Penalty miss proves costly as Hearts beat a course to Hampden

THE tantalising prospect of this season concluding with Hearts taking on Hibernian in the William Hill Scottish Cup final remains very much alive.

The Tynecastle club last night joined their Edinburgh rivals in the last four by taking care of St Mirren at the second attempt and can now look forward to a semi-final clash with Celtic at Hampden on Sunday, April 15.

Should they win that one too, and were Hibs to prosper over Aberdeen the day before, expect most of Edinburgh to decant to Glasgow for what would be a crackling encounter.

Against a stuffy but profligate St Mirren, Hearts again showed that the club's ongoing financial problems have had little effect on squad morale. When Vladimir Romanov, the Hearts owner, finally gets round to paying next month's salaries, he will need to dig deep to find the sums required to settle the mounting win bonuses being accrued by Paulo Sergio's players. A goal in each half was enough for Hearts to end St Mirren's resistance in a tie that began as brightly as the original match that had finished 2-2 before descending into more of a scrappy affair.

Hearts, ahead through Jamie Hamill's first-half goal, killed the contest five minutes from time. Andy Driver was the creator, pulling the ball back for Rudi Skacel, who rifled a shot beyond Craig Samson. It was the Czech's 10th goal in six games against St Mirren.

St Mirren will look back with regret on the penalty Graham Carey missed with the score still 0-0, as well as Stevie O'Reilly's decision not to play advantage at the incident, thus depriving Nigel Hasselbaink of a goal just seconds later.

With both sides destined to finish in opposite halves of the league come the split, St Mirren will probably be glad to see the back of Hearts for another season. This was the eighth match between the sides since Danny Lennon's installation as Gus MacPherson's successor in the summer of 2010 and St Mirren have failed to win one of them.

Twelve points clear of bottom side Dunfermline Athletic in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, this defeat effectively brings their season to a close, although their recent dreadful record of not having won a league match since Christmas Eve might mean a few more anxious weeks before their safety for another season is secured.

St Mirren had come to regret the hatful of chances they spurned in the original tie at Tynecastle and it was a similar story here, most notably Carey's penalty miss after 13 minutes after Marius Zaliukas had handled the same player's cross into the box. The Irishman's kick was sure but Jamie MacDonald guessed the right way and kept it out with a fine stop.

Carey, despite that miss, was one of St Mirren's most effective performers, his deliveries from the left causing regular palpitations in the Hearts defence. From one such centre, MacDonald was relieved to tickle it over the crossbar, while goalbound attempts from Jim Goodwin and Gary Teale were also well fielded by the Tynecastle goalkeeper.

When Zaliukas then almost deflected Steven Thompson's shot into his own net only for the ball to trickle just wide, the feeling arose that perhaps this just wasn't going to be St Mirren's night.

It wasn't all one-way traffic, however, with Hearts contributing to an enthralling first half, albeit largely on the counter-attack despite squandering the opening chance of the match after just 38 seconds when Skacel slid his shot just wide of goal after nice set-up play by Hamill and Craig Beattie.

The Czech's moment would arrive later, however. Hamill would eventually succeed in the first half where others failed. The former Kilmarnock player, operating in a more advanced right-midfield role instead of his usual defensive berth, had been desperately unlucky not to score with one long-range drive that clattered off the post before bouncing across the goal to safety, but he would not be denied a second time after 31 minutes. Steven Thomson's slack pass allowed Danny Grainger to swing in an enticing cross. Marc McAusland got a toe to the ball but could only divert it to the lurking Hamill, who unerring found the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the box.

The goal imbued Hearts with confidence and Beattie was afforded space to thump in a shot that Craig Samson did well to parry. As the visitors looked to add to their lead, Hamill could only slash a half-chance over the bar as the interval approached.

It was less frantic after the break – St Mirren pushing for an equaliser, Hearts trying to keep them out – and chances were sporadic at best. David van Zanten pushed forward from full-back to try to find a way through but, unlike Hamill's goal from a similar spot, his shot dribbled wide of goal rather than into the net.

Hearts' response was a Skacel shot parried away by Samson. The Czech was more accurate a few minutes later, however, securing the win.

Taken from the Herald