Celtic 1 Hearts 2

By Roddy Forsyth

Nobody alive has seen what will be witnessed at Hampden Park on May 19 – a Scottish Cup final contested by Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian.

The only occasion on which the Edinburgh pair have met in the final was not even in the 20th century but as far back as 1896 – the year before Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee.

On March 14 that year Scotland's capital boasted three teams and the final was played at St Bernard's home ground of Logie Green – a venue long buried beneath housing and roads and one which provoked much grumbling about its limited capacity at the time.

Mind you, Hearts emerged happily enough with a 3-1 victory over their municipal rivals and they – and the bookies – fancy a repeat performance next month.

On the other hand, Hibs may encourage themselves in the belief that they can win the trophy for the first time in 110 years by observing that the capricious tendencies of football fortune were again demonstrated by yesterday's semi-final. At the interval Hearts enjoyed parity with Celtic only in the scoreline.
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By the midway point Celtic's share of possession was 70% and they would have led but for the post from which Ki Sung-Yeung's flying header had rebounded. The champions and holders were in a similar situation at full time – ahead in shots on target and off and in corner kicks – and Ki had also smacked the upright with another header.

They had scored, too, from a Gary Hooper header five minutes from time but, yet again at Hampden, Celtic had seen a perfectly winnable game slip out of their grasp and for the second time in a month they departed the national stadium with a seething sense of grievance and the belief that refereeing errors had cost them dearly.

Neil Lennon – already facing three SFA disciplinary charges in respect of referees can anticipate another summons to explain himself after he Tweeted about yesterday's match official, Euan Norris: "Feel so sorry for players and fans... I think it's personal myself."

Norris had aroused Lennon's ire – expressed forcibly and in person when the Celtic manager sprinted across the Hampden turf at full time to berate the referee, with much finger pointing – first by awarding a penalty kick to Hearts for what appeared to be handling of a shot by Marius Zaliaukas by Joe Ledley but which, according to the Parkhead players, was said by the official to have struck Victor Wanyama's hand.

Celtic were also adamant that they should have had a penalty kick for handling by Andy Webster. However, TV replays showed that while Ledley was certainly unfortunate - given how close he was to Zaliukas – he changed his body shape before the ball hit him, a factor that referees have been instructed to monitor in particular.

It would not have been a surprise had Norris done nothing about the incident but it was nothing out of the ordinary to see him award the penalty kick either. As for Webster's supposed offence, the TV replays showed that the ball struck him on the stomach.

The list of Celtic complaints was supplemented by a claim that Ryan McGowan had fouled Ki in the box – arguable, certainly – but Hearts were equally entitled to point out that Hooper had edged offside when he headed home from a Charlie Mulgrew cross.

In any case, the most significant game changer was Paulo Sergio's decision to send Craig Beattie on for the second half in place of Scott Robinson. Hearts' game plan had been to squeeze the space between their defence and midfield to deny Kris Commons the territory he needed to exploit in his role sitting off the front pair of Georgios Samaras and Gary Hooper.

After a bright beginning when Robinson charged down a Mulgrew clearance and panicked Kelvin Wilson into a slack back pass that forced Fraser Forster to save point blank from Stephen Elliott – within 14 seconds of kickoff – Celtic's pressure rolled Hearts up like a rug Ki's header off the post in the final minute of the half was the clearest warning that the Tynecastle side could not persist in their strategy without the likelihood of damage.

Beattie's presence on the bench had raised eyebrows but by the break Sergio knew he needed the forward's disruptive presence. "I spoke with Scotty and told him he had been doing a great job for us," said the Hearts manager.

"He did everything I asked him to do and I was happy with that but I didn't want to wait until we lost a goal to change it and make things happen. I told the players that I hadn't come here to watch Celtic play.

"I said I wanted us to have more of the ball so we sent Craig on to give us freshness and we scored almost from the start."

The ploy could not have worked better. Within 70 seconds of the restart Beattie adroitly turned a pass from McGowan through the channel for Rudi Skacel to bear it around Forster and finish with a trim drive into the roof of the net.

This was a typical Skacel contribution, coming as it did after an anonymous first half for the Czech, who then produced another two excellent efforts, one of which almost caught the Celtic goalkeeper unawares.

The game was an open and absorbing spectacle, even more so as Hearts tired in the home straight and were hauled level by Hooper's predatory header five minutes from time – assisted by the failure by Willie Conquer to flag the Celtic man's premature movement.

Celtic certainly could not jib at Norris's calculation of injury time, which extended to six minutes. That allocation, though, turned out to be the limit of their interest in a season that only four weeks ago contained the potential of a clean sweep of the Scottish honours.

Lennon and his players will spend the remainder of the campaign licking unexpected wounds. And the William Hill Scottish Cup final?

Whatever its quality, it will be a capital affair.

Match details

Celtic (4-4-2): Forster; Lustig (Wanyama 74), Loovens, Wilson, Mulgrew; Commons, Brown (McGeouch 82), Ki, Ledley; Samaras (Stokes 60), Hooper.
Subs: Zaluska (g), Izaguirre.
Booked: Wilson, Mulgrew.
Hearts (4-5-1): MacDonald; McGowan, Webster, Zaliukas, Grainger; Skacel, Robinson (Beattie h-t), Black (Santana 64), Barr, Driver; Elliott (Prychynenko 78).
Subs: Ridgers (g), Templeton.
Booked: Black, Beattie.
Referee: Euan Norris.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk