Rangers 2 -0 Hearts

Scorers: Ferguson (50), Darcheville (69)

Jean-Claude Darcheville helped Rangers into the CIS Insurance Cup final. Hearts will have left Hampden Park feeling Mike McCurry played his part, too.

The referee, in fairness, did his best to spread the cost of calamity, but punctuated an evenly-contested semi-final with unfathomable decision-making. One man's leniency is another man's incompetence. McCurry, however the SFA refereeing department choose to gloss over it, had a shocker. He dismissed three legitimate penalty cries - two for Rangers, one for Hearts - and allowed an opening goal from Barry Ferguson that involved hands, knees and whoopsadaisy.

McCurry would have been as relieved as the anxious Rangers crowd when Darcheville scored the decisive second from an indisputable tap-in after 70 minutes. The match official's attempted balancing act went spectacularly wrong and a night to forget began when he waved away Christian Nade's penalty claim midway through the first half. The Frenchman turned inside Carlos Cuellar - the first indication of a torrid night ahead for the defender - and appeared to be grappled to the floor inside the box. Nade may have added the theatrics, but the Spaniard's attentions prevented a clear path to goal.
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Darcheville suffered at the other end shortly after. The striker's pounding run was ended abruptly in the box when he was sandwiched by Robbie Neilson and Hristos Karipidis but, again, no decision. Worse was to follow. Jose Goncalves handled inside his own area from Charlie Adam's mis-hit free-kick and stared longingly at McCurry for mercy. Even the Portuguese looked bewildered as play continued.

He and the rest of his team-mates were apoplectic after McCurry's piece de resistance. Chris Burke's cross slapped Ferguson's thigh, he thumped down on the ball with his forearm and hooked a left-foot shot into the net. The goal stood. Somehow.

The one sour note for the Ibrox side was the booking that rules Adam out of the final of a competition they last won three years ago in an ultimately emphatic 5-1 vanquishing of Motherwell. The first chance to win back some silverware was of primary importance to Walter Smith, who will today attempt to appease supporters by reinvesting some of the £9m Alan Hutton transfer fee in a left-back and a striker.

Until Ferguson's dubious opener, Nade's hunger and brute strength destabilised a normally robust Rangers defence. For long spells, the captain's contorted features conveyed his frustration with his team-mates, most notably the poor, unassuming figure of Sasa Papac.

This was not an occasion for midfield subtlety or attacking artistry. Rangers showed greater ability to scrape and claw a win but only after Hearts had the will sapped from them.

These are lean times for the game's administrators, but surely the Scottish Football League could have scraped together enough money to hire a stadium announcer with a semblance of football knowledge, or at the very least a basic grasp of pronunciation.

The supporters were hardly expecting Michael Buffer or Jimmy Lennon jnr, but an ability to say Brahim Hemdani's name in five short syllables - far less stuttering through the Hearts' litany of Lithuanians - would have elevated the pre-match build-up above amateurish. It sounded like a Chewin' The Fat sketch without the humour.

A strong, swirling wind and mucky underfoot conditions did little to enhance the aesthetics of the main event. Smith's starting line-up paid as much respect to the elements as to the opponents. Kris Boyd's return to favour was shortlived, with the manager instead preferring a more robust partnership of Lee McCulloch and Darcheville. Stevie Frail, Hearts caretaker head coach, persisted with the imposing combination of Nade and Andrius Velicka and so began an evening of unpretentious bombardment.

There was little in the way of cultivated possession. Instead, the ball was bludgeoned from one end to the next at a formidable rate. Rangers were first to probe for weakness. Whittaker was eager to unburden himself from the spectre of Hutton after the right-back finally completed what he euphemistically referred to as a "mutually beneficial" £9m transfer to Tottenham Hotspur. A galloping run and fine cross was volleyed adroitly by Adam but Steve Banks vindicated his decision to reject Rangers' offer to become back-up goalkeeper with an agile save.

Whittaker's progress at Ibrox has been scarred with lapses in concentration and one such gave Saulius Mikoliunas more freedom than he knew what to do with. These days, the Lithuanian wears the petted lip of a persecuted man. He has an ally in Frail, but the winger's fondness for theatrics have won little favour with officialdom.

This was a night when the wind wreaked more havoc than the wingers. Two instances created panic at either end. Velicka's seemingly tame looping header fell suddenly on to the top of Allan McGregor's crossbar and, at the other end, Banks suffered similar palpitations when Adam's speculative cross took a crazy trajectory.

McCurry's jittery control made for some compelling drama. Ferguson's goal gave Rangers an ascendancy they never looked like relinquishing, despite Nade's best efforts. It was Velicka, though, who squandered hopes of a comeback. Ferguson was caught in possession by Michael Stewart, Nade squared for the striker and the Lithuanian shot wildly.

Burke's endeavours down the right were rewarded a second time, his run past Goncalves and slide-rule pass enabling Darcheville to ensure Rangers' passage into the final.

Taken from the Herald