodge, the Partick left back, said. “No one blames him. We did not look like the second division side out there. People were saying Hearts were in the semi-finals before a ball was kicked, but we almost caused an upset.”

Campbell agreed. “Hearts were hanging on,” the manager said. “If Darren had scored we might have gone on to win. I think Steven Pressley just got a touch to put him off. I had four players up front by that stage chasing an equaliser and in the dying minutes it was five because we pushed our centre half up too.

“At the end of the day, it’s Hearts who are through. I don’t like being a glorious loser. I am angry because we had so much of the possession and territory.

“We were beaten by two magnificent finishes. When Hearts scored early, people might have thought we were going to be lambs to the slaughter. However, it took a miss from us and a world-class save by Craig Gordon from Billy Gibson earlier on to keep Hearts in front.”

Such was the anger of Rix and Jim Duffy, the director of football, at Hearts’ first-half performance that they sent their team back on to the pitch five minutes early for a warm-up.

“One or two harsh words were said in the dressing-room at half-time,” Duffy said. “Even though we were 1-0 up, we were nowhere near the standard we expect. We wanted them to refocus, so we got them back out.”

Hearts remained under intense pressure, with Gordon making his remarkable save from Gibson, changing the direction of his body in mid-air to meet the deflection and paw it away. Six minutes later, Cesnauskas scored against the run of play, cutting inside from the corner flag past Brady before thrashing a left-foot shot that bulged the roof of the net.

Roman Bednar was sent off for a second booking — received for diving — and will miss the semi-final, as will Julien Brellier, whose collection of yellows outshines even Lance Armstrong.

“The most important thing is that Hearts are in the last four,” Duffy said.. “It is not always going to be smooth progress all the way, but we are now one step closer.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk