2019 Scottish Cup Final

Heart of Midlothian entered the competition in the fourth round of competition as one of the sixteens teams to enter in this round of the competition.[4] Their first opponent was at Tynecastle Park to Premiership side Livingston where a goal from Sean Clare saw the team win the match 1-0.[5]

In the fifth round they was drawn against Junior club Auchinleck Talbot at home who had knocked out an Championship side in the previous round.[6] The match saw four different goal scorers with Christophe Berra scoring the opener in the tenth minute of play. Two more goals from Demetri Mitchell and Steven MacLean opened the gap to three goals before the break. A goal in the second half from Aidan Keena secured the 4-0 win but not before an injury forced them down to ten men for the final twelve minutes.[7]

The quarter final saw the team travel to Firhill Stadium for the match against Championship side Partick Thistle. After an early goal from Christophe Berra, the team dominated the game with 59% of the possession. The tie though headed into a replay after Christie Elliott scored to level the match in the 72nd minute.[8] The replay at Tyncastle Park saw the away team getting the opening goal in the 17th minute from a Scott McDonald tap to give the championship side the early lead. But a goal from Uche Ikpeazu and the penalty conversation from Sean Clare saw Hearts qualify for the semi-final.[9]

For Hearts, this meant a semi final with another Championship side in Inverness in the first of two matches at Hampden Park. After a lacklustre first half, Uche Ikpeazu broke deadlock for the Hearts in the 49th minute with the shot coming off a deflection. After Jamie McCart goal was deemed offside in the 61st minute, John Souttar doubled the lead only four minutes later. Sean Clare gave Hearts a 3-0 victory after Ikpeazu was brought down by Mark Ridgers to give a penalty which was converted.[10]

Much like their opponents, Celtic also started in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup as one of the Premiership sides.[4] In the fourth round, they played at home (Celtic Park) to League One side Airdrieonians. In what was a convincing win, Scott Sinclair scored two goals in the 3-0 victory with coach, Brendan Rodgers stating that it was "tough to get going" despite Celtic having over 70% of the possession throughout the match.[11]

In the fifth round, they took on fellow Premiership side, St Johnstone at home. In what was their third match against St Johnstone in twelve days, Celtic eased past their opponents 5–0 with Scott Sinclair scoring a hat-trick in the victory. Also getting on the score sheet was Scott Brown and James Forrest in what St Johnstone manager, Tommy Wright saying "that they were the better team".[12][13]

The quarter finals had Celtic travel to Easter Road in Edinburgh to take on another Premiership side Hibernian. Before the game, they needed to change coaches with Brendan Rodgers leaving Celtic to join Leicester City on a three year deal.[14] This meant that they hired Neil Lennon from Hibernian as intern manager for the rest of the season.[15] After there was no scoring in the first half, James Forrest opened the scoring in the 62nd minute from a 20 yard shot which was smashed into the net. Scott Brown extended the lead to two goals with another devastating strike to give Celtic the 2-0 win.[16] But the match wasn't without drama with a glass bottle almost hitting Scott Sinclair in the 57th minute while he was taking a corner which saw the behaviour of the fan club into question.[17]

This meant they took on Aberdeen in the second semi-final at Hampden Park. After Dominic Ball was reported for the second time which brought their opponents down to ten men, James Forrest fired the opening goal before half-time. Their second came from a penalty from Odsonne Édouard after Michael Devlin hand which the referee gave the penalty which was converted. Tom Rogic scored Celtic's third for the match after Lewis Ferguson was red-carded due to the two foot lunge that resulted in a free-kick which Rogic converted.[18]

After a goalless first half, Ryan Edwards gave Hearts the lead after 52 minutes with a left foot shot thru the legs of the goalkeeper from ten yards out after the ball broke to him after a back heel pass from Sean Clare. Celtic were awarded a penalty after 62 minutes when Odsonne Édouard was fouled by Hearts goalkeeper Zdeněk Zlámal with Édouard scoring the penalty with a shot to left corner of the net with Zlámal getting a touch.[21] Celtic went in front in the 82nd minute when Édouard scored his second when he lifted the ball over the advancing Zlámal from the edge of the penalty area with his right foot after a header into his path from Mikael Lustig.[22]

Heart of Midlothian

Celtic

GK 1 Zdeněk Zlámal  61' RB 2 Michael Smith CB 4 John Souttar CB 6 Christophe Berra LB 51 Aaron Hickey CM 22 Ryan Edwards CM 5 Peter Haring  81' CM 10 Arnaud Djoum  65' RW 9 Sean Clare  75' CF 18 Steven MacLean  78' LW 23 Jake Mulraney Substitutes: GK 13 Colin Doyle DF 3 Conor Shaughnessy MF 7 Oliver Bozanic  81' MF 20 Harry Cochrane MF 31 Bobby Burns FW 15 Craig Wighton  75' FW 19 Uche Ikpeazu  90+7'  78' Manager: Craig Levein

GK 29 Scott Bain  90+1' RB 23 Mikael Lustig CB 5 Jozo Šimunović CB 35 Kristoffer Ajer LB 15 Jonny Hayes  89' CM 8 Scott Brown  90+7' CM 42 Callum McGregor RW 49 James Forrest AM 18 Tom Rogic  70' LW 73 Mikey Johnston  72' CF 22 Odsonne Édouard Substitutes: GK 24 Dorus de Vries DF 2 Jeremy Toljan DF 32 Filip Benković MF 6 Nir Bitton  89' MF 11 Scott Sinclair  72' MF 21 Olivier Ntcham  70' MF 77 Karamoko Dembélé Manager: Neil Lennon

Match rules

• 90 minutes
• 30 minutes of extra time if necessary
• Penalty shoot-out if scores still level
• Seven named substitutes
• Maximum of three substitutions in normal time (a fourth substitute is permitted in extra time)