Jonathan Sutherland presents highlights from the Scottish Cup semi-finals.
highlights from the first semi-final of the weekend as Aberdeen face Hearts at Hampden. Plus all the post-match interviews and analysis
highlights from the first semi-final of the weekend as Aberdeen face Hearts at Hampden. Plus all the post-match interviews and analysis
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TVTranscript
00:00OK, to the first semi-final of the weekend now.
00:03Hearts vs Aberdeen commentary comes from James McFadden and Liam McLeod.
00:30And Young-Wilson, who made his senior Scotland debut here last month,
00:34also come into the starting eleven.
00:36Dimitar Mitov returns from his latest injury setback,
00:39but apart from that, it's the team that started last week against Rangers.
00:43Aberdeen currently on the run of just one defeat in their last ten.
00:51Keskinen.
00:56And Aberdeen in another corner. I wonder if this one will go straight into the box.
01:00And in it goes from Papi Gaye.
01:03Klaxon over this one.
01:06As then it does come straight into the box.
01:09And in it goes from Papi Gaye.
01:14His delivery is exceptional.
01:17Into a really dangerous area.
01:20And what a header it is. Towering header from Papi Gaye.
01:24And he's unmarked, there's a zonal marking.
01:26No, that comes off the back of Craig Gordon.
01:30And Morris might get on to that. He has done. He's on his own though.
01:42Gordon backpedalling.
01:45And Devlin had to get there and does.
01:48That's wonderful from Cammy Devlin.
01:51It's incredible defending. He's stopped a certain goal there.
01:58The cart.
02:02Penrice.
02:05Too high for Grant, but Shanklin's there and it's one more!
02:08You cannot, no matter what form he's in, no matter how, you know, his lack of goals, you cannot give him time and space in the box.
02:20Shire has to go and attack it, Josh Grant does enough to occupy two defenders.
02:26Maybe Shire doesn't.
02:28And one thing's for sure, Morris Shanklin's getting his touch out of his feet.
02:32And he's finding the back of the net.
02:34And he's finding the back of the net.
02:42Okay, for Keskinen.
02:44And he goes and Steinbender has brought him down and it's off! It's a red card!
02:50Steinbender's gone!
02:55Two minutes from half-time!
02:57And a hammer blow!
02:59For Hearts!
03:01It's a desperate lunge.
03:03It's that ball bouncing, little flick.
03:06It's a correct decision for me.
03:08Hearts are down to ten men.
03:12Jensen.
03:15Morris.
03:18Pala Versa.
03:21Ooh, just wide!
03:23Just wide from Papi Gate.
03:26The reaction says it all, that tells you how close it was, perhaps.
03:30Great cross from Pala Versa.
03:32Papi Gate.
03:34Maybe just in slightly ahead of it.
03:39Morris trying to keep this attack alive at Aberdeen, but it's come to an end and it's with Shanklin.
03:46There's an offside.
03:47There and challenging Papi Gate.
03:51Didn't really need to happen.
03:53And the flag went up, but the yellow card is out.
03:57Devlin, as it turns out, didn't even need to make that tackle.
04:00George Grant.
04:10It's off Clarkson.
04:12Dampag gives it away in the worst possible area!
04:14And it just flashes wide from Penrice.
04:18They're getting their chances, aren't they, Hearts?
04:23Keep it alive.
04:25Penrice just trying to pass it into the far corner.
04:28The Edmitov scrambling.
04:29Ockels.
04:31Gets it back to Shinny.
04:33Pulls it back to Dampag!
04:35And a brilliant save from Gordon.
04:37Well, that was making for the bottom right and Odai Dampag cannot believe that he didn't and the reason is Craig Gordon.
04:51It's great play, Shinny down the left-hand side, but what a save this is.
04:54And that finds Povara driving forward. It's a good run.
05:04He's managed to slip it to Ockels. Is this the big moment for Aberdeen?
05:08Gordon saves again! Still alive!
05:11Away by Penrice!
05:15And the referee has given Aberdeen a free kick at the edge of the Hearts box.
05:20And Cammie Devlin was the offender.
05:26Second's yellow.
05:29Hearts down to nine.
05:33How costly is that going to be?
05:37I feel for him because he's eyeing the ball, he's just trying to clear it.
05:43Both players go at the same time, I think that's extremely harsh.
05:46Bit harsh, yeah.
05:47What can Leighton Clarkson do here? Can Ooster with him?
05:53It is Clarkson, it's off the wall.
05:57Milne to McGrath.
06:03Do Aberdeen have enough time left to take advantage of the fact they've got two more players on the pitch?
06:09Here's McGrath.
06:12Across it comes, Gordon sees again, but Dabag's there!
06:17Finally they manage to break through!
06:19Well, he said there's enough time.
06:23And there's your answer.
06:27Dangerous ball in.
06:29Great save.
06:32From Craig Gordon.
06:34The Hearts are two men down, it's very difficult to pick everyone up.
06:37Dabag, all good strikers in the right position, to put it into the back of the net.
06:43And Aberdeen, through to the Scottish Cup final!
06:49I think Hearts started the game really, really well.
06:52And we were under pressure, and of course the Red Cards helped us to go into the game.
06:57But we also had an experience from last week, to try to be more calm and patient and try to find cross situations.
07:03And I think we learned some points, have some patience, and finally we scored a goal, it was so nice to do.
07:09It really hurts, gutted, gutted for the players, gutted for the supporters.
07:14I thought we were brilliant in the game, I thought we were a better team in the first half.
07:19And then to defend as well as we did, for as long as we did with ten men, I thought we showed real grit, character.
07:27Not without opportunities ourselves, and the least we deserved was to take it to penalties.
07:33What did you make of the red card?
07:35Which one?
07:36The first one, yeah, the first one, just before half-time.
07:40The red card came out very quickly, in my opinion, it was a long way from the goal.
07:45I have to be careful what I say, I think, regarding the referee's performance.
07:52In particular, the second one, which in my opinion, has cost us the opportunity to go to penalties.
07:58The Hearts manager Neil Critchley, they're clearly not impressed by the red cards.
08:03Managers rarely are impressed by red cards for their sides, it has to be said, John.
08:07But does he have a case? Let's have a look.
08:10I don't think he does. I think Heskinen here, he shows great pace.
08:14And he's got Steinwinder, he just can't keep up with him. For me, he just clears him out.
08:20And I think he's through on goal, I think his touch is very good.
08:23Keskinen's here, and there, he's just...
08:26Forrester's covering, but he's not catching.
08:28Yeah, he can't get back, and I think Keskinen there, he's through on goal, and he's going to be one-on-one, but I don't think he's got a case there at all.
08:36He takes his touch in towards goal. See if he takes his touch a bit wider, you've got an argument and you can say potentially a yellow card.
08:42It's a red card for me. The Cammy Devlin one, I feel that, you know, this was given as an offside initially.
08:52So, I mean, you could say it's a tackle who doesn't need to go for it. Were they a yellow? Possibly, but, you know, it doesn't have to go for it.
09:00The second one for me...
09:01We heard you in commentary, you've not changed your stance.
09:03No, I haven't. In fact, the more you see it, you think, right, both players going for the ball, the ball's in the air, it's slightly missed time.
09:11Cammy Devlin's got his eye on the ball, all he's thinking about is get a clearance.
09:14You know, they're nearly there at penalties, which would have been their aim.
09:17Povarada's brilliant to get in front. For me, the touch goes back, and the ball goes to Leighton Clarkson.
09:23There's no... it doesn't stop any attack. Yes, he makes a foul. It's a foul, and nothing more for me.
09:30I don't think that... and the impact it has on the end of the game...
09:34Absolutely.
09:35...is huge.
09:36Well, let's look at that. I mean, Odie Dabag with the goal, John.
09:38But it almost feels like Hearts simply didn't have enough players to take care of all the Aberdeen players in their penalty box at this point.
09:44No, I think it's a poor goal. You look at the Hearts defence, they're not goal-side.
09:50The other side, when the ball comes in, the Hearts defenders have got to make sure they're goal-side.
09:56They're not. You see that there. There's three Aberdeen players running into the box. None of them are really tracked.
10:04That's a brilliant save from Craig Gordon initially. He gets down really low. Can't really push it any further out than Dabag.
10:12I used to like scoring goals like that.
10:14Of course they do, don't they?
10:16Yeah.
10:17But you know what? If you're in there as a centre forward, you get six or seven goals of that through a season.
10:22But right place, right time. And that's a great moment for him.
10:25Great moment for Aberdeen, obviously. We'll speak more about them in a moment.
10:28James, in terms of Hearts and Neil Critchley, obviously in the bottom half of the table, now defeating the Scottish Cup semi-final.
10:35Where does this leave the manager?
10:37That's a good question. That's why they pay you the big bucks, Jonathan.
10:42It's a tough one because going into the game, you're looking at Aberdeen. They're in good form.
10:46They're in the top six. They're in the fight for that third place.
10:48And they've managed to turn their season around after a brilliant start.
10:51Hearts came into the game last season after just missing out in the top six, which is a disaster for Hearts.
10:56They should be aiming to be fighting for third, never mind getting into the top six.
10:59So everything was riding on that game yesterday for them.
11:02It was a good performance having faced the adversity, going down to ten men, then nine.
11:07They have to finish the season strongly.
11:09I think that the recruitment has to be very good for them over the summer
11:13because they've stuck into this 4-4-2 diamond formation.
11:16They don't really have speed in the team. They don't have wingers that can go and create and stretch the game.
11:21So they have to have a good end to the season.
11:24In terms of their achievements, the season's over for them.
11:27But they have to have a good end to the season.
11:29As for Aberdeen, John, fantastic scenes at the end at Hampden Park with the fans and the players.
11:3535-year drought in terms of winning the Scottish Cup.
11:39It's going to be a monumental task against Celtic in the final. Can you see them do it?
11:43Well, it's a one-off, isn't it? The way Celtic are playing.
11:47Obviously, if you're a betting man, which I'm not, you would back Celtic, I would imagine.
11:53Because they're such a brilliant team going, as you said, for their ninth treble.
11:59Had another brilliant, brilliant season.
12:01But Aberdeen have been to many cup finals over the years against Celtic, in particular under Derek McInnes.
12:07But they get another chance to do it at Aberdeen.
12:09And as I said, you know, you would back Celtic all day long, the way that they're playing.
12:13But, you know, Aberdeen have been in many finals before.
12:17OK, it will be Aberdeen versus Celtic in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park.
12:21On Saturday, the 24th of May, live on the BBC and live with us, of course, a repeat of the 2017 final.
12:30And that was quite a memorable day as well.
12:33The Wizard of Oz final, James.
12:35Yes, it was.
12:36Tom Rogic, 92nd-minute winner.
12:38Yeah, memorable for both teams in very different ways.
12:42A good performance from Aberdeen.
12:45It looked like they were going to, you know, take Celtic into extra time
12:48and have a chance of going and winning it.
12:51And Tom Rogic goes and produces a moment of magic.
12:55And it wasn't unlike him.
12:56It was typical Tom Rogic that day.
12:58It was incredible.
12:59And if this final, John, is half as good as the semi-final between Celtic and Aberdeen last season,
13:04we're in for a treat.
13:05This was the Angus McDonald equaliser that took it to penalties.
13:09It was one of the best games of last season.
13:12You can blame the defending there, but it's a brilliant ball to the back stick.
13:16And I think that's Mujovski was very, very good for Aberdeen.
13:20But, you know, Joe Hart revived himself in the end because he missed the penalty.
13:24And then he done brilliantly.
13:26It was the Joe Hart final, really, wasn't it?
13:28It was.
13:29It was an incredible moment, James, wasn't it?
13:31It was.
13:32And that's why getting into that game last season,
13:34it was pretty similar to this season where Aberdeen, you know,
13:36seemed to be in a better position where many people put Celtic as heavy favourites,
13:40as they were in that game.
13:41And Aberdeen found a performance.
13:43So, you never know, but Celtic are relentless at the minute.
13:46They will have plenty of hope, I am sure.
13:48John, James, thank you very much indeed.
13:51Some big games coming up this week.
13:53Join us for Partick Thistle versus Falkirk on Friday night,
13:56as it heats up in the championship.
13:59It certainly is half past seven on BBC Scotland.
14:03Then on Saturday at midday, it's the Women's Scottish Cup semi-final
14:07between Glasgow City and Motherwell on BBC One Scotland,
14:10with the second semi-final on Sunday between Rangers and Aberdeen at 2 o'clock on BBC Alpha.
14:18And lots more football.
14:20There's men's premiership highlights on Saturday night at a quarter past seven on BBC Scotland,
14:26BBC Scotland repeated later on BBC One at 11.40.
14:31What a weekend it has been. High time, we were on our way.
14:35A very happy Easter for Celtic and Aberdeen fans from us all on the sports team.
14:40Goodnight.
14:41Bye.
14:42Bye.
15:11Bye.
15:12Bye.