Scottish Cup semi final at Hampden today. Hearts have beaten Rangers in their history. Even when they won the Scottish Cup against Rangers the game was played at Parkhead as Hampden was being refurbished. I was going to go by Megabus but decided train would be quicker. After a brunch of a bacon sandwich I headed off to Waverley station to catch the 12.00. The bus to the station was early and even after going into M&S for a bottle of juice and a bag of crisps I managaged to catch the 11.30 train. After arriving at Glasgow Queen Street I walked to Central station. It was only just after 13.00 so I had a walk around the streets near the station before returned to get a train to Hampden. There were extra trains going to Mount Florida but as I did not want to be surrounded by Rangers fans I was heading to Kings Park. This meant I avoided queuing for a Mount Florida train and rail staff directed me to platform 8 for Kings Park. After a short walk I arrived at Hampden and entered the ground just after 14.00. My seat was around halfway up the terrace near the centre circle and I had an excellent view although I had to stand up to see once the action started.
Hearts manager Steven Naismith made three changes from the side that completed a thrilling comeback win over Livingston a week previous. Stephen Kingsley, Alan Forrest and Kenneth Vargas were in from the start, with Yutaro Oda, Barrie McKay and Alex Cochrane moving to the bench. Rangers who had lost against Ross County and drawn with Dundee I thought was their strongest side on view.
Rangers had the first chance early on when Cyrillic Dessers headed over the crossbar. However after five minutes things went wrong for Hearts. Todd cantwellis own half fed Dssders down the left and Nat Atkinson failed to clap ear. Dessers cut into the bos and shot passed Gordon at his near post. The worst thing that can h against a bigot brother is an early goal !Proceedings calmed down somewhat as Hearts began to take over the possession stakes. An opportunity presented itself 23 minutes in when Vargas broke forward, but with Atkinson tearing down the right he elected to shoot from distance and dragged his effort wide of Jack Butland’s left-hand post. moments Frankie Kent had a chance from a Lawrence Shankland cross blocked by Butland in the Rangers goal. To be honest I think if the ball had landed in the net VAR would have ruled it off for offside.
At the start of the second half Hearts were attacking well but the final ball into the penalty was lacking in accuracy and was cleared by the Rangers defence. Hearts came in seventy-three minutes when McKay low ball was only cleared to Cammy Devlin. He passed forward to Oda whose shot was deflected wide of the far post. McKay corner found Shankland beyond the far post but his diving header ended up in the side net. Rangers scored a second in seventy seven minutes. Hearts substitute McAuley Tait broke from his in half but lost the ball but lost the ball to Rangers Cantrell about twenty yards over the halfway line. Cantwell broke forward into the Hearts penalty box before finding Dessers. The forward had his shot parried by a good save from Gordon but the forward collected the rebound and shot past the grounded Gordon for his second goal of the game. Rangers had a further chance when Fabio Silva raced onto the ball appeared to trip over the ball before he could shoot. I could have see Hearts pulling back two goals before the final whistle and left my seat to head up to the concourse to watch the last few minutes.
After the final whistle I headed to Kings Park station to catch a train back to Glasgow Central. There was a nineteen minute wait the next train but I managed to get a seat. The train arrived at CEntral at 27.40 and the next Edinburgh was at 18,20. I walked up to Queen Street and managed to catch the 18.00 back to Edinburgh. On the journey I was thinking about the Hearts performance in the match. I could not understand why Cochrane did not start or even come on as a substitute. Also Jorge Grant seemed to be playing in a number ten role. He is a good midfield player but does not have the pace for a ten role. I arrived back home ten minutes later after a disappointing away day.
Teams
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Lundstram, Souttar, Dessers, Cantwell,, Matondo, Sima,Sterling, Balogun, Diomande.
Subs: McCausland, Silva, Lawrence, Barisic, Rasmin
Hearts: Gordon, Kent, Kingsley, Baningime, Grant, Shankland, Atkinson, Devlin, Rowles, Forrest, Vargas.
Subs: McKay, Oda, Lembikisa, Tait, Tagawa.
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