Hearts in semis…just!

Thistle’s noisy travelling support came to town armed to the teeth with red, yellow and black balloons, which they threw onto the pitch at kick-off. Most of us joked that they would have eleven balloons out there anyway so why the need to add more, but in the end it was the home side’s players who were more befitting of this description.

The game was barely five minutes old when the men from Maryhill did what you must never do when playing against a bigger team in the cup: conceded the first goal. Paul Hartley made space for himself on the left wing and swung over a pinpoint cross with his right foot that Edgaras Jankauskas majestically powered into the top corner of the net with his head. 1-0.

You would think this would settle the home side and take the sting out of Thistle, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Driving into a strong, swirling wind that at times made the match a bit of a lottery, Thistle took the game to Hearts and although Craig Gordon was not tested, they had a good period of pressure. A 20 yarder whistled just over before McConalogue blasted over from close range when he should have done better.

The wind was making passing very difficult, but Cesnauskis was buzzing away for Hearts down the right wing and he fired over a series of dangerous crosses, the pick of which was met by Jankauskas who just missed the target with his glancing header.

Thistle ended the half quite strongly and Gordon was relieved to see James’ fine looping header drifting narrowly wide of his right-hand post.

The visitors started the second half in a similar vein and they continued to press the unconvincing looking Hearts back four.

After 57 minutes Thistle’s Gibson blasted in a free-kick that was deflected and looked in all the way. However Craig Gordon reacted magnificently to get a hand to the ball at full stretch to keep it out.

Hearts, struggling to get their passing going, then went 2-0 up against the run of play. Cesnauskis, the home side’s most dangerous player today, cut in from the right wing and instead of squaring to players in seemingly better positions, he unleashed a magnificent left foot shot that flew past Arthur into the top right hand corner. 2-0. Game over? Far from it.

The second goal at last seemed to settle Hearts and they started to knock the ball around more confidently. However all that changed after the introduction of Roman Bednar, who came on for the tiring Elliot. You’d normally expect this to boost the home side’s performance and initially it did, the big Czech looking as fit and strong as I’ve ever seen him. However within ten minutes he’d been given two yellow cards and was off the park! His first booking was a disgrace to be fair: allegedly blocking a quick free kick. Lots of players were guilty of this today so why referee Thomson felt the need to book Bednar for this but no-one else is beyond me. This is the sort of inconsistency that hacks off supporters and you’re lucky if Bednar even knew anything about it. However his second booking was justified: powering through one-on-one with the keeper, he went round Arthur before clearly taking a dive. Certain yellow card and fair play to Thomson for having the bottle to send him off. I’m sure I’m not the only Jambo who was annoyed at the referee’s apparent glee in doing so though – they really love sending off our players don’t they?!

Thistle then started to take control of the game as Hearts retreated into a defensive shell, content to hold onto their lead. This lead was soon halved though, when Mark Roberts latched onto Pressley’s slack header, skipped past the beleaguered centre-back and slid a lovely shot across Gordon into the left-hand corner of the net. Game on.

A minute later a nice dummy by Roberts gave Darren Brady a glorious chance to level the tie, but he fired wrecklessly over under pressure from Mikoliunas, who did just enough to put the Thistle man off.

There were more than a few squeaky backsides around me in the Wheatfield Stand now and that wasn’t helped when Rix brought on another defender, Christophe Berra, a sure sign that the remainder of the game would be backs-to-the-wall stuff.

Thistle continued to press but it was actually Hearts who created the better chances to score in the latter stages. On the break, Paul Hartley broke away down the left and crossed for Mikoliunas, who saw his diving header shave the right hand post. He really should have hit the target from six yards though.

The home side managed to see out the rest of the match without too much fuss. The main question I’d like to ask people who saw the game was do they know how Grant Murray stayed on the park? He committed at least three bookable offences after being booked and Thomson seemed to bottle out of showing him the red. One rule for one man and another for another it seems…..nah that would just be paranoid wouldn’t it?!

Player Ratings

Gordon 7
Had very little to do but did make one fantastic save from deflected free-kick.

Neilson 6
Solid enough shift up and down the right flank, although looked a bit nervous late on!

Fyssas 4
Really struggled to get going today and looked off the pace.

Pressley 5
Started off ok but his defensive frailties were exposed in second half. Bad mistakes let Roberts in to score.

Webster 6
Not his best game but still the most assured of the back four and won most of his challenges.

Cesnauskis 7
Always very lively and fired over some dangerous crosses. Brilliant goal.

Hartley 6
Never stopped trying to the point where he was completely kn*ckered at the end! Nice cross for opening goal but like most of the midfield, found the going tough.

Brellier 6
Similarly to Hartley, he did some good things and some bad things today. Was always involved and competed for everything as ever.

Skacel 2
Was he even playing?

Elliot 6
Worked very hard and gave Thistle problems in first half. However tired in second half and was subbed for Bednar.

Jankauskas 7
Led the line well and gave Hearts good presence up front. Great header for first goal.

Bednar 2
Looked very sharp and powerful but stupidly got himself sent off, which could ultimately cost us the cup.

Berra 2
Looked extremely shaky.
Consistently gave the ball away and should have scored with late header to seal it.