Pressley’s penalty cause

WHEN Hearts won the cup in 1956 and in 1998, they had been underdogs. In 2006, against Gretna, they could not have been firmer favourites, writes Moira Gordon. It was a Hearts side that had been tipped to challenge for the title and had actually been leading the race before managerial upheaval cast a shadow. They had still finished second, splitting the Old Firm and were littered with quality internationals. Their opponents were a team from the Second Division, debuting in a Hampden final.

“It was very, very tense because of that,” remembers captain Steven Pressley. “Everyone expected us to win but I felt that cup final was one of our poorest performances of the season.

“I remember looking round the pitch and thinking ‘this season has finally caught up with us’. As a team, physically and mentally, we looked extremely fatigued. We were flat that day. At no point did I think we weren’t going to win it but I did realise early on that we were going to have to dig deep. We had gone at then for the first 20-25 minutes but, after that, it was our strength and our experience that saw us through, even if it was only after penalties.

Rudi Skacel’s 39th minute goal had been cancelled out by Ryan McGuffie after John O’Neil was tripped by Deividas Cesnauskis to win a 75th minute penalty. Craig Gordon saved the spot-kick but was unable to keep out the rebound. Extra time couldn’t find a winner, corralling everyone into the drama of a penalty shoot-out. “People say it is a lottery but we had Craig in goals and I always believed he would save at least one. On the flipside, we had Robbie Neilson taking one of our penalties!” Pressley jokes. At the time the tension in the stadium was palpable. “We just had to score ours and, when we did, it was a special time, not just from a personal perspective of me getting to lift the cup, it was also special for the club because it was eight years since the last trophy and the season had started off so promisingly and I think we deserved the win because, like the current Hearts squad, we had to deal with a lot of things going on at the club that were outwith our control.

“Those issues had brought us closer together and I hope that is the case this season because you have to be dogged in finals. Sometimes things don’t go as anticipated and the favourites don’t just cruise through. They didn’t that year and we had to use all our experience and quality. There were celebrations at the end but there was also a degree of relief because we knew we hadn’t played well.”