ROBERTSON SUFFERS THE AGONY WHILE IT'S ECSTASY FOR McCOIST

Rangers deliver a double whammy

Ian Paul

25 Nov 1996

The faces tell the story: some you lose is written all over John Robertson's as he applauds the Hearts fans.

Some you win is the theme for Ally McCoist as he shows his joy at scoring a double in the thrilling final victory.

Pictures: MAURICE McDONALD and PHIL RIDER TWO goals from Paul Gascoigne stopped Hearts in their tracks as they seemed on course for a famous comeback in a marvellously entertaining Coca-Cola Cup final which ended in a 4-3 success for Rangers.

However, while they left Parkhead with their heads held high, the Edinburgh side also took a strong sensation of injustice on the coach along the M8, insisting to a man that the third goal - Gascoigne's first - had followed a glaring foul by Joachim Bjorklund on John Robertson on the touchline in front of the main stand.

The Tynecastle team had gone two down to a brace of Ally McCoist goals - incidentally, the Ibrox striker went on to pick up his ninth League Cup winners' medal - in the first-half but fought back with tremendous spirit to level the scores soon after the interval when the incident involving Robertson - he appeared to be obstructed by Bjorklund - caused fury in the dug-out.

Neither the linesman, Alan Freeland, nor referee Hugh Dallas saw anything untoward, however, and the ball went to Gascoigne who ran on and hit a magnificent shot into the corner of the net.

"I felt if we had been given a free-kick we would have gone on to win the game," said manager Jim Jefferies.

"Robertson was obstructed and it cost us a goal.

I think the linesman knows he made a mistake but everybody is entitled to make errors." Captain for the day, Gary Mackay, Hearts' longest-serving player, was cautious about his comments, even though he was seen to be still very agitated after the final whistle.

In fact, he appeared to be annoyed that Mr Freeland had gone into the other half of the field where Rangers were celebrating, while the two other officials were beside the Hearts party.

However he said afterwards: "I haven't been in enough cup finals to know the format but I didn't realise that was the way it was done.

As far as the incident is concerned, I thought Robbo had taken the ball past the Rangers player but I don't want to make this sound like sour grapes.

Rangers won the final and that is that." Mackay, who has been 16 years at Tynecastle, admitted defeat was hard to take.

He went on: "But I was proud to be captain of this team today.

When we left Hampden in May after losing 5-1 to Rangers in the Scottish Cup final our heads were down.

This time we will go with our heads high.

I think the reception our fans gave us epitomised what our performance meant to them although we wish we had given them the result they wanted." Rangers manager Walter Smith also was generous in his praise for the Hearts display.

"If you weren't one of the managers it must have been a very good game to watch," he said.

"People criticised Hearts after the last final in May but most teams who were 2-0 down would have had the stuffing knocked out of them but we were hanging on when Gascoigne scored the third goal.

I felt we were on top for the first half-hour but they were by far the better side for the next half-hour.

It needed a little bit of Gascoigne magic to get us out of it and, effectively, his goals won the game for us.

"He has been under a bit of pressure in the last few weeks as anyone who has watched him could see but he is always liable to come out and score those kind of goals.

Very few midfield players can reach the kind of scoring average he can achieve and we needed that." Jefferies, even in his disappointment, was able to give credit to the English internationalist.

"It was five minutes of Gascoigne brilliance which won the cup.

Yet when we came back from 2-0 down to be level it looked as if we were going to run all over them.

Goram had two magnficient saves and we were going well until that incident changed things.

But I think we can say that Hearts gave Rangers the fright of their lives." He made the valid point that the comparison between the defeat and performance of his team in May's final and that of yesterday was important.

"I think it shows the progress we have made," he said.

He had praise for many of his players, particularly man-of-the-match Neil McCann.

"He was sensational." The man himself, while depressed at the way the final finished, echoed the general Tynecastle view that the third Rangers goal was the turning point but added: "I don't know about the decision on the touchline but, in any case, we gave Gazza too much room.

You can't do that with a player of his quality.

"I would rather have played badly and the team won but I have to admit I really loved it out there.

"Hearts have proved now that we can compete with Celtic and Rangers and we can go on from that.

The fans were magnificent.

It was hard to keep our emotions in check at the end." Assistant referee Freeland was also involved in criticism by Rangers fans who claim, with TV evidence to back them up, that he should have given Robertson offside when he scored the second Hearts goal.

Taken from the Herald