Kenny Miller’s late header gave nine-man Rangers victory over St Mirren in a dramatic League Cup final at Hampden yesterday.
The game exploded in the 53rd minute when Ibrox midfielder Kevin Thomson was deservedly sent off for a needless and lunging tackle on Steven Thomson.
Then teenage defender Danny Wilson was also red-carded for a last-man challenge on Buddies substitute Craig Dargo, leaving the Govan side two men short for the last 20 minutes.
But with seven minutes remaining, Scotland striker Miller rose in textbook fashion to head substitute Steven Naismith’s cross past Paul Gallacher and complete the first part of a possible treble for Walter Smith’s men.
Miller had the best chance of the first half in the 34th minute when he took a Whittaker pass and drifted in to the box with ease only to fire high over the bar. Rangers survived in 40 minutes when Alexander was well beaten by David Barron’s long-range drive which clipped the crossbar on its way over.
When the interval whistle sounded, it was the Paisley men who trooped off cursing their inability, yet again this season, to turn possession into goals.
Steven Davis was replaced by Maurice Edu at the break as Rangers went to three at the back and that substitution and tactical change appeared to spark the Light Blues into a higher gear.
Kevin Thomson drove a left-footed shot wide within a couple of minutes after a Novo free kick had been cleared to the edge of the box.
In the next few minutes both Miller and Papac had efforts which went high and wide but the Ibrox side now looked a different team.
However, their mood darkened when Thomson was shown a red card.
The decision looked reasonable but the game turned ugly in the subsequent minutes and amid the bitterness, Kris Boyd, anonymous for most of the game, headed a Novo free kick over the bar.
Higdon fortuitously blocked a Miller shot in a goalmouth scramble as Rangers, fuelled by a sense of injustice, fought back. Dargo replaced Billy Mehmet in the 70th minute and seconds later the St Mirren substitute was pulled back by Wilson in a last-man situation at the edge of the box which earned the young Ibrox defender a red card, leaving Rangers down to nine men.
Boyd was replaced by Steven Naismith with 11 minutes remaining and in the 83rd minute, in a Rangers breakaway, the former Kilmarnock striker curled a pin-point cross on to the head of Miller who rose to glance his header past Gallacher.
It was a goal fit to win any game and after some desperate defending, Miller and his team-mates deserved the cheers from the Rangers fans when the final whistle blew. The omens seem to be saying that will be Rangers’s year, with the treble still on.