Kids are alright for McGlynn as Butcher relives penalty woes

HEARTS manager John McGlynn last night hailed the battling qualities which have taken his side through back-to-back Scottish Communities League Cup ties on penalties with 10 men and said his side's successive Hampden final can lift the doom and gloom around the Gorgie club.

Despite fielding a side which contained seven players aged 21 or under, the Tynecastle outfit ground out this victory on spot kicks following the second-half dismissal of Scott Robinson, much as they did in their quarter- final at Tannadice. The chance to appear at the national stadium in March is a huge financial boost to a club which has struggled to pay its players this season and subsequently is still subject to restrictions on the registration of players.

"Financially it is a massive boost, because we are not out of the woods yet," said McGlynn. "It is a great boost for the fans, because there has been a lot of doom and gloom this season, a lot we have brought upon ourselves. Overall, if there was justice, I think it was right that we won it. It was very similar to Tannadice that night where we stuck to our task and did very well."

McGlynn heaped praise on Michael Ngoo, one of the men he had been able to sign. Just 24 hours after his arrival on-loan, the big Londoner had an inspired debut, punctuated by a crucial equaliser and a penalty in the shoot-out.

"He only came up on Thursday evening and trained yesterday, had quite a quick session and introduction to the players," said McGlynn. "Any striker coming to his new club wants to hit the ground running and I think he did that."

Referee Euan Norris, who had awarded Hearts a controversial penalty in last year's Scottish Cup semi-final, didn't endear himself to supporters of either side, but McGlynn was circumspect about the match official's performance.

"I don't have many complaints with the sending-off, it looked like Scott was over the ball so it could have been a red card, but I am not going to talk any more about officials because I don't want to be sitting in the stands."

The match's denouement came at 5-4 in the shoot-out, when Philip Roberts, on-loan from Arsenal, fired over the bar to hand the Tynecastle side victory. Hearts goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald last night revealed he had been screaming at him in an attempt to put him off.

"I just started shouting, at him, to see if it worked," said MacDonald. "I don't know if he heard me, but it seemed to work. I saw Joe Hart do it once so I thought I would give it a bash."

Terry Butcher, a veteran of the 1990 World Cup semi-final defeat to West Germany on penalties, refused to single out Roberts for blame, but bemoaned his side's inability to finish off their chances as his side failed to clinch the first major final appearance in their short history.

The normally footsure Billy McKay was the main culprit, unable to beat Jamie MacDonald twice when clean through on goal, although Andrew Shinnie also somehow managed to fail to score in the dying minutes of extra-time from beneath the bar.

"We had some great chances, enough to win two or three games, not just the one," Butcher said. "I think we deserve to have won the game, but when it comes to the penalties it is a lottery.

"It is an unusual feeling because we haven't lost for ages. I am disappointed for him [Roberts] but there are no fingers pointed in the dressing room. It is not nice to lose and not nice to lose on penalties. I should know."

Taken from the Herald