PERHAPS you may feel short-changed today with our ‘Six of the Best’ – but only in as much as there were just five goals to report on. But, in terms of drama, emotion and a sense of destiny, then not many Scottish Cup finals would match last year’s offering.
Despite honours being shared in terms of league results against each other, Rangers had seen off Hibs to take the Championship title, earning their promotion back to the top division. They had also scored an unscripted semi-final win over arch-rivals Celtic in the semis.
By contrast, the Easter Road club already knew they were destined for another year in the second tier having been beaten in the play-offs by Falkirk.
So Hibs began their Hampden date as underdogs – and that was before adding their 114-year Cup hoodoo into the mix.
But, those who had travelled through from Edinburgh had cause to celebrate first when Anthony Stokes netted after a good run and angled finish, although the defending and positioning of Rob Kiernan and Wes Foderingham left much to be desired.
Rangers levelled through Kenny Miller with a well-placed header, but in a pulsating contest, Stokes and then Miller were denied by the frame of the goal.
While defensively at sea, Rangers had a better passing game and took the lead just after the hour mark, Andy Halliday firing
an arrow-like, left-footed drive from distance beyond the diving Conrad Logan.
However, those defensive frailties – especially from the set piece – would come back to haunt Rangers. In the 80th minute, Liam Henderson flighted over a corner from the right, with Stokes losing marker James Tavernier at the near post to head home.
Foderingham palmed a Stokes shot wide to deny the Irishman a hat-trick and a winner. But from the resulting corner, two minutes in to stoppage time, Henderson delivered another pinpoint cross which Hibs skipper David Gray met, his forceful header hitting the rigging beyond the reach of the flying Rangers keeper.
And so, the curse that had haunted Hibs for more than a century, was gone. So too, within 10 days of claiming that silverware, was Hibernian boss Alan Stubbs, who left Leith having accepted an offer to join Rotherham United.
Rangers: Foderingham, Tavernier, Kiernan, Wilson, Wallace, Halliday, Holt, Zelalem (Shiels), Waghorn (Clark), Miller, McKay. Substitutes: Bell, Law, Burt.
Hibernian: Logan, Gray, Hanlon (Gunnarsson), Fontaine (Henderson), McGregor, Stevenson, McGeouch, McGinn, Fyvie, Cummings (Keatings), Stokes. Substitutes: Oxley, Bartley, Boyle, Dagnall.
Attendance: 50,701
Neil Cameron’s reflections
Okay, so things got a bit nasty after the final whistle, but this was one of the best football matches I’ve ever been to.
It had just about a bit of everything. The game went one way, then the next, and it ended with Hibs breaking the most famous hoodoo in Scottish football. There are times in this job when it’s lovely to say ‘I was there’ and this was just such an occasion. It was a great match to be working at.
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