How they rated; Scottish Cup

HEARTS OF MIDLOTHIAN

Gilles Rousset:Rating 7

Age: 34 Flawless handling emphatically banished his 1996 Cup final nightmare.

Crucial saves from Amoruso and McCoist in each half

Dave McPherson:Rating 6

Age: 34 Telling experience helped his side ride out stormy closing passage.

Had earlier struggled to contain combined threat of Laudrup and Stensaas

Gary Naysmith:Rating 6

Age: 19 Mature display by Scotland's Young Player of the Year.

Tied to defensive duties with few opportunities to pursue attacking instincts

David Weir:Rating 7

Age: 28 Nervous early on, with distribution sometimes untidy.

Improved later with some exemplary interceptions and well-timed tackles

Stefano Salvatori:Rating 6

Age: 30 Disciplined performance in role at front of back four.

Always looked for simple option to relieve pressure on struggling colleagues

Paul Ritchie:Rating 8

Age: 22 Outstanding.

Athleticism and marvellous positional sense thwarted countless attacks.

Coolly robbed McCoist in critical one-on-one late on

Neil McCann: Rating 5

Age: 23 Struggled to produce the flair he has previously provided on big occasions.

Often dropped deep to assist defence

Steve Fulton: Rating 7

Age: 27 Bursting run led to early penalty.

As natural playmaker, saw a good deal of the ball without being authoritative

Stephane Adam:Rating 7

Age: 29 Excellent as solitary striker with telling runs stretching Rangers' defence on both flanks.

Second-half goal was ruthless, predatory strike

Colin Cameron:Rating 7

Age: 25 Displayed great composure as he converted the dramatic early penalty.

Consistent, but with few of his trademark midfield attacking bursts.

Thomas Flogel:Rating 6

Age: 26 Effectively an auxiliary defender as Rangers' pressure forced him on the back foot Almost scored Hearts' third with second-half header

SUBSTITUTES

Jim Hamilton: Brought on to replace the tiring Adam and used his pace to harry the Rangers midfield (5).

Grant Murray: Not used.

John Robertson: Not used

RANGERS

Andy Goram:Rating 6

Age: 34 Occasionally uneasy.

No chance with Cameron's penalty.

Put a hand on Adam's shot, but was unable to kill momentum

Sergio Porrini:Rating 6

Age: 29 Uncomfortable on the right in the first half and happier when switched after the interval.

Distribution at set pieces sometimes poor

Staale Stensaas: Rating 5

Age: 26 Combined with Laudrup to provide attacking threat, but lacked confidence with final ball.

Substituted at half-time

Richard Gough:Rating 6

Age: 36 Solid, if unspectacular swansong.

Read game well, but rarely threatened when forward for set pieces

Lorenzo Amoruso:Rating 6

Age: 26 Fatal hesitation led to Hearts' second goal.

Hit a number of thunderous free kicks, only one of which severely tested Rousset

Joachim Bjorklund:Rating 7

Age: 27 Effective game.

Used his pace to shackle McCann.

Distribution sometimes over-ambitious when simple pass beckoned

Rino Gattuso: Rating 7

Age: 20 Typically feisty outing.

Numerous aggressive challenges and fortunate to get only a yellow card.

Excellent pass to set up McCoist goal

Ian Ferguson:Rating 6

Age: 31 Struggled to find creative spark and was involved in rash challenge on Fulton that gave away penalty.

Improved after interval Gordon Durie:Rating 6

Age: 32 Workrate would have impressed Craig Brown with a view to World Cup.

Had few opportunities to demonstrate finishing skills.

Stuart McCall:Rating 6

Age: 33 Adept as always in holding role.

Sacrificed in the second half as Rangers looked to up their forward momentum

Brian Laudrup:Rating 7

Age: 29 Appetite for the fray beyond question.

Had some fine runs and was constant menace to all quarters of Hearts' defence

SUBSTITUTES

Ian Durrant: Occasional surging run of old.

Added vigour to late onslaught (6).

Craig Moore: Not used.

Ally McCoist: Inevitable that he should score to stir the debate over his World Cup exclusion (7)

Taken from timesonline.co.uk