IF following Hearts during the 2005/06 season was akin to the world's highest and fastest roller-coaster, then the final straight was peppered with more corkscrews and loop-the-loops than a day out with the Florida Coaster Club.
For their part, the defiant and gallant Gretna lads were more than willing to provide some unexpected stomach-turning moments for their opponents.
Yet after the searing highs, of which none were more climactic than the moment of triumph after Gav
in Skelton's decisive penalty-shootout miss, and some skull-crushing lows, like Paul Hartley's dismissal, they got there.
Most of the match was excruciating for those from Edinburgh. Then came the penalty kicks. By the end, the nerves of everyone inside the National Stadium were shredded.
Early chances were passed up by Edgaras Jankauskas and Roman Bednar and Deividas Cesnauskis rattled an upright. Gretna goalkeeper Alan Main also tipped a vicious Bruno Aguiar shot over the crossbar midway through the first half but, by that point, the border side had indicated their own intent in pressuring Craig Gordon at every opportunity and making the normally imperturbable Scotland goalkeeper look distinctly uneasy.
Then came the nerve-settler. Rudi Skacel, in his last game in maroon, adjusted his body to strike an accurate ball across the face of Main and into the bottom corner after a straightforward build-up that involved Jankauskas flicking on a long Robbie Neilson throw from the right. Skacel was cautioned for removing his top during the goal celebrations but it is debatable whether he gave a monkey's.
Steve Tosh flashed a glaring opportunity wide after Kenny Deuchar and James Grady had combined to play him in, and minutes later came the proverbial sitter in front of an open goal. Substitute David Graham waltzed through the Hearts defence, round Gordon and must have thought for a millisecond: "I'll just roll this home now and take the acclaim". But he didn't reckon for the attentions of Neilson, who executed possibly the most important tackle of his life to knock the ball away for a corner.
Sensing a wobble in Hearts, Gretna began to commit bodies to attack, although their penalty award on 75 minutes seemed of the harsh variety when John O'Neil went down in the box under an unobtrusive Cesnauskis tackle. Gordon repelled Ryan McGuffie's original effort from the spot, but the midfielder followed up to slot home the rebound.
The Hearts players were stunned and, as if to underline the effect a goal can bring, every black-and-white shirt now wanted the ball.
That was still the case, too, for Hearts, but the game was descending into a frantic battle which edged evermore nervously towards extra-time.
Jankauskas sent a free header wide from substitute Saulius Mikoliunas' cross early in extra-time, but the refusal of referee Dougie McDonald to grant Hearts a penalty after Main had manhandled Skacel in a one-on-one tussle seemed to defy belief and had Hartley and Takis Fyssas incensed. Hartley's frustration at being kept on a tight rein all day spilled over with seconds remaining. He denied his side their first-choice penalty taker by accumulating two bookings, first for dissent and then a senseless off-the-ball kick at Derek Townsley after receiving a sly dig from the Gretna defender in a tackle.
Pressley, Neilson and Skacel all scored calmly for Hearts in the shootout, as did Grady and Birch for Gretna. Then Townsley's kick was saved by Gordon down low to his left. Michal Pospisil made the penalty score 4-2 to Hearts, but with Fyssas up next Gavin Skelton's effort skimmed the crossbar to send masses of Hearts supporters all around the country into a state of sheer delirium.
Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Tall, Fyssas, Cesnauskis (Mikoliunas 86 ) Aguiar (Brellier 72 ) Hartley, Skacel, Bednar (Pospisil 70 ) Jankauskas
The full article contains 656 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
