Paulo Sergio's side romp to Scottish Cup final victory over Edinburgh rivals

A roaring performance from Paulo Sergio's men was too much for their city rivals to contend with, leaving Pat Fenlon furious with his side's defensive lapses on such a big occasion.
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Bet: Returns: Aberdeen £23.00 Draw £32.00 Hearts £27.50

Darren Barr handed Hearts an early advantage after 12 minutes and the Jambos doubled their lead through Rudi Skacel moments later.

A goal from James McPake gave the Hibs supporters hope before the break but Pa Kujabi brought down Suso Santana early in the second, receiving his second yellow and conceding a penalty. Danny Grainger converted the spot-kick before Ryan McGowan and then Skacel rounded off a great afternoon for Hearts.

Craig Beattie began the match on the bench after missing the final few games of the SPL season with a hamstring injury. Stephen Elliot started up front for Paulo Sergio’s side.

Garry O'Connor and Leigh Griffiths began in attack for Hibernian, who fielded five loan players in their starting line-up. Pat Fenlon’s men were looking for their first Scottish cup triumph since 110 years.

Both sides got off to a nervous start with neither side managing to maintain possession of the ball in the opening 10 minutes.

The first chance of the half came after 12 minutes and fell to Hearts’ Skacel who failed to connect as he would have liked with a header from Andrew Driver’s cross.

Two minutes later and Hearts were ahead through Barr who netted his first goal for the club. Hibs failed to clear Danny Grainger’s corner and the ball broke to Ryan McGowan whose shot was blocked but fell to the feet of Barr who prodded home from close range.

Hearts were dominating the game and deservedly doubled their lead just before the half hour through Skacel. The Czech forward was afforded space in the box to turn and shoot and found the back of the net with his effort deflecting off James McPake and flying beyond Mark Brown into the bottom corner

Hibernian had a chance for a quick reply but Gary O’Connor blasted over from close range as Fenlon’s men tried desperately to get a foothold in the match.

McPake who was at fault for the second goal made amends with a goal line clearance which denied Hearts a third before the break. Driver floated a cross from the left hand side finding Suso Santana, who took a touch before shooting across Brown but McPake threw himself on the line to clear.

McPake then made further amends for his earlier error just before half-time when he went up for a corner and managed to slide the ball past McDonald from close range to hand Hibernian a lifeline after being dominated by Hearts for most of the half.

However, instead of maintaining the momentum they gathered at the end of the first half, Hibernian shot themselves in the foot to allow Hearts to re-establish their two-goal advantage within three minutes by going a man down.

Suso set off on a threatening run and Kujabi got hold of his shirt as he moved towards the Hibs box leaving referee Craig Thompson no alternative but to show the defender a second yellow card and award Hearts a penalty.

Television replays subsequently showed the original offence was clearly outside the area but, nevertheless Grainger stepped up and converted the spot-kick with confidence to all but end Hibernian's cup dreams.

Indeed those dreams were well and truly shattered only seconds later when Skacel forced a brilliant save out of Brown with a close-range effort only for McGowan to pick up the peices with a diving header to make it 4-0 and send the Hearts’ supporters into a frenzy.

Hibernian's humilation was complete on the 75th minute when Skacel scored for the 18th time this season with a scuffed shot from the edge of the area which went through McPake's legs and rolled agonisingly slowly past a demoralised Brown in the Hibs goal.

To add insult to injury, boss Fenlon was sent to the stands in the final minute after criticising the fourth official on the touchline as Hearts cruised to glory.