Gordon saves blushes as Hearts fail to shine

IT IS surely to be hoped that Jack McConnell, Scotland's First Minister, is a better judge of the great social issues than he seems to be of football.

A few minutes after presenting the Tennent's Scottish Cup to Hearts, McConnell told BBC Radio Scotland listeners of his "fantastic experience" at Hampden Park, having just watched "one of the best Scottish Cup finals in years".

A short time before, Steven Pressley, captain of the Tynecastle side and recipient of the old trophy, had been interviewed on the pitch and told the same audience that "I want to apologise for our performance".

In the short debate over the merits of this latest renewal of the SFA's showcase event, the player beat the politician pointless.

Neither verdict, of course, could be considered surprising. In his everyday life, McConnell has spent years perfecting the linguistic bodyswerve, a form of manipulating the views of anyone in his presence which includes kissing babies and assuring constituents that every action he and his colleagues take is for their benefit.

But it was Pressley's workplace that was under discussion and the big defender, honest to the last, demonstrated that he would have no truck with whitewashing.

Few Hearts supporters will disown the cup triumph on the grounds that it was so unimpressively achieved, but it is likely that the majority, on sober reflection, will be thankful that the opposition was not more formidable than Gretna.

No blame attaches to the small club from Dumfries and Galloway for a final that was, in the main, an exhibition of the kind of pedestrianism and low-grade football that is indigenous to the bottom echelons of the professional game.

Indeed, for most of the 120 minutes, Rowan Alexander's unflinching heroes must have believed that they were once again facing rivals from the Second Division. Or, at best, one of those First Division sides they had overcome on their way to the Hampden showdown.

Pressley's apology to his team's supporters was nothing less than recognition that Hearts, on the day they were expected to emphasise the division in class between themselves and Gretna with a comprehensive victory, had themselves slipped several rungs down the ladder.

Apart from the captain's post-match admonition, the single most reliable indicator of the Tynecastle side's deterioration was to be found in the performance of Paul Hartley. If the midfielder at his best has characterised Hearts' optimum work throughout this productive season, the opposite is equally true.

Hartley last Thursday made the candid observation that he might never play a better game in a Hearts shirt than he did when scoring a hat-trick in the 4-0 victory over Hibernian in the cup semi-final. It is arguable that he might never perform less effectively in the same jersey than he did in this final.

This was the mirror image of his exceptional display that day last month, with everything the wrong way round. Where the ball had seemed to come to him - and leave him - as though by remote control, on this occasion it kept running away from him.

Where free-kicks had zoomed past defensive walls and into the net or forced the opposing goalkeeper to make a crucial save, against Gretna they were wildly off-target or so feebly struck as to be utterly unthreatening.

This is not to hold Hartley solely culpable for Hearts' general poverty. In the matter of failing to achieve his normal high standard, he was certainly not alone. Rudi Skacel, Deividas Cesnauskis, Edgaras Jankauskas and Roman Bednar were others who looked as though impostors were wearing their kit.

But, because of the heights he had reached previously, Hartley's faintness was the more shocking, his all-round performance the Tynecastle team in microcosm. His ordering-off for a second yellow card two minutes from the end of extra-time was almost appropriate to his miserable afternoon.

Hints of what was to come were seen in the early stages, when Hearts failed to exploit promising positions from which they could have established a telling advantage, most notably the shot from Cesnauskis from just outside the penalty area which came back off the right-hand post of goalkeeper Alan Main.

It is easy to speculate that a couple of goals in the opening ten minutes could have resulted in the one-sided, potentially embarrassing final the majority had expected. But Hearts seemed to be too easily discouraged - or perhaps, in certain cases, too complacent - and within a short time they were performing at the same level as their opponents.

Even the goal from Skacel shortly before half-time - a left-foot drive from beyond the far post after Robbie Neilson's long throw from the right glanced off the head of the unfortunate Chris Innes - did nothing to propel them towards a more convincing performance.

Instead, it was Gretna who sensed the opportunity for improbable glory. When David Graham replaced Dave Nicholls after 55 minutes, he produced more attacking surges than had previously seemed possible.

When Graham jinked his way past an entire posse of defenders, including the conspicuously uncertain Ibrahim Tall, and then carried the ball past goalkeeper Craig Gordon, he was prevented from rolling it into an unprotected net only by the perfectly-timed challenge of the back-tracking Neilson, who slid the ball away for a corner kick.

In the circumstances, the equaliser was the least surprising development of the day. When Cesnauskis tripped John O'Neil on the right side of the area, McGuffie took the penalty kick, but his shot lacked conviction and Gordon saved.

The Hearts goalkeeper himself had been unusually unreliable under pressure and, strange though it may sound, his penalty save also seemed uncertain. He allowed the ball to bounce back out to McGuffie, who drilled it over the line from four yards.

Gordon certainly atoned for earlier anxieties by saving Derek Townsley's penalty in the shoot-out. This was followed by Gavin Skelton's miss - the ball clipping the bar on its way over - and, with Pressley, Neilson, Skacel and substitute Michal Pospisil having already converted, the cup was back in Hearts' possession after an eight-year abstinence.

All of the colour had been provided by a capacity crowd who were much more animated than most of the players. They were poorly rewarded with a cup final they did not deserve.

We must build on this, says emotional Pressley

STEVEN Pressley hailed the magnificent turnout by Hearts supporters for the Scottish Cup victory celebrations yesterday as an indication of how much potential for growth the club has. Speaking after an estimated 80,000 people packed the centre of Edinburgh for the traditional open-top bus parade and another 15,000 had welcomed the Hearts squad back into Tynecastle, the Hearts captain added that the vital thing for the club to do now was to build on the achievements of this season.

"There were several hundred thousand Hearts supporters out there on the streets of Edinburgh today, and I believe this shows the potential of the club," Pressley said, adding that ground improvements were a must in order to let more fans into matches and hence put more money into the club. "If the club is to move forward we can't just rely on Mr Romanov's investment," he said. "We also have to operate the club in the right financial manner, and that includes increasing the size of the stadium.

"We'll have to prove we're capable of sustaining this. Many teams have had good seasons and failed to sustain it, but I believe we can do it."

Pressley's stabilising influence has been critical in a season in which Hearts have had four different managers or interim bosses - George Burley, John McGlynn, Graham Rix and Valdas Ivanauskas. He hopes that next season will see less upheaval, and believes that the current interim head coach should be appointed to the post properly.

"Valdas should be appointed manager. He's done a fantastic job and would be a very popular choice. We don't want to have to endure another season of continuous change - we'd like stability."

Pressley was the last player to come out of the tunnel and be introduced to the crowd at Tynecastle yesterday, and was given a rapturous reception when he walked on to the pitch carrying the Scottish Cup. He said he had been close to tears when he spotted his mother in the stand, wiping her eyes as she watched "her wee boy lifting the cup".

The captain was accompanied on to the pitch yesterday by his niece, Morgan. His four-year-old son Aaron had been with him on Saturday as the team won the cup, but had decided not to attend yesterday. "He told me he wanted to go to a birthday party today. Imagine preferring a bouncy castle to this."

STUART BATHGATE