Housty: I took Rudi off United spot kicks

By ROBERT MARTIN
Published: 8 hrs ago

PETER HOUSTON has admitted it was his call to stop Rudi Skacel taking a penalty against his old club after the Jambos sent United crashing out on spot kicks.

John McGlynn’s side booked a return trip to Hampden just five months after their Scottish Cup victory by winning the shootout 5-4 after the sides had drawn 1-1.

But the main talking point afterwards was Houston’s decision NOT to let Skacel attempt to score a penalty against the Tynecastle side.

The Czech looked visibly upset when told he would be left out of the shoot-out to even up line-ups after Hearts star Darren Barr’s red card during normal time.

But Houston insisted it would have been unfair to put that kind of pressure on the midfielder so soon after his move to United.

He said: “I decided to take Rudi out. I thought it would be best with the guys I know can take penalties and who I trust.

“I don’t think it would have been fair to Rudi to put that pressure on him.

“We’d spoken about it beforehand so Rudi knew I wasn’t going to let him take a penalty.

“But the biggest disappointment for me was not the penalty kicks. The biggest disappointment for me was the 120 minutes beforehand.

“I don’t blame the guys who missed. We’re out and that’s the way penalties go sometimes.

“But I don’t think we did enough to win the game anyway.”

Danny Grainger and John Sutton missed Hearts’ first two penalties but Andy Webster, Andrew Driver, Ryan McGowan, Scott Robinson and Marius Zaliukas all scored from the spot.

Johnny Russell, Gavin Gunning, Brian McLean and Stuart Armstrong scored for United but misses from Gary Mackay-Steven, John Rankin and Sean Dillon saw them crash out.

Hearts boss McGlynn was delighted to make it through to the last four and praised his players for their bravery in taking their spot kicks in front of the United die-hards.

But he admitted he was surprised to see Skacel standing on the sidelines as the drama unfolded.

He said: “I was more concerned about our players but Rudi does hit a decent ball.

“It was great the players wanted to go up and take penalties and deal with the pressure of taking them in front of the Dundee United fans. And Jamie MacDonald did well to save some of them.”

MacDonald added: “I think Rudi was a bit gutted playing against his former club.

“But it’s a great result for us. It’s another trip to Hampden and it’s great to go back so quickly after winning the Scottish Cup.

“It’s a trophy we haven’t won for 50 years so I think trying to win it is high up on the club’s list of priorities.”