WITH his strip over his head a la Fabrizio Ravanelli and the words ''Thank You'' on the T-shirt underneath, Zurab Khizanishvili strode disconsolately from the Hampden pitch.
With tears in his eyes he was the last Dundee player to leave the arena in what was his final appearance for the Dens Park club. As he later wandered to the team bus, the young Georgian - wearing a Multiple Sclerosis ribbon in recognition of former team-mate Javier Artero who was struck down by the disease - still had a face like thunder. Clearly here was a man still in the middle of the depression that rages in players after being beaten in cup finals.
Beforehand, cynics felt that Khizanishvili couldn't lose regardless of the result, as he had already agreed to sign for Rangers next season. With such conspiracy theories - a well-used phrase during this season - on the go, the pressure on Khizanishvili to perform on Saturday was huge. To say he never put a foot wrong is pushing it a bit, as he did give away the free kick which led to Rangers' winning goal.
The irony of Khizanishvili giving away the free kick which led to a goal from Lorenzo Amoruso - the man he is being signed to replaced - won't be lost on anyone.
Hopefully, that won't be the lasting memory of the Dundee defender's Hampden appearance, as apart from the slip, he looked so relaxed at the back. He will glide effortlessly into the Ibrox set-up in the close season but it's sad that Dundee will pick up only a nominal fee for him, as he is out of contract.
After the game the Georgian put an end to any pretence he won't be heading down Govan way after months of prevarication. ''I have an agent who talks about this,'' said the Georgian, who implied it was a done deal and he wasn't looking at other options apart from Rangers.
With Khizanvili out of the picture and speculation still linking Georgi Nemsadze with Celtic, it's going to be difficult for Jim Duffy to build on the success he has had in the Scottish Cup this year. He still has the heart of a good side and, although Julian Speroni was left punching the air when Amoruso scored, he has still been arguably the best goalkeeper in the SPL, outwith Stefan Klos of Rangers.
Although Khizanishvili will be missed at the back, Lee Mair has the potential to form a good defensive partnership with Lee Wilkie to compensate. In the middle of the park, Nemsadze will be a key player for them if he stays around. If he doesn't, it's hard to see where Duffy will find his sort of inspirational play when the key is needed to unlock defences.
Gavin Rae is a trier, as are Garry Brady and Barry Smith, but though God loves a trier, football purists love players like Nemsadze who can split defences at will and double-shuffle his way past defender after defender.
Up front he has an embarrassment of riches, with Fabian Caballero and Steve Lovell always likely to start for Duffy.
Indeed, many of us felt Dundee would have started with only the two of them up front against Rangers in a 4-4-2 formation on Saturday, to try to close down the Rangers midfield and counteract the threat of Neil McCann out left.
Instead, Duffy stayed with
4-3-3, which included a disappointing show from Mark Burchill up front as the extra striker. In general, the system worked well, not least because McCann had a dreadful game and was hardly a threat, which allowed Dave MacKay and Rae to keep him quiet.
Apart from Khizanishvili, the most distraught Dundee player at the end of the game was Lovell. The painful reason for the Englishman's mood was the fact that he realised Rangers had under-performed and the game had been there for the taking.
''That was really frustrating for us,'' said Lovell. ''We put a lot of effort into the game but we know we can play better than that, and I suppose Rangers will say the same. At the end, the manager said we could hold our heads up because we had done well, but we know we could have won the game.''
Lovell is right in saying the Dundee players can hold their heads high but niggling away at them is the fact that this was a great opportunity to beat one of the Old Firm on Scottish Cup final day. Such chances don't come around too often and some Dundee players will be going on their summer holidays thinking just what might have been. It's pushing it to say they deserved to win but with Rangers having committed all their substitutes and with Neil McCann a virtual passenger for the last 15 minutes, if they forced a late equaliser and then extra time, they would have been in the driving seat.
Their Scottish Cup campaign fell at the final hurdle but at least they have the UEFA Cup next season to look forward to as compensation.
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