THE blue and white confetti which continued to dance all round Hampden in the evening breeze long after the players had left the scene told the story of a CIS Cup Final which was over almost before it had started. As Rangers climbed the Hampden stairs to collect the first silverware of the season Motherwell's ruined dream lay somewhere under all the litter. A Sunday afternoon which held immense promise closed in abject despair for the Lanarkshire side and all their supporters, who had actually provided most of the colour in the immediate build-up. But within eight minutes they were forced to confront the horror of impending defeat. Maurice Ross and Sotirios Kyrgiakos had scored and although David Partridge's terrific header closed the gap, Rangers captain Fernando Ricksen belted in a free-kick to settle the affair before the interval. The Ibrox side added two more goals in the second period but they could have scored a few more against Motherwell, who lost their discipline as the Final was played out. One wonders what the Ibrox and Fir Park legend Davie Cooper would have made of it all. Would he have managed a smile, or would the margin of Rangers' victory have caused him pain? He'd certainly have had a wry smile at Gregory Vignal wearing a blue shirt with his former number on it.It said11but there the similarities between the two started and also ended. However, Cooper might have had a few kind words for Motherwell's keeper Gordon Marshall, who will be 41 next month. Unfortunately for Motherwell and himself he looked every day of his age yesterday. His thought process was slow as was his body and last night would have been a sleepless one for the veteran, who has now been on the losing side in three league cup finals with three different sides, Celtic and Kilmarnock the two others. It was difficult to see through the crowded scenes at the end but Marshall might not even have made the walk up to the centre of the main stand to collect his runners-up medal. Who needs a hat-trick of those anyway, but his manager Terry Butcher won't single the old-timer out for criticism because there were too many others who lost concentration at crucial moments when Rangers clicked into forward gear. They chose this, the most important day they've had for a long time, to get it wrong and Alex McLeish's men took full advantage. McLeish didn't have Marvin Andrews, who failed to recover from his knee injury, at the back but it didn't matter. His standin, Bob Malcolm, wasn't troubled greatly and, in fact, his central defensive partner, Kyrgiakos,had a wonderful time bagging a second-half goal to go with his first. This was the first time these sides had met in the final of this tournament and it was thought memories of Cooper might have formed some kind of bond between the two sets of fans. No chance. Rangers' fans wasted no time in belting out the same old offensive rubbish and were up to their knees in it within minutes. It was almost as though they were trying to send out a defiant message to their club's owner David Murray,who was bold enough to tell the bigots among Rangers' following that they weren't welcome. Unfortunately for him and every other decent citizen they refuse to go away and it will be some time before we are all finally rid of these utterly horrible morons. We were saved more of the same because of Rangers' lightning start to the match, winning a corner in the very first minute. Kyrgiakos and Ricksen combined but Marshall was able to gather the ball in easily and comfortably but that was not a sign of things to come. Ross made good ground down Rangers' right in four minutes and fed the ball in to Thomas Buffel, who saw the defender continue his run, but this time veering inside. Buffel threaded the ball through to Ross who looked up and saw Marshall almost right in front of him. Ross managed to supress his surprise and lobbed the keeper.Simple and as awful as that but worse was to come four minutes later when Ross again barrelled down the right this time winning a corner. Vignal curled the ball in and tempted Phil O'Donnell to stretch too far managing only to use his head to tee the ball up for Kyrgiakos. He nodded his approval and Rangers were two ahead and charging towards victory. Kyrgiakos was in the mood and he even played keepy-uppy for a moment deep inside his own territory but referee Mike McCurry was told by assistant Keith Sorbie that the Greek had tugged Kevin McBride's jersey and the foul was given. The defender looked bemused and may still have been wondering why when Partridge escaped him to bullet in a header from Stevie Hammell's free-kick. Suddenly we thought we had a final to savour but Stephen Craigan hacked at Buffel giving away a foul only yards outside his own box in 32 minutes. He was booked but that wasn't the worst of the punishment. Ricksen took the free--kick and curled the ball low into Marshall's right-hand corner but the big keeper was painfully slow getting across. In fact, the ball had skidded past him and over the line before he was down. Nacho Novo should have scored five minutes later but failed to connect with Dado Prso's header from a Vignal free-kick but three minutes into the second half the little Spaniard made amends. Prso's flick to Vignal was sublime and the midfield player then sent Novo clear. Again Marshall came way off his line and again he was lobbed. Motherwell made a double switch in 64 minutes, sending David Clarkson on for Richie Foran, who had been anonymous, and Marc Fitzpatrick took over from Jim Paterson, but little changed. They claimed for a penalty in 70minutes when Craigan collapsed in Rangers' box but McCurry didn't see the shoving match between the Motherwell defender and Kyrgiakos which was just as well. Had he witnessed this piece of nonsense he might have given them lines as a punishment. Rangers sent Alex Rae on for Vignal in 78 minutes and just after that Novo made way for Stevie Thompson with Paul Quinn taking over from McBride but Motherwell were done.They knew they had lost this final and their shot at glory and four minutes from the end Kyrgiakos got Rangers' fifth. He spun away from his markers, rose unchallenged and sent a powerful header zooming into poor Marshall's net. His confidence was as shredded as the blue and white paper which the giant wind machines blasted up into the air as Rangers began their celebrations. | 
