Magic touch secures Hampden trip

THIS Scottish Cup semi-final burst into life in the final ten minutes - with a touch of Magic winning it for the Jam Tarts, who clinched their first Cup final spot for ten years.

A poor first half saw little action except Joe Miller ghosting beyond Neil Pointon to curl a delicious left-footer that Gilles Rousset tipped round his post. This incident, seconds prior to half-time, was all Aberdeen had to savour in a tortuously poor opening 45 minutes.

Hearts, to be fair, weren't much better, using Hampden's vast grassland to batter the ball into the air. Even their one real incision, a swift turn and shot from Allan Johnston, was deflected by a defender before Michael Watt sprawled and clutched.

But, at the interval, Jambos boss Jim Jefferies implored his players to ignore their feelings of apprehension and attack Aberdeen.

"I told them that if they had a go I would back them, irrespective of how the game ended," he said. One minute into the second half, Alan Lawrence skimmed past Gary Smith and tore down on Watt before whacking the ball into the side-netting.

With the match looking like heading for a replay, key substitutions were made.

Aberdeen's Duncan Shearer replaced Hugh Robertson after 71 minutes while Hearts legend John Robertson appeared for Lawrence three minutes later.

Robertson had been on the pitch a mere six minutes before he threw himself at a cross and into a melee of Aberdeen defenders to score and once more write a thundering chapter about his place in the life of Hearts.

In that stinging 80th minute, everyone in the ground thought the last word was his. Shearer, though, had other ideas. When Stephen Glass' swirling free-kick floated high beyond Gilles Rousset, he leapt a remarkable height to force the ball home.

With just three minutes remaining, Hearts were openly cursing one another, until Allan Johnston, in the last minute, rammed home an unanswerable winner. It was Robertson who sent over the cross which found goalkeeper Watt and Smith uncertain of who should be doing what. Johnston knew what he was meant to be doing, though, and he stepped in to head home the winner.

"When Aberdeen equalised, my first thought was, 'Will this never end?," said then chairman Chris Robinson, referring to Hearts' penchant for the catastrophic conclusion to semi-final ties.

Robertson said: "I said to Gary Locke: 'I was in your shoes ten years ago, lifting the older players at Tynecastle. Now, you take me to a final.' The way we got there took my breath away.

"The manager said when he brought me on that the script was written for me to score a goal.

"I didn't even see the winner go into the net. When I crossed the ball, I lost sight of it in among a cluster of players.

"It was only when I saw the supporters rising from their seats that I knew we had scored."

Hearts' Cup joy was short-lived, however, as they were trounced 5-1 by Rangers in the final.