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GIO’S TROOPS GO THE EXTRA MILE

Another epic contest but Rangers have the stamina to seize last trophy of the season

By Graeme Croser AT HAMPDEN

AFTER the abundance of air miles traversed and energy expended during an epic 65-game season for Rangers, you just knew this one was going to go all the way.

Less than three days on from the slog in sweltering Seville, another dose of extra-time — Rangers’ fourth in six weeks — can’t possibly have been in the gameplan of boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Somehow, his players summoned one last heroic effort to ensure the season ended on a triumphant note.

Deposed as Premiership champions by Celtic and then pipped by Eintracht Frankfurt at the end of a thrilling European run, this was one last shot at ensuring Rangers did not end the season trophyless.

In that sense, it must go down as a huge moment for Van Bronckhorst, around whom the narrative has fluctuated in the minds of Rangers supporters in the six months since he took over from Steven Gerrard.

Substitutes Ryan Jack and Scott Wright were the men who delivered the goals that clinched Rangers’ first Scottish Cup since 2009 but this was a triumph for the stamina and resolve of the collective, a group who’d had their hearts broken by the penalty-kick conclusion to the Europa League final last Wednesday night.

In the end, it was the Hearts who were broken in the showpiece conclusion to the Scottish season, yet they too do not emerge from this competition empty handed.

Simply by reaching the final they locked in the guarantee of European group stage action for next season.

They will embark on that adventure without their top Hampden performer John Souttar, who did more than anyone to take Rangers to the limits and will now join the Ibrox club on the expiry of his contract this summer.

In contrast to his opposite number, Robbie Neilson had all week and longer to ponder over his selection for this match.

Souttar’s impending move was never likely to affect the Tynecastle manager’s decision to play his best defender, but a lack of game time would have been a concern.

Cheered loudly by the Rangers fans when the teams were read out, and booed by some Hearts fans last weekend, Souttar did not enter the match in a perfect position but rose above the din to turn in a display bested on the day only by Rangers powerhouse Calvin Bassey.

Shifted out to left-back on account of the injury sustained by Borna Barisic in Spain, Bassey’s place in central defence was filled by Leon Balogun, one of five faces brought in to freshen up the team.

Van Bronckhorst had already committed to making a change in goal, with Scottish Cup specialist Jon McLaughlin replacing Allan McGregor.

Steven Davis, Scott Arfield and Amad Diallo were the others drafted in, with Glen Kamara dropping out alongside Jack and Wright.

The opening exchanges were highly-competitive but messy. Neither team could establish proper control of the ball far less the game and so it was inevitable that players would come together.

Peter Haring was rightly shown a yellow card for catching Bassey late. But when Cammy Devlin pleaded for similar punishment to be meted out to James Tavernier, referee Willie Collum showed rare humour by offering him his whistle and inviting him to swap places.

The first moment of goalmouth danger was provided by Hearts as Nathaniel Atkinson fed Liam Boyce in the box. Rather than take on a tricky angled shot, the Irishman delivered the ball to the back post where strike partner Ellis Simms couldn’t arrive quickly enough to score. Instead, player and ball bounced off the upright.

Not wishing to become too bogged down, Rangers were using the trusted weapon of Connor Goldson’s long diagonal passing to get them upfield. One arrowed ball to the right was met with a sumptuous piece of control from Diallo, which allowed him to scamper in behind without breaking stride.

The deftness of touch also allowed him to raise his head and so a better ball across goal might reasonably have been expected than the one which allowed Souttar to clear from inside his six-yard box.

Rangers weren’t troubling Craig Gordon too much but there were palpable nerves among both sets of players that manifested themselves in a quite ridiculous pass-back attempt from Craig Halkett that forced the Scotland keeper to use his head to keep the ball from flying into his top corner.

The star turn of Seville, Bassey seemed to grow stronger as the game developed. Diallo and Joe Aribo both arrived on the end of crosses from the rampant left-back but neither could hit the target.

Into the second half, the Nigerian international was still at it, even pulling out a couple of party tricks during one surge forward.

Barely sighted following his loan move from Manchester United in January, Diallo’s day was looking like his most productive in a Rangers shirt as he showed uncommon vision to drop deep and then sling a pass over the Hearts back line for Ryan Kent to chase.

Kent, one of those who went the distance in midweek, was visibly jaded but got a good enough touch to demand a high-class response from Gordon, swift from his line to block at the winger’s feet.

If it was a little surprising that Diallo would be Van Bronckhorst’s first choice to substitute just moments later, Wright’s subsequent contribution vindicated the manager’s decision.

Another Bassey surge ended in a relatively weak right-foot shot that nevertheless still had Gordon scrambling to save.

With ten minutes of the 90 left, Van Bronckhorst used two more subs, Jack and Kamara replacing Davis and Arfield in midfield.

If Bassey was Rangers’ driving force, Souttar was Hearts’ main point of resistance, repelling everything that threatened the six-yard box and blocking a John Lundstram shot at full strength.

As full-time approached, Rangers upped a gear in one last effort to try and avoid yet another round of extra-time.

Gordon did brilliantly to stick out a foot and deflect Aribo’s shot wide, but if the surrogate striker had shown a more cynical side he might have gone down and won a penalty as Atkinson tugged at his jersey in the lead-up.

Wright also headed a Tavernier free-kick against the bar in stoppagetime but it was soon back over to Van Bronckhorst to gather his players for another gruelling shift.

What followed was the realisation that it was Hearts who were out on their feet.

The maroon-clad support at Hampden’s east end may have felt galvanised by the prospect of another half hour but their favourites simply didn’t have the legs for it and retreated at the resumption.

When Rangers forced a corner

three minutes in, it was Halkett who climbed to head, but the flight of the ball took it into the path of Jack.

A steady touch readied the former Don for a rising 20-yard shot from the edge of the D that glanced the inside of the bar on its way to the roof of the net. The second quickly followed. Caught on the counter, Hearts couldn’t keep up with

Kent, far less Wright, who joined his colleague on the overlap to accept the pass and tuck it away low to Gordon’s right.

Van Bronckhorst gave McGregor the last minute of the match, a big hint surely that the 40-year-old goalkeeper will now call time on his storied career.

Goldson, Balogun and Davis are also at the end of their contracts, while question marks hover over Aribo, Kent and Alfredo Morelos as they enter the final 12 months of their respective deals.

A summer of flux if not a complete rebuild awaits Van Bronckhorst, but he has earned the opportunity to put his own stamp on this team.

Scottish Cup Final

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2022-05-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-22T07:00:00.0000000Z

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