ABERDEEN beat Hearts in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden this afternoon thanks to an Oday Dabbagh strike with two minutes of extra-time remaining.
The Pittodrie club took the lead when Pape Habib Gueye forced Craig Gordon to put the ball into his own net in the first half only for Lawrence Shankland to equalise for their Tynecastle rivals 10 minutes later.
Neil Critchley’s team competed well despite being reduced to 10 men when Michael Steinwender was red carded for a foul on Topi Keskinen just before half-time.
And they very nearly took it to penalties after Cammy Devlin was sent off near the end for a second bookable offence.
However, Jimmy Thelin’s side secured an epic triumph which increased the heat on Critchley, whose team failed to secure a top six Premiership spot last weekend, greatly when substitute Dabbagh pounced and netted from close range near the end.
Aberdeen will return to Hampden next month to take on the winners of the Celtic semi against St Johnstone tomorrow.
Here are five talking points from a marathon tussle.
Defences on top?
Neither team will enjoy looking back at the opening two goals in the coming days.
Hearts allowed Gueye to ghost in, meet a Leighton Clarkson corner and get a powerful header away in the 18th minute.
They were a touch unfortunate that the attempt hit the underside of the crossbar and then went in off the knee of Gordon. They should, though, have done far better at the initial delivery.
The equaliser was even worse from a defensive perspective. James Penrice found Shankland in space in the opposition area and his captain controlled the ball with his chest and then lashed an unstoppable shot through the legs of Aberdeen goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov.
It was a fine cross and superb finish. However, why did nobody clear the danger? Why was nobody marking the striker? It was only the scorer’s fifth goal of a bitterly disappointing 2024/25 campaign. He has, though, been known to take advantage in the past when given time and space in the final third.
Steinwender sees red
Hearts’ hopes of going through to the final suffered a devastating blow a minute before half-time when their Austrian centre-half Steinwender was shown a straight red card by referee John Beaton for scything down Keskinen as the winger raced into his half.
The match official did not hesitate and replays showed that his decision was the correct one. Penrice and Adam Forrester were both too far away to stop the Finn if he had been allowed to advance unimpeded. The defender, who had looked to be struggling with the pace of play, could have no complaints about his fate.
Canny, cautious Critchley
The Englishman made the changes which he needed to before the second-half got underway.
He took off Elton Kabangu and James Wilson and put on Frankie Kent and Craig Halkett respectively. His charges switched from a 4-1-2-1-2 formation to a 5-3-1 set-up when they were without the ball and changed to a 4-4-1 when they were in possession.
Gueye came agonisingly close to claiming a second goal of the afternoon when he was picked out by Ante Palaversa and glanced just past the left post.
But Shinnie and his team mates failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage. Their opponents contained them well without creating much themselves as the tension gradually mounted around the ground.
Hearts did break on the counter on a couple of occasions and Penrice was unlucky not to find Shankland with crosses from the left. But the forward was heavily outnumbered by Aberdeen defenders and was unable to connect. It was no surprise when it went to extra-time.
Dabbagh at the death
To say that Hearts sat back and soaked up pressure their rivals put them under in extra-time was an understatement – they barely stepped foot out of their own half.
A risky strategy? Maybe. A negative approach? Perhaps. But it worked for them. Aberdeen substitute Dabbagh forced a fine save from Gordon during the first period and Alexander Jensen volleyed wide after being supplied by Shinnie. At no other stage did they look like conceding.
It was by no means a classic. In fact, you could argue it was downright awful. But there was something strangely captivating about it all. When Shankland hobbled off with what looked like a hamstring pull he received a rousing ovation.
Devlin was sent off for a second bookable offence after Gordon had palmed away a Jeppe attempt. The Scotland keeper was unable to hold a Jack Milne effort with two minutes remaining and Dabbagh pounced to settle it.
Pyro plonkers
The SPFL disciplined Celtic, Motherwell and Rangers last month for the “large-scale, organised and illegal pyrotechnic displays” which their supporters staged in the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals and final back in November and December.
But the punishments which were meted out by the governing body – the Parkhead and Ibrox clubs will have their ticket allocation cut by 500 the next time they play in a League Cup game in Mount Florida and all three sides now have a suspended sanction of an 800 ticket reduction hanging over them – have clearly not acted as a suitable deterrent.
Around a dozen red flares were set off by the Aberdeen ultras as the sides took to the field before kick-off. The start of proceedings was not, as the cup games at the stadium had been last year, delayed by the smoke they let off. Still, it showed that persistent warnings about pyro continue to be ignored by the hardcore element in the stands.
Another flare was hurled onto the playing surface from high in the stands after the deadlock was broken. Mercifully, it missed the stewards who were standing trackside. The authorities have much work still to do to snuff out this problem.
