Cup dream over before its begun

It's a long road back from Aberdeen and the Hearts fans will spend it wondering what happened to their team at Pittodrie. A 2-0 defeat to Aberdeen means the Jambos are now out of the Active Nation Scottish Cup and, giving their recent league performances it was a disappointing afternoon for the Jambos.

Hearts were forced to make three changes to their side due to injuries and suspension. Rueben Palazuelos and Lee Wallace both drop out the squad with Christian Nade dropping to the bench. Ian Black, Gordon Smith and Scott Robinson all come into the side for the fourth tie against Aberdeen.

The wintry conditions put paid to the majority of matches for the fourth round so praise must go to the fans who made the long journey up from Edinburgh - braving the cold conditions to watch their side battle for a place in the next round.

Hearts started the game brightly and debutant Rocky Visconte was appearing assured on the ball. Hearts had an early chance when Suso crossed a brilliant ball into the box to Ian Black. The midfielder slid in but the ball was just too fast across the face of goal.

Aberdeen were next with a chance in the 19th minute. Ismael Bouzid and Darren Mackie were chasing a long ball, Bouzid failed to clear but luckily for Hearts Mackie's effort went over the bar.

There wasn't too much action from either side in the first half as both struggled to settle into the game. In the 25th minute Ian Black took a chance at goal from about 25 yards out, it was a good effort but went over Jamie Langfield's bar.

A few minutes later Aberdeen got a free kick on the edge of the box when Mark Kerr was brought down by Marius Cinikas. Charlie Mulgrew stepped up to take, but his shot was blasted over goal into the seats behind.

A few minutes before half-time Lee Miller had what was probably the best chance of the first 45 minutes when his head connected with a brilliant ball in, Marion Kello was alert and made an excellent save, pushing the ball out to his left. Fraser Fyvie followed up but his effort went straight across the box.

Aberdeen passed up a brilliant opportunity 15 minutes into the second half, Maurice Ross played a ball across goal straight to the feet of Darren Mackie. It appeared he was going to tap it into the net from a few yards out but he miss-hit it and it went wide of the post.

It appeared neither side was going to break the deadlock but in the 65th minute Darren Mackie sent Aberdeen closer to the next round of the cup. Jerel Ifil split the Hearts defence with a brilliant ball through to Lee Miller. He played it across goal to Mackie, the Aberdeen striker made no mistake this time slotted past Kello, giving Aberdeen the lead.

Five minutes later Csaba Laszlo decided his team needed a re-shuffle and took off Gordon Smith and Suso Santana bringing on Christian Nade and David Templeton to replace them.

Aberdeen came close to getting a second in the 75th minute when a free kick from Fraser Fyvie fell to Chris Maguire in the box. His shot forced to Kello into another good save and he pushed the ball round the post for a corner.

Another goal only ever looked like coming from Aberdeen and it came in the 81st minute, Chris Maguire played a looping ball into the box. It fell to the feet of Lee Miller who slotted the ball past Kello to double Aberdeen's advantage.

Hearts came close to getting a goal back when a long range effort from Rocky Visconte forced Jamie Langfield into a save. The Jambos weren't offering much in the match and didn't ever really look like scoring, however.

Christian Nade had a long range effort five minutes from time, again forcing Jamie Langfield to tip the ball over for a corner. A couple minutes later it was Nade again who came close just before full-time when another long range effort which was deflected out for a corner.

However Hearts didn't pose any real threat to Aberdeen and had only three shots on target during the whole 90 minutes. It was not a good performance by the men in maroon and it leaves them out of the draw for the next round of the Active Nation Scottish Cup.

Aberdeen: Langfield, Mulgrew, Ifil, Kerr, Ross, Young, Marshall (Maguire, 71), Fyvie, Pawlett, Mackie, Miller. Subs not used: Nelson, Paton, Crawford, Jack

Hearts: Kello; Cinikas, Bouzid, Zalikukas, Visconte; Suso (Templeton, 70), Stewart, Jonsson, Black; Smith (Nade, 70), Robinson (Obua, 83). Subs not used: Balogh, Balatoni.

Referee: Steve Conroy

Top man: Marian Kello

Hearts World