Aberdeen's finishing chills the Hearts of Midlothian.

Aberdeen won the Scottish Cup at Hampden Park because they operated with the chilling efficiency and devastating finishing which has made them Scotland's most successful team of the 1980s.

Their 3-0 win against Heart of Midlothian on Saturday gave them the trophy for the fourth time in five years.

Drawing on their vast experience of the big event, and playing with an authoritative approach, they won, despite Heart's agression, with the same facility shown in disposing of the other Edinburgh club, Hibernian, in the Skol Cup final.

No one in the crowd of 62,841 would disagree with Alex Ferguson, the Aberdeen manager, when he said afterwards: 'On this form I doubt that any team could beat Aberdeen in a cup final.

' Then he paid tribute to Hearts by saying: 'I am as disappointed as anyone that they failed to get anything out of it, and no matter what we achieved the season belongs to them.

'

Yet, what promised to be the most glorious period in Heart's long history ended on the sourest of notes.

Despite a gallant fight, there were signs, in a hesitant defence and the unusual failure to seize two fine chances, that they had not recovered from the previous week's heartache, when the league championship was snatched from their grasp.

Nor did Hearts lose gracefully.

Their captain, Kidd, became only the third player to be ordered off in a Scottish Cup final.

This was for an act of folly when, after having been cautioned earlier, he threw the ball at an opponent.

Hearts also had three other players booked which means they have to pay a fine of pounds 3,750 out of the pounds 7,500 they collect as runners-up.

Notwithstanding, Alex MacDonald, their manager, said: 'The 3-0 defeat is not as bad as it sounds.

I thought we made a final of it and I am proud of the way we played this season.

As we are now in the UEFA Cup I believe we can go on to even greater things next season.

'

They have a long way to go before they can equal the professionalism of Aberdeen, who may not be the country's best loved team but who again showed why they are so respected by the greatest clubs in Europe.

Their match winners were Hewitt, a deadly sharp shooter who scored two goals and became the man of the match for the seventh time in cup-ties this season, and Weir, a sometimes unpredictable winger who came back to his best to bewilder the Hearts's defence.

Stark was the other Aberdeen marksman, scoring the third goal with a spectacular diving header.

ABERDEEN: J Leighton; S McKimmie, T McQueen, J McMaster (sub: W Stark), A McLeish, W Miller, J Hewitt (sub: J Miller), N Cooper, F McDougall, J Bett, P Weir.

HEARTS: H Smith; W Kidd, B Whittaker, A Jardine, N Berry, C Levein, J Colquhoun, K Black, A Clark, G Mackay, J Robertson.

Referee: H Alexander (Kilmarnock)

Taken from timesonline.co.uk