THE Proclaimers' Sunshine on Leith has served as Hibernian's unofficial club anthem for years.

Yesterday it doubled as a lament. The recent years have not been kind to the Easter Road club and its supporters, what with cup final wallopings, league collapses and relegation all on the charge sheet. Here was yet another ignominious afternoon for them to endure, an aggregate loss to Rangers ensuring they will spend a second season outside of Scottish football's top flight. "My heart was broken," seemed the cruellest of soundtracks as the Hibs players trudged dejectedly over to their supporters at full-time to thank them and apologise simultaneously. The route of the Edinburgh marathon will pass close to the stadium next weekend but Hibs' race is now run.

For a second successive season, the play-offs have not been kind. If losing on penalties to Hamilton a year ago was a real thump to the gut, then this must have hurt just as much. Promotion had been the aim at the outset of the campaign and they have fallen someway short, not even making it to the play-off final. Little surprise that manager Alan Stubbs spoke post-match about pushing for the automatic promotion slot next year to avoid putting themselves through this sort of torture again in 12 months' time.

They exited in what can only be described as typical Hibs' fashion. A whirlwind start, when they threatened to overwhelm Rangers, failed to deliver the early goal they so badly craved and it soon became apparent that they lacked the wherewithal and nous to score the two goals needed to at least take it to extra-time. As the clock ticked down into the fourth minute of injury time and the home fans started to slope away, Hibs finally scored. It was a terrific strike too - Jason Cummings spinning in the box before firing a shot into the top corner past Cammy Bell - but it was too little, too late. The final whistle sounded shortly afterwards and Hibs' season was over. Even in winning, they had still found a way to lose.

Rangers, in contrast, march on. They have been far from spectacular and free-flowing during these play-offs but they have picked off first Queen of the South and now Hibs to stay on course to return to the top division at the first attempt. Stubbs had wondered aloud pre-match whether his opposite number Stuart McCall would try to defend the two-goal lead garnered from the first leg at Ibrox or try to be more positive. The sight of Lee McCulloch replacing Nicky Clark in the side, a shift to three at the back, and the way in which they seemed intent on avoiding the Hibs penalty box as if it were a UN no-go zone, answered Stubbs' question. It may have been different had Hibs managed to make the breakthrough in the opening phase when they created around half a dozen decent chances and had a penalty claim for handball waved away, but the eventual outcome wholly vindicated McCall's stance. Whether through accident or design, Rangers' rope-a-dope tactics had succeeded.

After a three-year slog through the lower leagues, only a home-and-away tie against Motherwell now stands between them and a place in the top division. There is an added poignancy for McCall that it is his former team who will try to prevent them achieving that, but Rangers will surely continue with the sort of pragmatism that has served them well in the first two rounds of the play-offs.

Hibs can now start their summer holidays a week earlier than they would have liked. They will come to reflect on this tie and the fact it took them 183 minutes to finally unlock the Rangers defence. Scott Allan was again at the heart of everything, but come the end there was only so much one man could do. The Championship's player of the season, Hibs will do well to hold on to him over the summer.

The early goal they so desperately needed here never materialised but it wasn't for the lack of trying. Liam Fontaine headed over from an Allan corner. Fraser Fyivie had a low shot saved. Cummings lobbed the ball over Marius Zaliukas' head but couldn't get enough purchase on the subsequent volley. Liam Craig cracked in a shot that Bell saved before David Gray thundered an inviting ball back across the box that didn't find any takers. Cummings touched on Fyvie's shot but couldn't get enough on it. It seemed inevitable that Hibs would score and yet somehow they didn't.

Rangers survived the onslaught and had half-chances of their own through a Kenny Miller shot that was saved and a header that went just wide. It was Hibs, though, who remained the dominant side without having anything to show for it. When Bell brilliantly touched a Malonga shot around the post on the hour-mark, it seemed a significant moment. Hibs had a late rally - Paul Hanlon hit a post before Cummings finally made the breakthrough - but they hadn't given themselves enough time. Another Hibs' hard luck story had been penned. "Sorrow, sorrow," had never seemed so apt.