Gretna claim the plaudits

As Heart of Midlothian paraded the Tennent’s Scottish Cup to their delirious supporters after one of the most dramatic finals in the 133 years of the competition, Hampden Park’s sound system boomed out U2’s Beautiful Day. It was, because the sun was shining and the trophy was in their hands for the seventh time, but sometimes beauty is only skin deep.

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Hearts could not say they deserved to collect the oldest trophy in the world. That was Gretna’s claim and Steven Pressley’s team admitted that they had been fortunate to win. Indeed, there were two laps of honour around this famous arena. Rowan Alexander and his team collected their runners-up medals first and were allowed not only to celebrate with their own fans but to be given a sporting standing ovation from the 35,000 Hearts fans Today, though, Alexander, David Irons, his assistant, and the remarkable players who have pushed Gretna through two promotions, into the Uefa Cup and took Hearts to the brink, will reflect that plaudits can never compensate for missing out on prizes. In years to come the record books will not mention an epic, but say simply that Gretna lost.

Gretna had a bad omen in their equaliser to Rudi Skacel’s neat opener — Ryan McGuffie had his penalty saved, but knocked in the rebound. It was doubly cruel that the two Gretna players who missed from the spot in the shoot-out were those with the longest association with the club. Derek Townsley began with Gretna more than a decade ago and played against Bolton Wanderers in a famous FA Cup tie. The 33-year-old defender was third up after James Grady and Mark Birch had matched Pressley and Robbie Neilson, only for Skacel to keep Hearts ahead in the penalty sequence. Townsley’s scuffed effort was saved by Craig Gordon.

As soon as Gavin Skelton’s kick pierced the sky behind Gordon’s net, the Scotland goalkeeper set off in celebration to the corner flag and was soon engulfed by maroon from all sides.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk