Rangers put their Europa League heartbreak behind them as an extra-time surge helped them claim their first Scottish Cup trophy since 2009.
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst was on the winning sides in 1999 and 2000 as he lifted the Scottish Cup trophy as a player – and this afternoon he earned his first piece of silverware as Rangers manager.
The Dutchman’s substitutes came up trumps as Ryan Jack’s thunderous strike at the start of extra-time fired Rangers ahead before Scott Wright finished off a swift counter-attack minutes later.
The reaction flooded in post-match and pundits delivered their verdicts on an action-packed Scottish Cup final.
Here’s what the pundits said on the match.
Ally McCoist
"I thought they were slightly the better team in the first half, not a lot in it.
"Simms had a great chance to score but after that Rangers totally dominated.
"It's bordering on superhuman. You asked me at full-time if coming back from Seville, playing 120 minutes in that heat would affect them.
"You got your answer, absolutely not in the slightest. Magnificent."
Neil McCann
“We did ask the question before extra-time if Rangers would tire, but I’m not surprised they kept going as there’s a lot of resilience in that side.
"They missed a lot of chances and you could’ve begun to think ‘is it going to be Hearts’ day?’ but for a five-minute spell at the start of extra-time, Rangers have just blown the tie to bits and made themselves very, very comfortable and it could’ve been more but for Craig Gordon.
“I don’t think Hearts have let themselves down today but this Rangers team have proved this season that they’re a right good side and it’s probably fitting that they’ve got something to show for it as it would’ve been really tough for them to take if they’d lost this afternoon.
"You could say the same for Hearts who’ve also had an excellent season.
“What Giovanni van Bronckhorst now must do is regroup because titles matter at Rangers. They narrowly lost in the Europa League on Wednesday, so it was really important that they won the Scottish Cup this afternoon to get his first piece of silverware in the cabinet and they’ve managed to do that."
Kenny Miller
“Hearts just didn’t have a response. Even in the second-half when the pressure was mounting, it took a wonderful save from Craig Gordon to deny Joe Aribo, and the start of extra-time was the award that they got for the previous half-hour and the pressure eventually told.
“It was a wonderful strike from Ryan Jack and then Scott Wright finished off what was a very good counter-attacking move. Rangers were deserved winners on the day, and over the course of the season they certainly deserved something from it when you look at what they’ve achieved this season.
“A well-earned Scottish Cup for the first time in 13 years.”
Craig Levein
“Rangers were completely dominant at the tail end of the second-half and that just continued into extra-time.
It was a fantastic goal by Ryan Jack and then they added a second shortly after and then it looked like it was Hearts who played in the Europa League just three days ago. They were out on their feet in all honesty.
“All credit to Rangers. They got a lot of credit when they went to extra-time in the last round against Celtic just a couple of days after European action and they’ve gone and done it again and deserve a huge amount of credit for that.
“I was expecting that Rangers would tire as soon as extra-time came along but Giovanni {Van Bronckhorst} used his substitutes well and they’ve both come on and scored.”
