Inverness 1 Hearts 1: match report

By Ewing Grahame, Easter Road

7:56PM GMT 26 Jan 2013

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Ten-man Hearts overcame the odds and recent form to reach the final of the Scottish Communities League Cup.

After two bruising hours it came down to penalty kicks. Marius Zaliukas, Michael Ngoo, Andy Webster, Arvydas Novikovas and Mehdi Taouil converted for Hearts while Graeme and Andrew Shinnie, Billy McKay and Owain Tudur Jones did likewise for Inverness but Philip Roberts failed to make it a perfect 10.

Hearts handed Ngoo, signed on loan from Liverpool on Friday, the role of lone striker as they sought to contain Scotland’s in-form team. Terry Butcher’s men came into this tie brimful of confidence due to an 11-match undefeated sequence stretching back to Nov 18.

Jamie Walker was fortunate to escape a caution for diving when he went down far too easily under pressure from Graeme Shinnie.

Three minutes later Andrew Shinnie sprung Hearts’ offside trap with a chipped pass that released McKay. Left with only Jamie MacDonald to beat, however, Inverness’ top scorer fluffed his lines and his weak shot was comfortably saved by the goalkeeper.
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It was a feisty affair and Richie Foran was shown a yellow card for a cynical foul on Andy Driver after 18 minutes.

Gary Warren and Ngoo soon joined him in the official’s notebook for an off-the-ball scuffle and the latter saw a glancing header beat Antonio Regeuro but come back off his left-hand post.

Slack marking then allowed McKay a free header from Graeme Shinnie’s free-kick but once again the Northern Ireland striker was found wanting, failing to hit the target from six yards.

Inverness were in the ascendancy, however, and they took the lead four minutes after the restart. Driver conceded possession 30 yards from his own goal and that allowed Andrew Shinnie to stroll on and dispatch a low angled drive behind MacDonald from 15 yards.

Hearts restored parity when Scott Robinson nodded Fraser Mullen’s free-kick back across goal for Ngoo to volley home from point-blank range.

Hearts suffered a major setback 12 minutes from time, however, when Robinson’s rash, studs-up challenge on Tudur Jones led to him being shown a straight red card. Robinson will be suspended for the final, as will club captain Zaliukas.

In spite of being numerically disadvantaged, last season’s Scottish Cup winners dug in to force extra time: indeed, substitute Novikovas could have put them in front following a misunderstanding between Thistle’s central defenders but the Lithuanian screwed his shot wide.

At the other end McKay and Shane Sutherland contrived to miss an open goal: it was that kind of afternoon. Graeme Shinnie cleared a Zaliukas header off the line while Andrew Shinnie scooped a shot over from three yards as penalties loomed.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk