Hibernian 1 Heart of Midlothian 5

By Roddy Forsyth, at Hampden Park

6:40PM BST 19 May 2012

The road that they had traversed with such glowing hope in the morning was already thronged with anguished Hibernian fans on their way back to Edinburgh while there was still half an hour to play in the stadium they had abandoned to their arch rivals’ celebratory antics.

The aching hunger in Leith for an end to Hibs’ 110-year long exile from Scottish Cup success was extended in circumstances as close to torment as football can inflict.

The possibility of severe embarrassment – indeed, humiliation – had been signalled as early as the 15th minute when Hearts scored the early goal so feared by everybody associated with the Easter Road side.

The seeds of confusion were sown when Hearts won the first corner kick of the game and decided to play it short to draw Hibs defenders out of their penalty area.

The ploy worked a treat – in fact, Hibs were bemused virtually every time Hearts forced a corner throughout the afternoon. In this case, when the ball did arrive in the danger area it was met by Isaiah Osbourne, whose ineffectual header typified a miserable outing for the midfielder – although he was in abundant company.

His attempted clearance fell to Ryan McGowan, whose return shot was partly blocked, only for the deflection to sit up perfectly for Darren Barr to poke past Mark Brown and into the net. This was, by general consent, the start most likely to kill the occasion as a contest and nothing that happened in the ensuing passage of play contradicted that impression.

Within two minutes of the opening goal Pa Kujabi was cautioned for a foul on Suso Santana – another occurrence that was to resonate badly for Hibs as the day wore on – and before the half hour mark had been reached Pat Fenlon’s side were further behind.

Rudi Skacel, prowling in the area between the deep lying midfield pair of Barr and Ian Black and Hearts’ lone forward, Stephen Elliott, continually induced uncertainty in the opposing back line.

He struck in spectacular style when Black picked him out with a simple infield pass which he converted into a delightful goal when he was allowed to swivel on the edge of the box and curl his finish into the far corner. The prospect of an abject afternoon was now clearly in view for Hibs, but they hauled themselves back from the precipice when it was Hearts’ turn to defend a corner kick inadequately.

They got the first part right with a clearance towards the halfway line but when Matt Doherty lofted the ball straight back down the edge of the pitch to Thomas Soares, whose cutback just eluded Garry O’Connor, but not James McPake, who slipped a low shot just away from Jamie MacDonald.

The interval proved to be no more than a brief flickering moment of relief. Scarcely had play restarted than Hibs were down to 10 men as Kujabo was cautioned again for a blatant tug on Suso’s jersey but the greater damage was inflicted by Craig Thomson’s decision to award a penalty kick, although the Hearts man was outside the box when the offence occurred.

Danny Grainger despatched the spot kick with brio and Hibs unravelled completely within three minutes when another corner kick from Grainger saw Skacel scoop a shot goalwards, where Elliott headed on for McGowan to nod the ball home from close range.

Some Hibs fans were already heading for the exit and the trickle became a torrent as Hearts amused themselves with long passages of possession football before Skacel made it 5-1 with an almost contemptuously executed goal, consisting of a pass rather than a shot, to place the ball between Brown and the left hand post.

That, though, was not the end of Hibs’ punishment. As the Hearts fans taunted him with chants of ‘One Pat Fenlon – there’s only one Pat Fenlon’ the manager made a gesture towards them which attracted the attention of the police and then Thomson, who sent him to the stand before he got into worse trouble.

By then Hibs’ half of the stadium was almost entirely deserted but Paulo Sergio, the Hearts manager, admirably refrained from gloating when he said: “I’m very happy but I’m calm.

“It was not comfortable at 2-1 but we said at half time that we had to go back on to the pitch very strongly and that’s what we did.

"I do not want to say anything disrespectful to our opponents but I do want to praise the Hearts fans – they sounded like the best in the world today.”

Taken from telegraph.co.uk