The Thistle Archive

Championship strugglers Partick Thistle produced a spirited comeback to force a Scottish Cup quarter-final replay against Hearts. Christophe Berra headed the Premiership side into an early lead as the visitors dominated at Firhill. But Thistle, bottom of Scotland's second tier, salvaged the tie thanks to a second-half Christie Elliott strike. The replay, to win a last-four date with Inverness Caley Thistle, will take place on Tuesday, 12 March. Hearts, who exited at the quarter-final stage last season to Motherwell, controlled large chunks of the game with Sean Clare and Uche Ikpeazu going close. Holders Celtic will take on either Aberdeen or Rangers in the other Hampden semi-final.

On the face of it, this was a shot at nothing for Thistle. Playing a team from the division above with little pressure from outside of Firhill, the team from the Championship should have gone in to this one with nothing to fear. However, Gary Caldwell's side were timid in their approach to toppling Craig Levein's Hearts. Within the first minute Berra turned a header wide in an early warning. Still, they sat deep, allowing their visitors to attack, and they paid the price. Ben Garuccio's lofted ball into the box caught Thistle napping as Berra outjumped Steven Saunders to thump a header high into the net. There was little response from Caldwell's side, who failed to step up and try to get back into the match as Hearts coasted towards half-time.

After the break, it was much the same in the opening stages as a large home support tried to urge their side forward. Instead, their hearts would have been in their mouths as Levein's men went inches from what would have been a decisive second. A Clare shot was acrobatically tipped on to the frame of the goal from the angle by Conor Hazard. Ikpeazu reacted first to the rebound. He headed the ball in the air, before then diverting his next header on to the bar and over. With the writing on the wall for Thistle, from nowhere they got the goal that almost took the roof off the Jackie Husband stand. It came just three minutes after that scare at the other end. Craig Slater drove for the line on the left to swing in a perfect ball across goal. Elliott met it at the back post in what was Thistle's first meaningful chance of the game, smashing in his second goal of the season. Ikpeazu went down in the box following Gary Harkins' challenge but no penalty was awarded by referee Bobby Madden.

Partick Thistle boss Gary Caldwell told Sportsound that he was looking foward to a difficult replay at Tynecastle:

Overcoming Hearts at Tynecastle will be difficult, he said. Tonight we showed our quality and our passion. It was a fantastic cup tie and we contributed a lot to that. I saw a lot of focus from my players. The only disappointment for me was composure and not passing the ball enough. I thought set piece-wise defensively we were very good, apart from the goal, which was the one time we switched off. They have a lot of variation in their set pieces but I thought we dealt with them extremely well. We dealt with their physicality really well and then as the game went on we started to grow into the game. Second half I thought we were excellent, showed composure, passed the ball well. We scored a fantastic goal and thoroughly deserved the draw.

Hearts boss Craig Levein told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound:

I think Thistle’s goal was their first on target and that tells you the story of the match. This was always a potential banana skin coming here. Thistle showed plenty of fight in the match and all credit to them, they managed to sneak the replay. I've had a look at the penalty claim involving Uche Ikpeazu. It's a certain penalty. Everything put together it was a frustrating time. We’re still in the cup competition and that’s the most important thing. I didn't want to go to a replay but that’s the way it goes.

bbc.com

Option 1: extended highlights

Partick Thistle Fan 1876

Option 2: shorter highlights

The Scottish Cup

advertisement

.