Rangers retained the Scottish Cup at Hampden Park this afternoon with a narrow 1-0 win over Falkirk courtesy of a spectacular Nacho Novo goal - but the final was not one that will be remembered with any fondness or excitement.
Nevertheless the victory enabled the Ibrox men to chalk up their eighteenth League / Cup Double and their 33rd triumph in the national tournament.
On a day of intense heat injury-ravaged Rangers made two changes from Tannadice with Barry Ferguson and Lee McCulloch replacing Pedro Mendes and Maurice Edu against a Falkirk side that included Neil McCann, holder of five Scottish Cup winners' medals, four with Rangers as well as one with Hearts.
The temperature was 37C at kick-off, and it was the underdogs who were first to threaten when Neil McCann's twenty-yard shot from a Scott Arfield pass touched the top of the crossbar in thirteen minutes.
Seven minutes later McCann again threatened when his hook shot from Darren Barr's cross was inches wide of the target.
It was significant that - in a break in the play - almost every Falkirk player made a beeline for the water bottles placed at the touchline whereas only a couple of Rangers players did likewise, underlining the effort put in by the 'Bairns' on such a stifling day.
A disappointing first-half produced precious little goalmouth action - yet on the cusp of the interval a Steve Davis free-kick found David Weir whose header was nodded off the line by Steve Lovell.
Recognising that changes were essential, Walter Smith introduced Nacho Novo in place of the ineffective Kris Boyd at the interval.
The substitution had an immediate impact when Novo opened the scoring, swivelling on a Sasa Papac throw-in to rifle home a 25-yard shot with his first touch of the ball that left goalkeeper Dani Mallo flailing.
The capacity crowd had come to life - but astonishingly it soon became evident that Rangers were now adapting to a 4-5-1 formation in defence of their lead with Kyle Lafferty playing the lone role up front. .
Falkirk Manager John Hughes introduced no fewer than three substitutes in the 73rd minute - Michael Higdon, Carl Finnigan and Mark Stewart replacing Kevin McBride, Patrick Cregg and Neil McCann. Such a multiple-change is unprecedented in a Scottish Cup Final - it also meant that Steven Pressley was denied a record feat of a fourth Scottish Cup Winners medal with a fourth club.
The triple substitution almost paid an instant dividend within two minutes - all three were involved as Jackie McNamara's cross, nodded on by Stewart, found Higdon at the far post who cut the ball across the face of goal for Finnigan to net only for the goal to be correctly chalked off for offside by linesman Lawrence Kerrigan.
A lightning break by Kenny Miller in eighty minutes almost sealed the win when his cutback was knocked over by Novo.
Sixty seconds later at the other end Steve Lovell's low drive hit the post - but the ball was scrambled clear.
Steven Naismith replaced Miller in 83 minutes - then three minutes later Christian Dailly came on for Lafferty.
Incredibly Dailly - a utility player at best - found himself up front, leaving one to ponder exactly what formation Rangers would play in extra-time were Falkirk to equalise.
All this against a side who - with all due respect - avoided relegation on the closing day of the season...
Nevertheless Rangers held out to retain the trophy and after the celebrations were over Walter Smith looked back:
"I was delighted to win. It was always going to be a difficult game. It was a tremendous goal to win the Cup."
At the end of the day perhaps one should not be too critical - Rangers are League Champions and the Scottish Cup has been retained. Most 'Gers fans would have settled for that at the turn of the year...
RANGERS Alexander; Whittaker, Weir, Bougherra, Papac; Davis, Ferguson, McCulloch, Lafferty (Dailly 86); Miller (Naismith 83), Boyd (Novo 45)
UNUSED SUBS McGregor, Wilson
FALKIRK Mallo; McNamara, Barr, Aafjes, Scobbie; McBride (Higdon 73), Cregg (Finnigan 73), Arfield, O'Brien, McCann (Stewart 73); Lovell
UNUSED SUBS Pressley, Olejnik
REFEREE Craig Thomson