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 – Gordon (own goal), Shankland, Dabbagh

Referee – John Beaton