Sensational Hartley runs riot to inspire rudderless Hearts

The man who was allowed to leave Easter Road by Alex McLeish six years ago rubbed his former club’s nose in the Hampden Park turf as he underlined why he is one of the most valuable players in the Scottish game. The midfield player took the captain’s armband off a concussed Steven Pressley at half-time, and inspired the managerless team, who will now return to the national stadium on May 13 to play Gretna.

The second division giantkillers will fear no one but the army of Hearts fans who hijacked Hampden yesterday now scent the possibility of a repeat of their 1998 Cup success. It came at a price, though, with Jose Goncalves carried off on a stretcher in a neck brace after an accident involving Craig Gordon, his goalkeeper. The Portuguese player suffered a facial injury and will join Pressley on the sidelines for two weeks.

The cost to Hibernian was equally great. They finished with nine men, after Ivan Sproule and Gary Smith were sent off in the final 13 minutes. Hearts took advantage by finding the net twice in that period and the damage to the morale of Tony Mowbray’s team is incalculable as Hibernian’s supporters absorbed a third Scottish Cup semi-final defeat in six years, along with their runners-up prize against Celtic in 2001 and the CIS Cup final defeat by Livingston in 2004.

How different those years might have been if Hartley had been around. The Scotland midfield player has led by example, on and off the pitch, in what has been a turbulent season after the dismissals of George Burley and Graham Rix. But he has reserved the greatest pain for Hibernian, and has now scored six times against them in this campaign.

Hartley’s finish in the 27th minute sent confidence surging through Hearts and he then added a sublime free kick in the second half and a penalty three minutes from the end, with Edgaras Jankauskas embarrassing Zbigniew Malkowski, the inept Hibernian goalkeeper, in between.

Hibernian had made light of the dreadful shortage of players. However, once Hartley scored, the absence in midfield of Scott Brown — who broke a leg in the fourth-round win over Rangers — took its toll, as did the void left by the two top scorers, Garry O’Connor, who departed last month to Lokomotiv Moscow for £1.6 million, and Derek Riordan, who was suspended.

In their place was a Moroccan, Abdessalam Benjelloun, who made a surprise debut, but barely troubled Andy Webster or Pressley, although his clash of heads with the latter forced the Hearts captain off.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk