I told penalty takers they were on £50k bonus to beat Hearts, reveals Airdrie United boss Kenny Black

Aug 28 2008 By Colin Duncan

AIRDRIE UNITED boss Kenny Black last night saluted his shoot-out heroes - then revealed he promised them a £50,000 bonus for beating Hearts.

The First Division caused another monumental shock by dumping the SPL side out of the Co-operative Insurance Cup 4-3 on penalties after a scoreless 120 minutes at Tynecastle.

Keeper Stephen Robertson was the hero in the sudden-death lottery, saving from Lee Wallace and David Obua as Csaba Laszlo's men wilted under the pressure.

Afterwards former Hearts defender Black admitted he decided to take the tension out of the nerve-shredding situation by telling his penalty takers they were on £50,000 a man to secure a place in the third round.

Black said: "Our keeper made some outstanding saves in normal time and extra time and when it went to penalties I fancied him to save at least one.

"I actually put the lads under a bit of pressure at the shootout. I told the five who were taking them that we were on £50,000 a man to go through.

"It was only tongue in cheek to try to relax them although I think Darren Smith, who missed, took it the wrong way."

Black felt his team were good enough for a victory in 90 minutes and claims video evidence will prove a first-half effort from Paul di Giacomo should have counted.

He added: "I think it was a yard over the line."

Gutted Hearts coach Laszlo blamed his misfiring strikers for the humiliating exit and said: "It is no use playing good football if you cannot score. We gave the small team confidence and got punished."

Taken from the Daily Record