FAN RICHARD HAS BEATEN A 30-YR CURSE

DIEHARD Jambo Richard Cavaye finally broke a jinx lasting three decade when Hearts lifted the Scottish Cup at Hampden yesterday.

Cavaye feared he'd never see his heroes clinch silverware after a catalogue of misery that included three cup final defeats and a lastday title collapse.

And when Hearts finally managed to bag a trophy in 1998 luckless Richard could only look on in envy from 3000 miles away.

Cavaye, from Edinburgh, had convinced himself he was a jinx - especially when he gave away his ticket for this season's semi-final against Hibs which the rampant Jambos won 4-0.

But yesterday he laid that ghost to rest as Valdas Ivanauskas' side saw off plucky Gretna.

Cavaye said: "I was at the cup final in '76 as a youngster when we lost to Rangers at Hampden.

"Then 10 years later Iwas at Dens Park when we famously lost the league on the last day.

"I went to Hampden a few days later for the Scottish Cup Final when Aberdeen beat us. Then in '96 I was at the Cup Final when we were hammered by Rangers.

"But in '98 when Hearts finally won the cup I was in Chicago.

"So it got me thinking maybe I should just stay away. I had a ticket for the semi-final this year and couldn't handle the pressure of losing so gave it away.

"I sat inmy brother-in-law's allotment and listened to it on the radio.

"I really thought then I was a jinx. So when I got a ticket for the Gretna game I didn't know what to do.

"But I decided to go - if any game was going to break the curse it had to be Gretna.

"Hopefully that's the ghost laid to rest. I had NEVER seen Hearts lift a trophy so I had to go." Arguably Richard's most agonising 90 minutes came when Hearts won the cup in '98 - their last major triumph before yesterday.

He had been to every round and had a ticket for the Parkhead final but won an all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago through his work.

Richard said: "Since the semi-final I'd been going round the office whistling the Hearts song, making the firm's Hibees miserable.

"Then suddenly the whole world seemed to know I'd sold out my team. It was my worst nightmare."

Richard's sole aim was to watch the game on telly but that proved more difficult than he thought.

He said: "We were told to go to this Irish pub but walked in and they were showing the FA Cup Final.

"However, in the tiny bar at the back the Hearts game was on. It was amazing watching the Jambos in the sunshine of Chicago with hundreds of Americans around us."

Taken from the Sunday Mail