Cyriel Dessers proves critics wrong and scores twice to defeat Hearts, paving the way for an Old Firm showdown in the Scottish Cup final

He’s a strange player, Cyriel Dessers. Securing an place in the Scottish Cup final with two pieces of clinical marksmanship, the much-maligned Rangers striker spent the bulk of this game giving Hearts skipper Lawrence Shankland a lesson in the art of finishing.

It was a performance which probably deserved a rare Hampden hat-trick and, with minutes to play, opportunity knocked from a Tom Lawrence lay-off. To no one’s great surprise, one of the great enigmas of Scottish football dragged the easiest chance of them all wide of the post.

It didn’t matter in the end. Two goals were enough to secure in the Scottish Cup Final against Celtic on May 25. The treble – for now – is still on.

The players who ply their trade in maroon now have as much to do with man landing on the moon as they do with the 16 – now 17 – defeats at Scotland’s National Stadium since 1930, but no matter. With every fresh defeat they add to the impression that this is a Hearts team who don’t believe they can beat Rangers.

When the teams sitting eleventh and sixth in the Premiership can get a result the abject record of the team sitting clear in third remains a curious business. Nevertheless, stats are stats.

To find the last Hearts victory over the Ibrox side you have to go back to February 2020. More recently they’d lost the 2022 final to the same opponents and took a fall when the sides met in the League Cup semi-finals in November.

Steven Naismith claimed his team had grown and evolved since then and, despite a spirited second half display, his side persistently played the wrong pass at the key moment. Coming into this game with just one defeat in their last seven and two in their last 20, the stats didn’t matter a jot. Despite beating champions Celtic in their last two meetings Hearts consistently see a light blue shirt and fall to pieces.

Arriving at Ibrox on 12-game unbeaten run back in February, Naismith’s side lost a goal inside two minutes and collapsed like a pack of cheap playing cards. Here they held out for all of five minutes before the roof caved in.

Stung by justified criticism of their hapless displays against Ross County and Dundee, Rangers were at it from the first whistle. Mohamed Diomande was back pulling the strings in midfield and made a difference. John Lundstram played as if he was wearing slippers, grabbing control and swarmed all over a Hearts side unnerved by the tempo and intensity.

The haphazard efforts to clear the ball for the opening goal summed up the way the Jambos started this game. Todd Cantwell created his first goal of the game when picked up a loose ball in space 20 yards from goal and fed Dessers.

The striker sent Nat Atkinson for the shopping before tucking the ball low in to the corner of the net.

The joy of the early goal dampened after another worrying development on the injury front ten minutes later.

Out injured for three months, the return of Abdallah Sima was supposed to herald a push for the treble.

Lively in the opening stages the top scorer seemed to pull his hamstring before trudging off thoroughly dejected, to be replaced by Ross McCausland. Kicking a water bottle in frustration a hug from the manager was no consolation at all. Scans will determine if he kicks another ball this season.

Sima’s departure coincided with Hearts settling down a bit. Dominant in the early stages, Lundstram passed the ball straight to Alan Forrest. In a quest to emulate his older brother James 24 hours earlier, his angled drive was blocked by Jack Butland at the near post.

Butland’s excellence has been one of the stories of the season for Rangers. As Hearts relaxed started asking questions Frankie Kent, still up from the corner, was denied at close range by the keeper. The replays showed he was narrowly offside, but VAR would have had a look.

Clement has made some big decisions as Ibrox boss. He’s not afraid to bruise big egos.

Cantwell discovered that early in the Belgian’s reign and the latest victim of a ruthless commitment to perfection was Connor Goldson.

Clement claimed it was a question of freshness and, not for the first time with his recent public statements, no one was buying it. A more likely explanation came with the loss of three goals to Celtic and Ross County. Leon Balogun’s first start since February 3 at Livingston sent shock waves around Hampden before a ball was kicked.

The first sign of defensive frailty from Rangers came eight minutes into the second period. Former Hearts defender John Souttar had his pocket picked by Kenneth Vargas on the right flank. In space in the middle of goal, Shankland screamed for the square ball which would have presented him with a real chance.

One slip from Souttar was unfortunate, a second minutes later was just careless, Vargas again nicking the ball on the flank to spark a scruffy Hearts attack. For all the winger’s pace and pest value, his final ball was consistently awful. As a team Hearts seemed to blow up when they reached the 18 yard box.

A triple change from Steven Naismith was a blunt acknowledgement that his team were going out of the cup. Yutaro Oda, Barrie Mckay and Dexter Lembikisa given the job of changing the record and, when McKay hung a cross up at the back post, the Hearts support cheered as Shankland’s downward header rippled the side-netting. By far his biggest chance, the skipper should have hit the target.

Rangers hadn’t been great in the second half, but sealed their place in the final with 13 minutes to play.

Young Macauley Tait’s thrusting run was stopped in its tracks in the centre circle and Cantwell adding his second assist of the game after running half the pitch to lay off to Dessers.

A thumping shot was well saved by Craig Gordon before the Nigerian kept his cool to slam home at the second attempt.

Dropped for his recent displays, Fabio Silva reminded everyone why with an astonishing miss. Falling over his feet after an unselfish centre from Dessers, it might have cost Rangers an anxious end to the game had Oda finished the best Hearts chance of the game in the final moments. Butland did what Butland does.

For all their effort and determination this was, for Hearts, the same old story against Rangers at Hampden. Against Rangers anywhere, for that matter.