Yabba Dabbagh Doo! Aberdeen edge Hearts for a spot in the Scottish Cup Final
An Oday Dabbagh strike in the depths of extra time broke the heart of Hearts as Aberdeen edged past the Jambos to seal their place in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden on Saturday. An action-packed first half saw two goals and a red card as Papa Gueye’s opener was cancelled out by Lawrence Shankland. As Hearts looked to end the half on a high, disaster struck as Michael Steinwender brought down Topi Keskinen when the Finnish winger was through on goal, and referee John Beaton was quick to dismiss the central defender. Hearts defended well despite going down to ten men, but as extra time wore on and a second dismissal for the men from Gorgie, Hearts were punished at the death when Dabbagh smashed home a winner, minutes from a penalty shootout. It was an electric start inside Hampden with maroon smoke flooding the pitch and the Aberdeen fans lighting the customary red flares inside their designated end. Hearts almost took the lead inside a few minutes. Dimitar Mitov has been so commanding inside his area this season, but he got a cross all wrong as the ball found Jamie McCart at the back post. He may have controlled it with his arm, but his eventual strike trundled by the post, but an early warning for Aberdeen. You’d of forgotten the turnaround in Aberdeen form in recent weeks with the way they started this game. Struggling to string two passes together, the Dons were needlessly playing themselves into all kinds of danger. Each wayward pass allowed Hearts countless attacks into the Dons’ final third. Yet, as has been the criticism of Hearts this season, they failed to test the hands of goalkeeper Mitov. Hearts would be left to rue those missed chances just shy of 20 minutes. Aberdeen had shown signs of growing into the game and earned themselves a corner. A brilliant delivery from Leighton Clarkson was met by the towering presence of Papa Gueye. His header crashed off the bar, but it deflected off the back of Craig Gordon and into the net, sparking wild celebrations in the Aberdeen end. With the momentum with Aberdeen, they almost had a second after Shayden Morris showed his pace to win an unwinnable ball, he crossed for Gueye to hammer home into an empty net, but Cammy Devlin managed to hook the ball clear before Gueye could arrive. Then it was Hearts’ turn to make Aberdeen pay, a brilliant ball from James Penrice found an unmarked Shankland after Shinnie foolishly committed himself. He took one touch with his chest and powered his strike into the ground and under the legs of Mitov to level the scoring. Hearts again looked like they were slowly beginning to grow into the game as the first half reached its close, but then Steinwender hacked down Keskinen after the winger managed to break away from him, and John Beaton showed no hesitation to brandish the red card. HALF TIME: Hearts 1 – 1 Aberdeen Neil Critchley rejiged his formation and made two changes to the Hearts side to start the second half. There would be no dance floor for Elton Kabangu as he and James Wilson both made way for Frankie Kent and Craig Halkett. Hearts switch to a back five managed to nullify Aberdeen for large portions of the second half. Gueye’s header that whistled by Gordon’s post was the closest either side came to grabbing a second goal as the game ticked past the hour mark. Jimmy Thelin was starting to cut a frustrated figure on the touchline as the minutes ticked by. Despite their man advantage, Aberdeen were doing very little to press it home. They had been at their best in the first half when hitting Hearts on the counterattack attack and the extra man seemed to stifle that from them. Thelin brought on Jamie McGrath to try and get his creative players on the ball to unlock a stubborn Hearts defence, but the Jambos were holding firm as they attempted to reach the Scottish Cup final for the first time since 2022. Hearts continued to have their chances as the game was dwindling to a close. Penrice had a spectacular effort from the edge of the area fly just wide of the top corner, but it had Mitov scrambling as Hearts were starting to believe they could find a winner to send them into the cup final. FULL TIME Hearts 1 – 1 Aberdeen Hearts ended the second half strongly but there we tired legs amongst the Jambos as the first period of extra time wore on. They began to defend deeper and deeper into their own half. The biggest chance came just before the end of the first period, Dabbagh was on the end of Shinnies cutback who struck it low but Gordon was down quickly to keep the goal out on the stroke of half time The second half produced another red card for Hearts as Cammy Devlin, already on a yellow card, went for a 50/50, it looked like he was entitled to go for it, but Beaton brandished the yellow and Hearts were down to nine men. Aberdeen would immediately punish the 9 men Jambos, Gordon was down to make a good save but Dabbagh was on hand to smash the ball into the roof of the net. He almost scored minutes before but he made no mistake the second time of asking. Hearts had time to find an equaliser but with only 9 men, Aberdeen would safely see the game out and send the Granite City side through to another Scottish Cup Final. FULL TIME (AET) Hearts 1 – 2 Aberdeen Teams Hearts; Gordon (GK); Forrester (Kingsley 78′), Steinwender, McCart, Penrice, Banigme (Spittal 120′), Devlin, Shankland (Drammeh 113′), Grant (Kartum 87′), Kabangu (Halkett 46′), Wilson (Kent 46′) Aberdeen; Mitov (GK); Shinnie, Knoester, Dorrington (Milne 106′), Jensen (Fletcher Boyd 117′), Morris (Polvara 91′), Palaversa (McGrath 69′), Clarkson, Keskinen (Okkels 81′), Gueye (Dabbagh 91′), Nisbet Goals
Livingston put the pressure on Falkirk with a dominant win over Ayr United
Venue: Home of The Set Fare Arena Date: 18/4/2025 Time: 19:45 A strong performance from Livingston saw them stroll passed Ayr United, and apply pressure to league leaders Falkirk in the race for promotion. Three first-half goals pretty much cemented Livingstons’ win and guaranteed them at least second place. With just one win in five, Ayr United looked to be on the hunt for three big points in this race for second. Three points would take them just two points behind Livingston with just two games to go. However, a win away at Livingston will be hard to come by as they are undefeated here in their last five. In what was a frantic start, Livingston opened the scoring just six minutes in. A Stephen Kelly strike from the edge of the box took a deflection when headed goalbound, leaving Harry Stone no chance at saving it. The goal did not settle the game; in fact, it had the opposite effect. Ayr continued to battle, and Livingston struggled to keep hold of the ball, providing half-chances at both ends of the park. It was once again Livingston providing the attacking threat. After some good link-up play between Cristian Montano and Robbie Muirhead played the ball was played through to Kelly, who once again had an effort at goal. This time, the shot was saved by Stone. 30 minutes had passed, and the game was yet to settle down, with neither team managing to take control or create consistent chances. Livingston continued to have the better attacking threat since they scored. However, they were yet to double their lead. However, in the 31st minute, Livingston were awarded a penalty after Stone clattered into Montano. After a slight delay, Muirhead put his penalty down the centre of the goal, watching on as Stone dived to his right. Just before the half-time whistle, Kelly added another to his account. After a long throw into the area, the ball bobbled out to the edge of the box, and Kelly was the man to meet it with a thunderous half-volley into the bottom right corner. An impressive start for the Lions saw them grow in confidence as the half went on. Livingston went into half-time three goals to the good, looking likely to secure second in their race for promotion. A triple substitution for Ayr saw Jamie Murphy, Cole McKinnon, and Patrick Reading make way for Jake Hastie, Dylan Watret and Lenny Agbaire in an attempt to salvage something in the second half for the away team. 60 minutes had passed, and Ayr started to grow into the match a little. They created a couple of half-chances and dominated most of the ball. However, they were yet to find the net. Livingstons’ first chance of the half came in the 64th minute, after a Daniel Finlayson cross was poorly cleared, Scott Pittman managed to get on the end of it. However, the shot was blocked. Ryan McGowan received a yellow card in the 69th minute after a clumsy tackle on McAllister just inside his half. A massive chance came Livingstons’ way in the 71st minute, after Kellys’ perfect corner to the back post was met by Finlayson. However, he sent his volley well wide of the post in a chance that was harder to miss. In the 80th minute, Livingston added another to their tally. A great team goal saw Montano tap the ball in at the back post. A great performance from the Lions was made even better as they strolled past Ayr to add the fourth goal of the game. As if four goals weren’t enough, Reece McAlear added a fifth for Livingston. The ball dropped to him on the edge of the box in the 91st minute, and he caught a volley as sweet as you like, rifling it into the bottom corner. The full-time whistle couldn’t have come quick enough for Ayr United as they were played off the park by Livingston. Lineups: Livingston: J.Prior, R.McGowan, S.Pittman(R.MaCalear), S.Kelly, R.Fraser, J.Brandon(D.Finlayson), L.Smith(A.Shinnie), R.Muirhead(T.Yengi), M.Tait, C.Montano(S.May), D.Wilson Subs: J.Hamilton, M.Clarke, R.McAlear, T.Yengi, S.May, D.Finlayson, M.Ubochioma, M.Nottingham, A.Shinnie Manager: D.Martindale Ayr United: H.Stone, N.McAllister, P.Reading(D.Watret), G.Oakley, C.McLennan(M.Rus), G.Stranger, J.Murphy(L.Agbaire), J.Henderson, M.McKenzie, S.McMann, C.McKinnon(J.Hastie) Subs: R.Mutch, F.Musonda, J.Hastie, M.Rus, L.Agbaire, D.Watret Manager: S.Brown Referee: Steven McLean Attendance: 1,606 Managers comments: Martindale: “First half was really, really good, I felt, and then we managed the second half. We had a lot of chances with the game, I think the surface was really quick tonight, which really helped us with a couple of the goals” Brown: “We bottled finishing second place, I take full responsibility… that’s on me. We’ve got to get that mentality into the lads… how to win games, when you come away from home, you’ve got to be horrible.”