25th May 2019 Hearts v Celtic 1-2

Cup Final day today. Woke up at 6.00am and on checking online came across a disturbing newspaper headline - " ScotRail services cancelled between Edinburgh and Glasgow due to burst water main". Thankfully on reading the article I found it applied to trains last night and the problem had now been sorted so my travel plans were unchanged. Had a late breakfast of a couple of bacon rolls and left the house at 10.30 to walk to Waverley Station. Arrived at the station and caught a train to Queen Street Station in Glasgow. It was not an express and I had an interesting journey stopping at Haymarket, Edinburgh Park, Linlithgow, Falkirk Grahamstown, Polmont, Cumbernauld, Gartcosh, Springburn and anywhere else I have forgotten before arriving at Queen Street. Walked to Central Station and caught a train to Mount Florida. Walked down the hill and arrived at Hampden about 14.00. Paid an massive £6 for a programme and entered the ground. Again overpaid at £5.20 for a pie and a coffee before heading for my seat. in Section P2 in the lower section of the William Hill stand. Despite being six rows from the front I had not a bad view.

Hearts had injury problems with Steven Naismith and Olly Lee definite non-starters. Peter Haring, Arnaud Djoum and Uche Ikpeazu had all been injury doubts but all three made the team, albeit Ikpeazu was only fit enough for the bench. There were two surprises in the side with Aaron Hickey making his second start at left-back and Ryan Edwards making only his fifth appearance for the club coming into midfield. For Celtic Keiran Tierney was not risked and Jonny Hayes failed in at left-back. Scott Sinclair was on the bench with Mikey Johnston filling his wide left position after scoring twice in Celtic's 2-1 league victory over Hearts the previous weekend.

The first half of the final was not a great footballing spectacle. Both sides were working hard and trying to close the other side down quickly with defences generally on top. For Hearts both Hickey and Jake Mulraney looked good on the left hand side. Mulraney looking to have the beating of Michael Lustig and sent a couple of good low crosses into the Celtic penalty area. However with Steven MacLean playing as a lone striker the Celtic central defenders were able to clear the ball before the striker could gather it and lay the ball off to midfield players coming into the box. Hickey's direct opponent was Scotland's Player of the Year James Forrest. Forrest however was kept well under control by Hickey. The full-back also found time to get forward and have Hearts first direct shot of goal but the weak shot was comfortably held by Scott Bain in the Celtic goal. Edwards was working hard in midfield and Haring was doing an excellent job as the defensive cover in midfield but also managed to send some good passes forward. Hearts central defensive partnership of Christophe Berra and John Souttar were in commanding form. Souttar had one excellent tackle on Odsonne Edouard to prevent him getting a shot on target while Berra slid in well to also prevent a Callum McGregor cross from reaching the Celtic striker. With Michael Smith his usual commanding self at right-back Hearts were defending well and holding their own in midfield.

The second half started in the same manner until the fifty-second minute when Hearts went ahead. Hearts won a throw about twelve yards from goal on the left hand side of the Celtic penalty box. Hickey threw the ball to Mulraney who returned the ball to the full-back. Hickey looked up, moved infield, and saw Djoum making a run into the box and passed the ball to him just outside the eighteen yard line. Djoum continued his run and from about fifteen yards out hit the ball across goal. The ball was deflected to Sean Clare who back-flicked it on the Edwards about eight yards out. His low shot beat Bain and flew into the net for his first goal for Hearts. The Hearts end were in an uproar as the ball hit the net. When I sat down again after the celebrations my first thought was that referee Collum had not yet given his usual penalty award to Celtic against Hearts. As he had awarded penalties to Celtic in the last five games he has refereed them against Hearts my apprehension was justified. My fears were realised ten minutes later when 'Bobby' Zlamal delayed coming out to gather a through ball as Edouard ran into the penalty area. When Zlamal went to gather the ball Edouard went down and a penalty was awarded. From where I was sitting, at the other end of the park, it looked like a penalty but on seeing it on TV later it appeared that Edouard had dived as he left his leg trailing to meet Zlamals challenge, there also appeared to be a suggestion that he had followed through on the keeper before he fell. Zlamal could have stayed on his line as Berra was racing back to cover and the ball was wide of the goal. Edouard took the penalty himself and despite Zlamal's dive to the left of the goal the ball had enough pace to beat him for the equaliser. Celtic took the lead in seventy-seven minutes when Lustig headed an Edwards clearance back down the centre of the field. With Berra out of position, and Souttar unable to get across to cover, Edouard had a free run in on goal. As Zlamal rushed out to meet him the striker shot high into the left hand side of the net to put Celtic ahead. Hearts brought on Ikpeazu and Bozanic, with Wighton having already been used as a substitute, and pushed Berra upfront in an effort to get an equaliser and take the tie into extra time. As the game ent into injury the there was a strange incident when Celtic keeper Bain, who had already been booked for time wasting, went down in the six yard box after clearing the ball following a Hearts corner.Referee Collum stopped the game and ran back to check Bain was not badly injured as the keeper 'struggled' to his feet. The game restarted with a free kick to Celtic on the six yard line when I felt the correct decision should have been a dropped ball at halfway where the game had been stopped and another yellow card to Bain and then a red for further time wasting. Even though sportsmanship would have meant Celtic should have given the ball back to Hearts as the game had been stopped for a supposed injury to one of their players I think they would have contested this dropped ball given the situation in the game. Despite two headed chances for Berra Hearts were unable to score and the final whistle went to hand Celtic the Scottish Cup. This also meant they had won a Treble Table having lifted all three domestic trophies for the third season running.

I did not stay to cheer Hearts off the field despite the great effort they had put into the game as I could not stand the gloating from the Celtic fans and the behaviour of their players on the pitch. I therefore left and headed for the station. Despite claims that extra trains were being laid on I had to wait until 17.40 before a train arrived heading to Glasgow Central Station. A train had arrived a couple of minutes earlier going in the other direction and rail staff advised Hearts fns to take it as it was a circular route and would return to Glasgow Central, however they made no mention of how long this would take. I got back to Central at 17.55 and caught the 18.10 from Central back to Edinburgh. I could have walked up to Queen Street and caught a quicker train but trains to Queen Street to Edinburgh would have been packed. Got back to Haymarket at 19.15 and was home by 19.30 and although disappointed thought that today was the best Hearts performance I had seen since probably October last year. Never mind there is always next season !

Teams
Hearts; Zlamal, M. Smith, Hickey, Souttar, Haring, Berra, Clare, Edwards, MacLean, Djoum, Mulraney.
Subs: Wighton, Ikpeazu, Bozanic.
Celtic: Bain, Simunovic, Brown, Hayes, Rogic, Edouard, Lustig, Ajer, McGregor, Forrest, Johnston.
Subs: Nitcham, Sinclair, Bitton.