Dunfermline 1 - 0 Hearts

Rationality has long since legged it. Talented players with leadership pedigree have been ushered out unceremoniously. It was an inevitability, albeit one which eluded Vladimir Romanov's wisdom, that their only piece of silverware would swiftly follow through the rapidly-spinning exit door at Hearts.

Yet having the Tennent's Scottish Cup ripped from their grasp by the bottom club in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague was not the true horror for the visiting supporters who crammed into every available corner of East End Park. What chilled their blood more than the crisp winter air was the realisation that this may have merely been a snapshot of the future. The scarves thrown onto the track at full-time were from those who have given up on seeing their club dragged around by the whims of its owner.

Tiresome intrigues will doubtless continue to emanate from Tynecastle, but who will listen when the team is stripped of its ability to compete at the very top level of Scottish football? With Steven Pressley and Paul Hartley gone, and Craig Gordon excluded from the first team, that day may loom over the horizon.

The simple equation that poorer players equal poorer results is ignored by Romanov's regime. Laryea Kingston made his debut in central midfield and, while too early for proper judgements, did not suggest he would banish memories of Hartley in his pomp. Dunfermline waited until the final seconds before capitalising on Hearts' weakened state, having been indebted to a spate of splendid saves from Dorus de Vries earlier in the second half.

Few could begrudge Stephen Kenny and his players their good fortune after a miserable and draining league campaign. Hearts' scalp will hang alongside that of Rangers in the Dunfermline dressing room as they continue on their demanding path towards Hampden.

Last season's final is now ancient history for the Tyne-castle club and its manager. Valdas Ivanauskas basked in the glory of that defeat of Gretna, yet declined to attend the press conference to explain this defeat. Stephen Frail was instead ordered away from his fraternising drink with the Dunfermline coaching staff to answer for the decisions taken by his superiors.

There was a tinge of embarrassment about Frail, placed in a thoroughly unenviable position, as he explained how Ivanauskas had said he felt Steve Banks deserved to continue in goal ahead of Gordon. Nothing to do with Gordon's reluctance to be shipped out to Russia during the transfer window, then? Good, because that would have been a dreadful way for the Scotland goalkeeper to be treated. Perhaps Ivanauskas knew even his notoriously straight face would crack in delivering such far-fetched lines. Frail said he thought his manager may have scooted off early to make it to Paris in time for this week's glamour friendly between Lithuania and Mali. Maybe he plans to hitchhike.

Ivanauskas did tell the Hearts website of his anger at the performance of Mike McCurry, the referee, accusing him of ignoring several fouls on striker Roman Bednar. "Three minutes of injury time and they score a goal," added Ivanauskas. "This is very, very hard."

Bednar had been a substitute for Michal Pospisil. Hearts last week thought so little of Pospisil that they tried to sell him to Bristol City for £100,000. Oddly, the Czech striker was parachuted straight back into the team, apparently because he had scored in five of his previous six appearances against Dunfermline. One header was clawed out of the goalmouth by de Vries, while the Dutch goalkeeper made similarly excellent saves to thwart Saulius Mikoliunas and Marius Zaliukas.

Banks had rarely been threatened directly, despite Dunfermline chewing over chunks of possession. That altered decisively in the final moments of time added by McCurry. Hearts had a right to be unhappy at the award of a free-kick when Zaliukas was harshly judged to have fouled Jim Hamilton. Owen Morrison quickly knocked the ball to Adam Hamill, whose pacey cross found Scott Wilson amid a clutch of players at the far post. The captain's downward header bounced into the net beyond Banks, loosening some Hearts scarves on its way.

Hamill, an England Under-19 international on loan for Liverpool, had annoyed the life out of first Christos Karipidis then John Armstrong at right-back for Hearts, running through a gamut of tricks. "I model myself on myself," said the 19-year-old, bursting with Scouse self-belief, when asked about his inspirations. "I like watching Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo, but I do my own thing.

"I'm grateful to Stephen Kenny for giving me the chance of first-team football and hopefully I can repay him. The gaffer joked with me before the game that he didn't think I looked old enough to play first-team football, so I wanted to show him what I was made of."

Kenny deserves credit for attacking Dunfermline's difficulties through the use of flair. "Adam and Jim O'Brien give us something different and we had worked on how best to get the ball wide to them," said the manager. "I think we got our rewards in the end."

By MARK WILSON