Celtic 1 Hearts 2

THE Scottish Cup final will be an all-Edinburgh affair for the first time since 1896 after Hearts joined Hibs in the Hampden showpiece thanks to a dramatic last-gasp winner from Craig Beattie.

Beattie swept home a penalty after referee Euan Norris gave handball against Joe Ledley.

Celtic were infuriated by what they felt was a harsh decision and manager Neil Lennon raced on to the pitch at the end to remonstrate with Norris.

But Hearts - who took the lead moments into the second half through Rudi Skacel - may feel justice was done after TV replays showed Gary Hooper's 86th-minute equaiser should have been ruled offside.

Celtic also claimed they should have had a penalty of their own for handball in the dying seconds. But replays showed it struck Andy Webster's hip.

Substitute Beattie said: "It was fantastic, a great moment for myself and we deserved it.

"We came with a gameplan to frustrate Celtic and I think we did that. To come back after they scored to equalise, I'm delighted.

"It's going to be a fantastic day at the final. Favourites go out of the window."

Hearts manager Paulo Sergio admitted he took a risk when he replaced Scott Robinson with Beattie at half-time.

"In the first half we chose a strategy and I believed in it over the 90 minutes," Sergio said.

"I knew we were going to defend more in the first half but even with this strategy I thought we would have more ball in the first half and I didn't want to wait.

"I took the risk at half-time as I had to change things as we were not threatening the Celtic defence and it worked very well for us."

Celtic first team coach Alan Thompson called into question the refereeing decisions. He said: "We are very, very disappointed to say the least, more for the players and the fans.

"It's inconsistency from the referee. If one's a penalty the other one's a penalty.

"Initially we thought the Hearts one wasn't a penalty. The ball came up to Joe Ledley's hand and it was so close to his hand he couldn't get out of the way.

"If that was a penalty we thought the Webster one should have been a penalty.

"There's an inconsistency with how the referee sees it. Yet again we think we've been done in a cup final from a big decision. In the league cup final we were denied a stonewall penalty.

"On the whole we're disappointed and thought we deserved more."

Stephen Elliott had the first chance within 30 seconds of kick-off when Kelvin Wilson was woefully short with a passback, but Fraser Forster turned the shot round post.

It took Celtic 13 minutes to create their first real chance but Mikael Lustig headed high over the Hearts bar from Kris Commons inswinging free-kick.

Charlie Mulgrew became the first player to be shown a yellow card for a crude challenge on Jambos midfielder Ian Black - who was also booked for his follow-up tackle on Ledley.

Sergio's men were looking the more positive of both sides and Webster should have done better with a clear header in 24 minutes but it went well over the bar.

Two minutes later Hooper glanced a header well wide from Mulgrew's tantalising cross.

It was the Hearts fans turn to hold their breath just after the half hour when Webster's poor touch left Commons one on one with Jamie MacDonald. But the Celtic star's first touch was too heavy and the chance was lost.

Commons was starting to look threatening and five minutes before the break he tried his luck from long range, but his shot went straight down the throat of MacDonald.

With half-time fast approaching Celtic should have opened the scoring. Patient build-up ended with Lustig's inch-perfect cross landing on the head of Ki Sung-Yeung. Somehow, he managed to thump his header off the post when it looked easier to score.

Only Ki will know how he managed to miss such a clear-cut chance, but Hearts survived.

The second half was only 60 seconds old when Hearts broke the deadlock. A brilliant first-time pass from substitute Beattie put Skacel through on goal. He managed to touch it round Forster before firing it high into the net.

Ki came close to levelling two minutes later with a well taken half-volley but it was always on the rise and cleared the bar by a foot.

Forster came to the rescue of Celtic again when Skacel drove in an effort from 30-yards. The giant keeper managed to get across and touch it wide.

The Czech star was finding more and more space and he fired just wide moments later as the Edinburgh side pushed for a second goal.

Beattie had injected some much needed pace in the Hearts frontline since his second half introduction and he flashed a shot from distance just wide of Forster's right post in 64 minutes.

Celtic sub Anthony Stokes - who had replaced Samaras five minutes earlier - saw his shot deflected wide as the Hoops attempted to get their Double bid back on track.

Stokes tested MacDonald again in 71 minutes after some good combination play between himself and Mulgrew but his low shot was comfortably saved.

With nine minutes left Ki performed a carbon-copy of his first half miss when he cannoned a free-header off the Hearts post from Commons' free-kick.

MacDonald then dived high to his left to touch a Commons free-kick over the bar as Celtic piled on the pressure.

From the resultant corner Mulgrew saw his header saved superbly by MacDonald and Stokes failed to divert the loose ball home.

There were appeals for a penalty with five minutes left when Ki went over as he attempted to get onto the end of a teasing ball into the box, but replays showed there was no contact.

Celtic's efforts in the second half were finally reward in 86 minutes when Hooper powered a header home from a marginally offside position.

With injury-time fast approaching Hearts were awarded a penalty for a handball against Ledley. It seemed there was no way he could get out the way of the shot and was too close to avoid it striking him.

Former Celtic star Beattie stepped up to fire the Jambos into the final.

There was still enough time for Neil Lennon's men to almost find another equaliser, but Ledley fired straight at MacDonald from 12 yards.

As the full-time whistle neared Celtic then had an appeal for handball ignored after the ball seemed to strike Webster in the box. Replays showed it struck his hip.

Now Hampden can look forward to becoming the home of both Edinburgh sides for one day only as the capital fights it out for Scottish Cup glory.

Taken from the Daily Record