It is deja vu. All over again. Rangers last night triumphed at Hampden after coming from behind to force, then win a penalty shoot-out.

Aet. Rangers win 4-3 on penalties
Scorers: St Johnstone - McBreen (94); Rangers - Novo (102)

It is deja vu. All over again. Rangers last night triumphed at Hampden after coming from behind to force, then win a penalty shoot-out. It was a movie that Scottish football has already seen this season seen in the CIS Insurance Cup final. It was no romance for the underdog. It was, instead, another Tayside tear-jerker.

Dundee United succumbed to the inexorable will of Rangers last month. St Johnstone finally fell after two hours and a penalty shoot-out to an Ibrox side that resembles an Antarctic exploration expedition, both in its leg-weary fatigue and its determination to endure.

Shoot-outs are normally referred to as a lottery, yet it was surely a short-odds bet that Rangers would prevail when Dougie McDonald spotted the ball for the first of 10 kicks. Rangers did so with that curious mixture of the predictable and the unfortunate that surrounds this dramatic finale.

Steven Milne, who missed three good opportunities in normal time, saw his penalty, almost inevitably, saved by Neil Alexander. Jody Morris, St Johnstone's best player, also failed to score and Daniel Cousin casually added to this irony by converting the kick that won the game.

Cousin had a match of fecklessness strongly tainted by indifference. His movement was so restricted he made a tortoise on valium look hyperactive. At the final penalty I half expected him to hail a taxi for the journey from halfway line to the spot. His shot, however, could not be faulted though Rangers' efforts will be placed under merciless scrutiny. They were disappointing, unfocused and profligate in front of goal. But they endured. St Johnstone, in contrast, grew into the game.

Rangers had several chances in the first half to ensure that this was not a match that required an extension. Their misses gave encouragement to a Perth side who almost took the opportunity of reaching a Scottish Cup final against Queen of the South.

This, however, was a poor match until St Johnstone begun to believe. At one point in the first half, there were two balls on the pitch. Rangers and St Johnstone could not score with either of them.

Indeed, until the last 10 minutes of the first half, the hostilities had been restricted to inflicting casualties rather than drawing blood in terms of goals.

Steven Naismith and Chris Burke were carried from the action. Burke was caught on the ankle by Kevin Rutkiewicz. Naismith seemed to survive Martin Hardie standing on his knee but he collapsed moments later as he turned on the edge of the area. Thomas Buffel and Steve Davis were brought on and they had roles to play as the match attempted to approximate an entertainment.

McDonald's snap shot that whipped over the bar and Hardie's curved effort hardly caused anxiety for Rangers, but St Johnstone survived a series of Rangers forays on goal.

Buffel, correctly, was called offside as he picked up Steven Smith's cross and finished cleverly. But Cousin should have done more with an effort from outside the box after Alan Main careered from his goal and misjudged a through ball.

The best chance, though, was presented to Nacho Novo. The Spaniard picked up a woeful backpass by Goran Stanic and drove it wide. Davis then deftly tamed a long ball and flicked it to Cousin to finish but Stanic was in more reliable form as he cleared.

This outbreak of menace continued into the first half. Novo's header was tipped over by Main before Davis dithered after Buffel's enterprising run had afforded him space and time in the penalty area.

St Johnstone responded with their best run of chances.

Stanic drove the ball to the back post and Hardie's header was swept over by Milne. Craig's sharp run and cross almost immediately gave the striker a chance to atone but the former Dundee player glanced his header wide under pressure from Christian Dailly. This was but the second part of a trilogy of opportunity. The final instalment was also to end in failure as Alexander saved his clever flick from Gary Irvine's free-kick.

The frustration was growing for Rangers and so were St Johnstone's chances of increasing it. Paul Sheerin, who replaced the marauding Hardie, slipped his shot past from a good position.

Rangers desperately tried to avoid overtime. Whittaker's run ended with a shot against Main's legs, Buffel dithered when he should have shot, and Liam Craig cleared a Davis header from the line. It was St Johnstone, however, who took the lead in extra-time when Sheerin's swift cross was nodded in by Daniel McBreen. Rangers, inevitably, did not take to their bed in a bout of self-pity. They applied pressure on St Johnstone and the first division side did not so much crack as show one sign of weakness. Novo pounced on this and his cross was gathered by Cousin who was brought down in the area by Irvine. The Spaniard converted the consequent penalty.

Rangers should have been awarded another spot-kick as time ran down when Buffel was fouled in front of goal. This, though, merely delayed the inevitable. Hampden was left to watch a re-run of the climax to the CIS Insurance Cup final.