NO REGRETNA
Berra: Final scare against minnows means that we won’t take Partick win for granted
CHRISTOPHE BERRA insists he learned the most valuable lesson in football when Hearts beat Gretna in the 2006 Scottish Cup Final. Never underestimate your opponent. Gretna became the first team from Scottish football’s third tier to reach the showpiece 13 years ago – and took the Jambos all the way before losing 4-2 on penalties. Which is why Berra – who was an unused sub that day – is taking nothing for granted when the Gorgie club take on Championship basement boys Partick in their quarter-final replay at Tynecastle next Tuesday. Gary Caldwell’s men fought back to earn a draw on Monday night after Christie Elliott’s 71st-minute equaliser had cancelled out the Hearts skipper’s earlier opener. The winners of the last-eight clash will face Inverness in the semi-final after avoiding Aberdeen, Rangers and Celtic in the semi-final draw. But Berra isn’t cocky enough to think the Premiership outfit only have to turn up to beat two Championship teams and reach the final. And he fears it must be in Hearts’ DNA to overcomplicate matters. The 34-year-old defender said: “If only reaching the Scottish Cup Final was that easy. I don’t think this club has ever done anything easy. “The last time I was involved in the Scottish Cup we beat Gretna on penalties and that went right down to the wire. “So it is all about getting through. We are not daft and obviously I have spoken about the Gretna experience with the current group of
players. It is all about attitude and application from the boys.
“We showed great attitude and application, especially in the first half against Partick Thistle.
“The boys were on the front foot, they were there for the taking and we just couldn’t finish them off.
“There was a bit of frustration at the end because we felt we did enough to win the game. Partick had one chance and scored.
“Whoever gets through it is a favourable draw but we are not looking that far ahead.
“We will do it the hard way but our aim is to win the Scottish Cup.”
Hearts dominated the first period at Firhill and were deservedly ahead at the break courtesy of Berra’s second goal of the campaign.
The Jags roared right back into the contest after the restart and the Jambos were caught cold by Ellliott’s sucker punch with 19 minutes left.
However, Berra agreed with boss Craig Levein’s assertion that the Jambos should have been awarded a penalty for Gary Harkins’ challenge on Uche Ikpeazu which referee Bobby Madden waved away late on.
Berra said: “We could’ve scored two or three goals in the first half
“They had one chance. We should also have had a penalty for the foul against Uche. Some people say it was a stonewaller but I haven’t seen it again.
“That’s football for you, if you don’t kill teams off you can get punished and we switched off for their goal.
“We are still in the Cup and look forward to the game at Tynecastle.
“Uche is frustrated, he wants to score goals. If that was someone else for the penalty he might have got it but because it’s big Uche, he sometimes thinks he can run through a brick wall and the refs might be thinking it is a hard one to call.”