CALLING ALL THE HEROES

Natasha Woods

SITTING in the dressing-room watching events unfold on television, Paul Hartley believed he might have wrecked his team’s dreams of lifting the Scottish Cup. Sent off in the dying moments of extra time, the man who would have taken the first penalty in the shoot-out feared the worse.

“I was an absolute nervous wreck because I knew I’d have been first up. I was fearing my sending off might have cost us the cup,” admitted the influential midfielder.

“When Steven Pressley stepped up to take the first one I was very confident because he used to be the penalty taker at Hearts before I came on the scene. But I was a bit nervous when Robbie Neilson stepped forward. No disrespect to him, but I didn’t think he had that in him. And it turned out to be one of the best penalties I’ve ever seen.”

By the time Hartley was recounting his tales of dressing-room depression and then celebration, his mood had lifted considerably from the red fury which had descended in the final few minutes of extra time.

Yellow-carded for dissent after haranguing the referee over his refusal to give Hearts a penalty when Rudi Skacel tumbled over Alan Main’s legs with five minutes to go, Hartley compounded one ill-advised rant with a moment of stupidity when he kicked out at Gretna’s Derek Townsley.

“It was a clear-cut penalty. I watched it on TV again and Skacel is right through and Main brings him down and the referee waves play on,” recalled Hartley.

“The thing with Townsley was frustration boiling over really because it was such a frustrating game to play in,” he admitted. “Credit Gretna because they played ever so well, but we won the Cup, so who cares.”

It was a sentiment repeated throughout the triumphant Hearts squad, who appreciated they had been fortunate to get their hands on the silverware given their opponents’ gutsy showing and their own performance during a game which almost proved one too many for a shattered team.

“Gretna performed extremely well, but we looked a tired team today. I thought we looked disjointed – it wasn’t the usual Hearts performance. But at the end of it we are cup winners and when people look back at the history books it will not say we struggled to win it, it will just say that Hearts won the Scottish Cup,” observed Pressley.

Trust the captain to sum it up perfectly. Trust the captain to be the one to step forward and take the first penalty. In a season where he has been the glue that has kept the squad together through turmoil and changes, he has always led from the front.

“I said straight off I would be taking the first penalty because it was important to score and I was delighted that I did because it was a nervous time as we all knew what was at stake,” explained Pressley.

The Hearts fans had declared yesterday “Elvis Day” in honour of their captain, and Hampden’s seats were dotted with those attempting various likenesses of the King. Sideburns and wigs were everywhere. Who knows what the veteran submariners from Russia made of it.

Pressley said he doubted there was a prouder man in the world than him at the moment he lifted the Cup; a sense of achievement magnified by what the players had come through in a season which had seen two managers, one director of football, one chief executive and one chairman leave the Tynecastle club.

“We have endured a lot and come through a lot and we have done this for our supporters,” said Pressley, before making a plea which would surely resonate with every Hearts fan. “I think we need stability now and I hope we get that. I hope that Valdas Ivanauskas is appointed because, make no mistake, he is a very popular coach and we are all delighted for him because he came in at a pressurised time and handled it remarkably.

“It would be great if he was appointed manager permanently and then we can get that stability and look forward to the pre-season,” added the captain.

Stability, though, is not something anyone will associate with the idiosyncratic reign of Vladimir Romanov. And even as Pressley was making his plea and the Hearts fans were heading for local hostelries to celebrate, one player was making it very clear he didn’t think he would find the stability he needed anywhere near Gorgie.

Rudi Skacel, whose well-taken half volley had given Hearts the first-half lead yesterday, appeared post-match wearing a see-you-Jimmy wig and a demeanour which suggested he believed he had played his last game for Hearts.

“I must take time and take some decisions, but I probably won’t stay at Hearts, although I want to stay in the UK,” said the Czech midfielder.

“I am very sad because it has been a fantastic year for me and this team and I enjoy the dressing-room and the fantastic support, but some things have changed.

“I signed for a Scottish team, I signed for George Burley, but some things have happened in the last four months and I am not happy,” said Skacel cryptically.

The bottom line is probably going to mean that the Czech player does move south, perhaps to be reunited with Burley at Southampton, but Hearts may pocket some cash having taken up their option on his loan deal from Marseille.

It may not be the footnote to a historic triumph that the Hearts fans want to hear and there are some who are not prepared just to wish Skacel well and let him leave the club.

Hartley, who looked a man in need of a few beers after an afternoon of contrasting emotions, promised to try and bend Skacel’s ear over a drink that night.

“I’ll try and convince him to stay. He is my best friend at the club and I’d be gutted if he left,” said Hartley.

Taken from the Sunday Herald