The cup is half empty

Many of us predicted a Rangers win in the Co-operative Insurance Cup final. We got that. The tale ended as we suspected it might but few of us could have dreamt up the narrative.

We didn't expect St Mirren to dominate. We couldn't have predicted that Rangers would have finished the game with nine men. And we wouldn't have expected that Kenny Miller would grab the winner with, in this observer's eyes at least, one of the finest finishes of his career.

A cup final with drama and incident when we expected so little.

So why, now the dust has settled, has it left me feeling so depressed.

It's not the repetitive drone of Rangers winning another trophy. You expect that. It's a cause of lingering irritation, resentment even, but not depression. Rather it was the nature of the game itself.

I think, and I'm probably not alone, that Rangers delivered the first leg of a treble at Hampden. And they did it while being outplayed. This is a team cantering to the league title yet they are capable of playing as badly as this. What does that say about the SPL?

Rangers were so poor that yesterday that I thought it was going to be difficult to single out one player as the sinner-in-chief. But that is to under estimate Kevin Thomson's ability to make a total erse of himself.

Sent off for stupid tackle that he made because he lost his temper. At 25 Thomson should be over these bouts of petulance. It says much for his inflated sense of his own importance that he's always likely to explode when he doesn't get his own way. 25 years old. No longer a kid, but apparently without a single sign of any maturity. And the red card merely provided the final act of an entirely anonymous display. Thomson's career is passing him by and he seems powerless to stop it.

And what of St Mirren. Brave St Mirren. Written off before the game but united in a belief and a desire that almost saw them through. Bollocks to that. Yes they dominated for long spells. But, amazingly, football is still about scoring goals. And they couldn't get close.

Even if their performance in the first hour had something admirable about it we've got to look at the simple facts. They dominated but couldn't score against 11 men and then imploded when they enjoyed a numerical advantage.

It's not even that they took time to adapt to Rangers' handicap. They actually got caught shorthanded in defence for the goal. Against nine men. Hard not to escape the conclusion that St Mirren are exactly where they deserve to be in our threadbare league.

St Mirren withdrew Billy Mehmet, who'd worked tirelessly while all the while looking like he'd still struggle to score if Cynthia Payne took him in as a lodger, and replaced him with Craig Dargo. Who hasn't scored in 19 games.

When the camera cut to the a young St Mirren fan in the crowd, tears streaming down his face, it was hard to escape the conclusion that this is a team undeserving of any such emotional attachment.

And, yes, I am aware that I could stand accused of kicking St Mirren when they are down. Guilty and it's easy to hurl abuse, sitting here with nothing more than a laptop and head full of opinions. But I'd say that losing a cup final that you've dominated to nine men is unprofessional, a whopping insult to those fans and, sorry Gus, an indication of a team that is crying out for better leadership.

Sunday then was a poor game lifted by a few moments of real drama, only one of which had anything to do with quality football. So, after everything, we probably got the final that this season has deserved.

Looking back

A blast from the past, the last time St Mirren were in a Hampden cup final. Archie Macpherson has control of the microphone:

Co-operative Insurance Cup Live

Coming up from around 2.30 toaday, live coverage of the Co-operative Insurance Cup as St Mirren and Rangers meet in the first of this year's major Scottish cup finals.

See ya soon!

Co-operative Insurance Cup Final

Despite the many compelling and intriguing patterns that Scottish football has managed to weave over the years the business end of our game is essentially a two tone intarsia. The Old Firm win things. St Mirren don't.

Only twice in their history have Rangers lost a League Cup final to anyone but Celtic. 25 times the trophy has gone to Ibrox from 32 finals. St Mirren lost the 1956 final to Aberdeen. And that's pretty much their League Cup history. Hell of a record in the Renfrewshire Cup, mind.

Given the pressure on their manager after a poor, poor run in the SPL and a unseemly and ill judged rammy over bonus payments, St Mirren would seem to be doing their best to turn a very difficult job into an absolutely impossible job.

But this is a cup final and shocks can happen. It's just that they tend not to in Scotland.

So what's the point in turning up to watch this Rangers walkover?

Because we're all football fans and myopic optimism is our stock in trade. And once in a while a result will come along that gives us all a warm feeling inside. A result that leaves people dancing on street of Raith.

I'm not a St Mirren fan but I will be hoping that they can upset the odds on Sunday. I suspect I'll not be alone.

Can they do it? I'd not bet on it. Maybe some of the complacency that seems to be gripping the Rangers support will filter down to the pitch and St Mirren will prevail through greater desire and hardwork. Maybe Rangers will have an off day, won't carry any luck, will lose discipline and shape. Or maybe St Mirren will just be better than them on the day.

I'd say St Mirren need to avoid losing an early goal and give themselves time to settle. They proved in the Scottish Cup at Love Street that they can upset Rangers, although they'll need to take their chances this time.

Rangers have had a couple of tricky encounters with the Buddies this season. If St Mirren can work on that nuisance factor from the start then it might begin to play on a few Rangers minds.

To listen to the head or listen to the heart? Alas I've got to go for the Rangers win, the first leg of what I think will become a treble.

But I'd probably have backed Dundee United in the 1987 Scottish Cup final. And St Mirren will find all the inspiration they need in the memories of that game.