Alternate O’Day Dubbag won the late winner with Aberdeen ultimately lowering nine Hearts to reach the Scotland Cup final since 2017.
With Hampden’s semi-final approaching halftime 1-1, Jumbos defender Michael Steinwender was shown a straight red card to deny goal-scoring opportunities by defeating Topi Keskinen.
Ten men seemed to stick to bring their ties into the extra time, and even forced it to penalize before Camie Devlin was fired in the 116th minute. The Dons were capitalized within two minutes of Australia’s firing when Palestinian forward Dabba returned home from close range to secure a 2-1 victory.
Jimmy Terrin’s team will face the winner of Sunday’s semi-finals between Celtic and St. Johnston at the National Stadium on May 25th to land the trophy for the first time since 1990.
Despite showing that Spirit Hearts holds up for a very long time in numerical disadvantage, it ultimately caused another damaging loss in Neil Clychley’s quest to beat an increasingly skeptical fanbase, which failed to make the top six for the William Hill Premiership the previous weekend.
The Jumbos head coach made three changes to the side that started a 0-0 draw at Motherwell.
Aberdeen made one change to the side that began a 2-2 draw for the 10 Rangers after recovering from a shoulder injury in an international duty with Bulgaria last month.
Hart settled down faster than the Dons, who looked nervous in the opening ten minutes, with Jamie McCart approaching, and Elton Kabang had some decent opportunities.
Aberdeen’s Pipe Habib Gay celebrates after winning the opener
After a difficult opening for Aberdeen, they began to advance into the game, creating a breakthrough from the first real chance of the 18th minute.
Pape Gueye rose to the corner of Layton Clarkson from the underside of the bar to its highest level, and when the ball came down it attacked the back of the helpless Hartsky Park Raig Gordon and rolled the line.
Hart managed to regain his composure, with Captain Shankland meeting James Penrith’s cross from the left, taking a touch, and repeating clinical finishes on Mitoff’s leg from eight yards from February, running through the clinical finish with the fifth goal of the season.
Lawrence Shankland celebrates with Adam Forester after equalizing his heart
The Edinburgh side was hit hard a minute before the break when Stein Wender was shown a straight red after he left him just outside the centre circle to defeat Keskinen.
Critchley sent centre backs Craig Halkett and Frankie Kent in place of attackers Wilson and Kabangu, responding by switching from the 4-4-2 to a more compact 3-5-1 formation.
Aberdeen threatened in the 53rd minute when Gueye saw the header from Ante Palaversa’s cross, but Maroon’s 10 men generally stood firm and securely over the match, keeping the length of their opponents at arm length.
Hart’s job became even more difficult in the 116th minute when Devlin was sent for a second bookable attack after fouling Dante Polbara.
The Dons ultimately scored the winner in the 118th minute. Dubbag was forced into rebound after a shot of his fellow Jack Milne substitute was saved by Gordon.
