Brady scoops and fails to conquer

CHARGED on the basis of letters and spaces, the SFA would find Gretna a much cheaper option than Heart of Midlothian in the matter of having the name of this season's winners of the Tennent's Scottish Cup etched into the plinth of the old trophy.

But the notion that the official engraver is destined for a decent payday was difficult to shrug off from the moment in this quarter-final when a fortuitous bobble caused the unfortunate Partick Thistle substitute, Darren Brady, to scoop the ball over Craig Gordon's crossbar.

Football matches are shaped by a series of significant moments, and this was the one which determined that the Tynecastle side, reduced to ten men by the ordering-off of their own sub, Roman Bednar, and under serious pressure, would advance to the semi-finals feeling like the man who walks out of a collapsed building without a scratch.

The cruellest aspect of Brady's bad luck was that the move that had contrived the opportunity was one of the most incisive and enthralling of the game, deserving the finish that would have brought the Second Division side an equaliser and a replay. That would have been a reward befitting Thistle's performance.

Indeed, Graham Rix admitted afterwards that their work warranted victory itself. "Partick deserved to beat us, if the truth be known," said the Hearts manager, relief the most powerful of the emotions he experienced at the end of a fraught 90 minutes.

Despite establishing a seemingly irretrievable advantage with two exceptional goals from Edgaras Jankauskas and Deividas Cesnauskis, the tournament favourites rarely looked comfortable.

Rix offered the opinion that the first strike had possibly come too easily and too early to his players, inducing in them a false sense of superiority.

The visual evidence made it impossible to disagree. In the circumstances in which Hearts scored after only five minutes, there is a tendency among players to convince themselves that they are going to have an enjoyable day, free of the pestering challenges of opponents that normally make work a demanding exercise.

By the time the realisation dawns that their instincts had been misplaced, it has become extremely difficult to recover the rhythm, poise and purpose that had given them birth. On this occasion, the Hearts players were victims of a fairly common syndrome.

It was understandable, considering the sweetness of that opening goal. Out on the left, Paul Hartley played a free kick short to Takis Fyssas and the full-back slipped the ball forward to Rudi Skacel. The Czech midfielder then sent it back out to Hartley and his impeccably measured cross allowed Jankauskas to send a perfectly-placed header high to the right of Kenny Arthur.

In that instant, even the two leagues that separate them seemed not to be enough to mirror accurately the difference in class between the teams. Mirrors, of course, can be distorted, and this one was the kind that would make Daphne Broon look like her brother, Hen.

Instead of succumbing meekly to the inevitable, the Thistle players seemed to treat the goal as an insult.

During their first-half resurgence, the visitors came close to equalising when Scott Boyd's header sailed marginally wide of Gordon's right-hand post and Steven Pressley's desperate lunge was just enough to imbalance Stephen McConalogue as he met a header from Paul Ritchie just four yards out, his shot pulled wide.

The astonishing save from Gordon early in the second half - changing direction to dive right to push Willie Gibson's deflected drive wide - underlined his claim to be considered the country's most accomplished goalkeeper and should have been sufficient to fill the Thistle players with the thought that this would not be their day.

But, even after the goal from Cesnauskis which seemed to confirm their elimination, Dick Campbell's side remained a constant source of alarm to the home support and of admiration to their own. The Lithuanian's was a solo effort, feinting past two defenders as he came in from the right and sending a ferocious left-foot drive from 16 yards high to the right of Arthur.

It was soon after that Bednar would be regarded for an accumulation of yellows that were the consequence of extreme foolishness.

Within three minutes of replacing Calum Elliot, the Czech striker was cautioned for pettily flicking the ball away as Thistle tried to take a quick free kick.

His second was for taking a dive as Arthur rushed from his goal to make a challenge at his feet, Bednar having knocked the ball past the goalkeeper.

Their spirit renewed, possibly as a result of the numerical advantage, Thistle halved the deficit with an excellent goal from the impressive Mark Roberts.

The former Kilmarnock and Airdrie United player simply went on a dribble on the left side of the box, dodging past Pressley and Andy Webster before right-footing his shot low to the left of Gordon from 12 yards.

Then came "The Moment". Jimmy Gibson sent a beautifully-weighted pass to substitute Ricky Gillies on the right and his low centre was dummied by Roberts - he had probably heard the shout from his team-mate - to Brady.

As the substitute, with only Gordon to beat from about the penalty spot, drew back his left foot, the ball lifted off the ground just enough to give the drive too much elevation. Campbell afterwards confessed himself "gutted" at the outcome, an entirely appropriate response to what had been a singularly visceral experience.

Taken from the Scotsman