Little Gretna left heartbroken

Hearts (1) 1 Gretna (0) 1
after extra time, Hearts win 4-2 in penalties

Hearts will celebrate their first silverware in the Vladimir Romanov era when they parade the Scottish Cup before their delirious fans at Tynecastle this afternoon, but they were given a big scare by Gretna in yesterday's extraordinary final at Hampden Park.

The team who deservedly secured the Scottish Premier League runners-up place - and with it Champions League qualification - were largely outfought by a team of journeymen two divisions below them.

As for tactical nous, Valdas Ivanauskas, the current Hearts coach, was bettered by his Gretna counterpart, Rowan Alexander, who read the likely course of the contest.

Despite a slow start which might have seen them pay a costly price - Deivaidas Cesnauskis hit the post after seven minutes - Gretna clawed their way back, mainly through the heroics of their veteran goalkeeper, Alan Main, and the tireless endeavours of their central midfield trio of Davie Nicholls, John O'Neil and Stevie Tosh.

As Alexander had intended, they corralled the chief Hearts playmaker, Paul Hartley, so that his influence was greatly diminished. In fact, having earlier been booked for dissent, he earned a second caution for a petulant kick at Derek Townsley after the Gretna defender had hustled him over the sideline in the dying seconds of extra time.

This could have cost Hearts the cup because although it was too late to make any difference in open play, Hartley is Hearts' dead ball specialist and he missed the penalty decider. Prior to that, Ivanauskas had put his side in jeopardy with substitutions that were in marked contrast to those of Alexander.

Gretna trailed to Rudi Skacel's fine half-volley seven minutes before the break, after Edgaras Jankauskas had headed Robbie Neilson's long throw from the right to the back of Main's penalty area. However, they gained the initiative with a daring change by Alexander, who replaced Nicholls with Davie Graham as he switched from 3-5-2 to 3-4-3.

Hearts were forced on the back foot and Ivanauskas responded by sending on Julien Brellier for Bruno Aguiar, a holding midfield player for a more attack-minded team-mate. Gretna drew level when Cesnauskas tumbled John O'Neil for a penalty kick that was converted at the second attempt - Craig Gordon blocked his first effort - by Ryan McGuffie.

Having used all their substitutes before full time, Hearts were forced to play on with the ailing Jankauskas until the shootout. At last they achieved a decisive edge, with successful kicks by Pressley, Neilson, Skacel and Pospisil, while Gretna managed two - through Grady and Birch - and saw Townsley miss and Skelton strike the crossbar.

Match details

Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Tall, Fyssas, Cesnauskis (Mikoliunas 86), Aguiar (Brellier 72), Hartley, Skacel, Bednar (Pospisil 70), Jankauskas.
Subs: Banks, Berra.
Goal: Skacel 39
Dismissed: Hartley (120)
Booked: Skacel, Fyssas, Hartley
Gretna: Main, Birch, Townsley, Innes, Nicholls (Graham 55), McGuffie, Tosh, O'Neil, Skelton, Grady, Deuchar (McQuilken 103).
Subs: Mathieson, Berkeley, Henderson.
Goal: McGuffie 76.
Booked: Birch, Tosh.
Ref: D McDonald

Taken from telegraph.co.uk