Feisty fare, but strikes out of the top drawer hand the joy to Jambos
HEARTS 2
Simms (16), Kingsley (21)
HIBS 1
Cadden (22)
The fact that this was almost, but not quite, a classic will matter little to the army of Hearts fans now plotting their return to Hampden on May 21.
Around 20,000 of them made their way to the National Stadium yesterday hoping to see just one thing – their team progress to the Scottish Cup Final at the expense of their Edinburgh rivals.
Of course, when they went 2-0 up early through stunning goals from Ellis Simms and Stephen Kingsley, the hopes were of another 5-1 to deposit in the memory banks for frequent withdrawal.
Yet after watching their side hauled back to just a one-goal lead and then lose two players to injury, they were more than happy to take the comfort blanket that Joe Newell’s red card provided.
And when the dust settled after the feisty finish, they were left to look forward to today’s Old Firm derby in the second semi-final, to find out who their opponents would be.
This one was lively throughout and Alex Cochrane deserves credit for getting the game off to a flyer when forcing Paul Mcginn to lose possession deep in his own half.
The ball broke to Barrie Mckay and the midfielder, so impressive in the league derby win seven days earlier, showed his vision when feeding a perfect pass through to Ellis Simms.
Just outside the D and on the angle, the striker had it all to , but he did not hesitate before smashing a shot across Hibs keeper Matt Macey and into the far side of the net.
If that was very good, what came next was arguably even better.
Stephen Kingsley is renowned for scoring spectacular set-piece goals and here he found another way to make a free-kick pay off.
Rolling the ball into the defensive wall, he managed to pick out teammate Liam Boyce, lurking with intent at one end of the line-up.
The Hearts striker flicked a cute pass sideways and Kingsley took a couple of steps on to it before curling a shot into the top corner.
The double setback was clearly too much to take for some Hibs fans for there were a fair few who could be seen heading for the exits.
Such drastic action – just 21 minutes into a game – always carries a risk the protestors will be left feeling foolish.
It certainly happened here. Within 60 seconds, their favourites had pulled the deficit back to one goal with an excellent score of their own.
This time it was Hearts who were partly culpable, with slack play from Toby Sibbick punished with Lewis Stevenson stealing in to tee up Chris Cadden inside the box.
The midfielder was out of luck with his first effort, a right-foot shot which struck the body of Newell who had tumbled in front of him.
But when the rebound fell kindly for him, he calmly switched sides and scored with his left foot.
Robbie Neilson had to deal with the loss of two players, Andy Halliday and Craig Halkett, to injury on either side of the interval.
As much as he had ready-made replacements on their substitutes’ bench – Aaron Mceneff and Taylor Moore came on – it was inevitably a disruption and one that Hibs so nearly cashed in on.
From a corner on the right, Porteous stole a yard on his markers and leapt high to power a header in on goal.
Craig Gordon got a terrific hand to it but could only half push the ball away, so he was surely the most relieved man in the ground when the ball struck the post and rebounded into his clutches.
Hearts lost players to injury but were at least able to replace them. When Hibs lost Joe Newell to a red card, for a second successive booking, they just had to get on with it.
The midfielder, usually a composed figure in the centre of midfield, had been cautioned in the first half for a foul on Mckay.
He did not have many complaints there, having earlier been warned for a clash with Gordon, and the same was true with his second as his studs were clearly up as he slid into a challenge with Peter Haring and left the Austrian squirming on the ground in pain.
It got even feistier after that with a clearly pumped-up Haring and Hibs substitute Josh Campbell both given yellows for their part in a flare up.