Barry Ferguson on target to put Rangers into final

Rangers, at long last, are back on the trail of a piece of silverware, three years after they were last acquainted with such a gift. Walter Smith’s team won this CIS Insurance Cup semi-final at Hampden Park last night, and the victory was deserved and a credit to Smith, a man who inherited a shambles at Ibrox 13 months ago and has doggedly brought about restoration.

Second half goals from Barry Ferguson and Jean-Claude Darcheville did for Heart of Midlothian, who had been clever and adventurous at first before falling under Rangers’ spell.

Hearts might claim, perhaps justly, that there was a handball at Ferguson’s opener after 49 minutes, but overall this was no miscarriage of justice. As the game wore on Rangers developed a mental toughness that you would associate with Ibrox sides of old.

The game had one pivotal moment: Andrius Velicka’s miss from a prime spot to level the game at 1-1 after 61 minutes. The big Lithuanian fairly thudded his effort wide when it looked far easier to hit the target.
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It has been a bad week for Kris Boyd. First, he hears that Daniel Cousin, the man that has denied him so many starts for Rangers, might not be leaving Ibrox after all. And then, even with Cousin’s absence, Boyd turns up here at Hampden only to be told by Smith that he would once more be on the bench.

Evidently, Boyd’s four goals in his last two games was not enough to sway the Rangers manager’s mind, at least before kick-off. Smith, though, would soon change his mind on that.

Hearts began this match brightly but then slumped into a peculiar malaise, slashing the ball wildly out of defence as Rangers began to press them. It was amid such panic in the first half that Steve Banks had to beat away Charlie Adams’ drive, the midfield player having met Steven Whittaker’s cross with some venom and hammered the ball at the goalkeeper.

Whittaker’s role at right-back was a glimpse of things to come for Rangers in the postAlan Hutton era. Some Rangers supporters are up in arms at the sale of their international defender to Tottenham Hotspur – or, more specifically, at Rangers’ apparent pressuring of Hutton to leave – but the fact remains that the £9 million on offer to the Ibrox club was extremely hard to turn down.

Peculiarly, as we witnessed in episodes of this game, Whittaker might be better at defending than Hutton, but not as good going forward.

It was down Whittaker’s flank of the park that Hearts created their first real opportunity of the opening 45 minutes, though the full-back wasn’t to blame. Instead, Carlos Cuellar was seen to lunge at Christian Nade as he ploughed into the Rangers box, leaving the Hearts striker in a heap inside the box. Hearts shrieked for a penalty, but Mike McCurry, the referee, ignored the pleas. This was an appealing, lively game, full of ebb and flow. Nade, for once, looked in the mood for Hearts. Rangers were perturbed whenever the young Frenchman ran at them, and Nade chose to do just that, and down either flank, too. The Hearts striker was one player who gave a nice spice to this affair.

Rangers had their own penalty claim when Darcheville, brazenly driving a horse-and-carriage through the Hearts defence, claimed to be impeded by Christos Karipidis inside the area. It is true that Karipidis’s arm was raised against Darcheville, but like the Hearts shout earlier, McCurry waved play on, probably correctly.

Hearts came closest to opening the scoring when Velicka’s header from Eggert Jonsson’s cross looped into the wind and pranged against Allan McGregor’s bar. At that stage, just minutes before the break, this game was turning positively unpredictable.

Rangers took the lead in controversial circumstances after 49 minutes, though Ferguson’s marvellous execution of the goal was something to behold. Hearts, though, made a claim for handball by the Rangers captain. From Chris Burke’s cross, Ferguson took the ball with his back to goal, then wheeled and sent a gorgeous left-foot shot wide of Banks and inside his right post. In attempting to control the ball, Ferguson clearly handled as he attempted to set up the shot.

The incident was a difficult call for the referee. McCurry evidently deemed it to be an accidental handball and the goal stood. It was also deserved because Rangers started the second half by far the stronger team. Darcheville soon struck the bar, and Hearts were left ruing Velicka’s miss – set up by Nade – when he cracked his shot well wide of McGregor’s goal when clean through after 61 minutes.

Darcheville clinched the match for Rangers, tucking Burke’s low cross past Banks from six yards after 69 minutes. Adams’ booking means he will miss the final.

Rangers (4-3-3): A McGregor – S Whittaker, D Weir, C Cuellar, S Papac – B Ferguson, B Hemdani, C Adam – C Burke, J C Darcheville (sub: N Novo, 72), L McCulloch. Substitutes not used: A Faye, K Broadfoot, K Boyd, G Smith. Booked: Whittaker, Darcheville, Adam.

Heart of Midlothian (4-4-2): S Banks – R Neilson, C Berra, C Karipidis, J Goncalves (sub: L Wallace, 83) – E Jonsson, R Palazuelos, M Stewart, S Mikoliunas – A Velicka (sub: A Driver, 63), C Nade (sub: R Beniusis, 72). Substitutes not used: N McCann, A Basso. Referee: M McCurry.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk