St Johnstone 1 - 1 Rangers. After extra time. Rangers win 4-3 on pens : Alexander is the saving grace for below-par Rangers

RANGERS' seemingly imperishable capacity for surviving ordeals of uncertainty at Hampden Park proved to be their most powerful ally once again yesterday, when the Ibrox side, in a penalty shoot-out, finally shrugged off St Johnstone's tormenting attentions in a generally unimpressive Scottish Cup semi-final.

In almost a reprise of the CIS Cup final against Dundee United, Walter Smith's makeshift side had to come from behind in extra time, requiring a penalty from Nacho Novo to equalise substitute Daniel McBreen's headed opener to deny the Perth club's manager, Derek McInnes, a glorious climax to his first season in his second career.

McInnes, himself a former Rangers player, would surely have experienced that sinking feeling the moment referee Dougie McDonald penalised Gary Irvine's challenge on Daniel Cousin. McInnes would probably share the suspicion with everyone else in the stadium that Rangers would, one way or the other, emerge triumphant.

As if obeying the dictates of Sod's Law, it was the otherwise ineffective Cousin who would score the decisive goal in the shoot-out, adding to those of Steven Davis, Steven Whittaker and Novo, with Brahim Hemdani having seen his attempt saved by Alan Main.

St Johnstone's three scorers, Paul Sheerin, Liam Craig and Andy Jackson, would be frustrated by the saves Neil Alexander completed from Steven Milne and Jody Morris. It was what could be called an appropriately tortuous end to Milne's day, as he had squandered three outstanding opportunities to win the match for St Johnstone during regulation play.

In truth, the outcome – excepting the climactic showdown – was entirely fitting to two teams who were virtually inseparable through the 120 minutes. For the neutral observer, however, the unfortunate element of this balance in the standard of performance is that it was achieved through both sides playing to a level common to the middle orders of the First Division, rather than the top of the Premier League.

Even when allowances are made for the numerous changes in Rangers' usual line-up, there was a mediocrity about them that clearly would not be excused by a support that was barely heard until Cousin converted the decisive penalty.

Preconceptions, of course, as often as not are the first casualties of matches like these, before which there tends to be a widespread assumption that one team will be an easy victim for the other. This applies especially when an Old Firm side is set against opponents from a lower division, but the extensive alterations – eight in all – made to Rangers' recognised first XI would not have been anticipated by those who forecast a walkover for the powerful Ibrox side.

Nor could anyone have foreseen that the human casualties would include two of Smith's starting line-up before the match was 20 minutes old. But even before the injury-enforced removal of Chris Burke and Steven Naismith – the two wide players in a 4-4-2 formation – St Johnstone had made it plain that they were not intimidated by either the occasion or the status of their opponents.

Burke seemed to be painfully, but accidentally, damaged after the Saints defender, Kevin Rutkiewicz, had cleared the ball upfield and his foot came down hard on the winger's ankle. He was replaced by long-lost Thomas Buffel after a mere 11 minutes. Burke would soon be joined in Hampden's A&E unit by Naismith, who was on the ground when Martin Hardie, like Rutkiewicz, knocked the ball clear and then inadvertently trampled the Rangers player's knee as he tried to break clear.

Naismith came back to the field after treatment, but, within a minute, stretched to touch the ball back to Buffel and clearly aggravated the injury. That moment brought Rangers their first sniff of an opportunity, as Buffel seemed likely to go clear inside the penalty area. But he was foiled by a perfectly-timed challenge from Irvine.

It was an indicator of the Perth side's resistance that it should have taken Rangers 20 minutes to make the slightest impact in a forward area, although they had been required to defend themselves on several occasions as Saints' twin strikers, Peter MacDonald and Andy Jackson, forced themselves on Carlos Cuellar and Christian Dailly. Dailly betrayed his discomfort with a tackle on Jackson that brought a yellow card.

Dailly's anxiety would deepen as St Johnstone created the more controvertible opportunities during a period in which three of them fell to Milne, who, on another day, would surely have exploited at least one of them. Instead, he volleyed Hardie's downward header over, headed Craig's precise chip too high and, finally, took the ball from Dailly on the edge of the area and, with only Alexander to beat, scooped another shot over the bar. McBreen, who had replaced MacDonald in the 80th minute, was contrastingly deadly when he moved forward to meet Sheerin's terrific, pacey cross from the left, sending the header low and powerfully to the right of Alexander from eight yards.

Novo, who had also been profligate – most notably when pulling the shot wide after a slack pass back from Goran Stanic – atoned fully with the equaliser, driving the ball low to the right of Main after Irvine's ill-advised challenge on Cousin. Rangers, as a result, remain in contention for four trophies, but they will surely be unable to afford any more days like these in the coming weeks.

Key moments from a tense tussle

Eight minutes: Chris Burke is stretchered off with an ankle injury after a crunching challenge by St Johnstone defender Kevin Rutkiewicz, to be replaced two minutes later by Thomas Buffel.

17: Steven Naismith hobbles back on after treatment but collapses after his first touch and is replaced by Steven Davis.

26: Buffel finds the net but has his six-yard strike ruled out for offside.

30: Christian Dailly is booked for a hefty midfield tackle on Andy Jackson.

32: Nacho Novo takes advantage of Goran Stanic's careless passback to claim possession and shoot from 18 yards, but the effort rolls past the left-hand post.

34: Stanic atones by crucially booting the ball over the bar when Davis fires the ball in from the left with Daniel Cousin poised to fire home from close range.

46: Novo meets Steven Whittaker's cross from the right with a perfect header from six yards, but Main stretches to tip the effort over the bar.

52: Steven Milne misses St Johnstone's best chance of the game when his 12-yard volley from Hardie's headed knock-down is blasted over the bar.

57: Milne comes far closer with a header from Liam Craig's cross from the left which he sends just past the right-hand post under pressure from Dailly.

86: Rutkiewicz makes a decisive last-ditch tackle to keep the scoreline goalless with an outstanding block from Novo's cross – and Craig boots off the line following Davis' header from the subsequent corner.

90: Jody Morris boots off the line to keep out Cousin's diagonal header at the right-hand post to take the goalless semi-final into extra-time.

94: The First Division side take a sensational lead, Paul Sheerin crossing from the left wing to the far side of the box where Daniel McBreen bullets home a header at the near post.

102: Cousin is brought down in the box by a clumsy challenge from right-back Gary Irvine; Novo steps up to take the penalty and beats Main by drilling the ball low into the net at the left-hand post.

112: Milne fires over the bar from a St Johnstone break but protests that he was fouled by Dailly as he unleashed his effort.

117: Novo hits the base of the right-hand post with an impressive turn and shot.

120: Extra-time ends 1-1 and the game goes to penalties.

Penalties: Alexander saves St Johnstone's third penalty, taken by Milne.

Main levels the score at 3-3 by saving from Brahim Hemdani.

Alexander saves from Morris and Cousin nets the final spot kick to give Rangers a 4-3 win on spot kicks and take them to the Scottish Cup final.

Smith condemns Hampden pitch and frets over mounting injury tally

WALTER Smith was as critical of his own players as he was of the Hampden pitch yesterday as Rangers scraped their way into their 50th Scottish Cup final and maintained their quest to win four major trophies this season.

Admitting relief was the predominant emotion in the Ibrox club's camp following their penalty shoot- out victory over St Johnstone – which secured a date with another First Division club, Queen of the South, on 24 May – the Rangers manager also gave a scathing assessment of the playing surface at the national stadium.

Smith said the condition of the pitch played a part in a knee injury sustained by Steven Naismith, who was carried off on a stretcher, with team-mate Chris Burke having made a similar exit after damaging an ankle. Smith conceded that his lengthening injury list is causing him increasing concern as Rangers approach the climax of their remarkable campaign.

With the semi-final win over St Johnstone, Rangers are now guaranteed to play 67 games this season, which would equal the all-time Scottish record of Dundee United in 1986-87, and that will increase to 68 if they can overcome Fiorentina, 1-0 winners against Palermo in Serie A on Saturday, to reach the Uefa Cup final.

"The number of injuries we have are catching up with us at the moment," said Smith. "A few weeks ago, we had hardly any injured players but it is starting to mount up now. It was a fear I had with the amount of games we have to play. It will put pressure on other players in the squad.

"It was no excuse for the way we played today, but Steven Naismith's injury is attributable to the pitch at Hampden. For a national stadium, that pitch is in shocking condition. By all accounts, they couldn't water it before the game which I don't really understand.

"We are not entirely sure how long either Steven or Chris Burke will be out, we should find out tomorrow. Steven thought his knee was okay after the initial challenge on him, but he then damaged it again when he caught it in the turf.

"We managed to get through in the end, but it wasn't the best of days for us in terms of our overall performance. St Johnstone made it very difficult for us and Derek McInnes can be proud of his boys.

"From our point of view, we have played better in other cup ties, so we are just delighted and a little bit relieved to get to the final. We have been doing that every now and then, winning games when not playing well, but we had to put a lot of effort in today just to match that aspect of St Johnstone's performance. We created a few opportunities that we managed to squander, but overall the performance was not a good one."

Having made eight changes to his starting line-up following the 2-1 defeat to Celtic at Parkhead last Wednesday night, Smith was in no mood to entertain a suggestion from one reporter that fatigue was a factor in Rangers' lacklustre display.

"Most of the players who played today have not played that many games this season, so that's not a reason for anything," responded Smith. "But when you make as many changes as we did today, it can sometimes make it difficult for the team to get going."

Rangers face Serie A's fourth-place club Fiorentina at Ibrox on Thursday night in the first leg of their Uefa Cup semi-final, before returning to Celtic Park on Sunday.

Their resources are being tested to the full, with their outstanding SPL fixtures away to Motherwell and St Mirren still to be rescheduled.

"Injuries don't come into it as far as the fixture congestion is concerned," added Smith. "We have got to play the games and just have to wait and see what they (the SPL) decide. They are still deliberating on it."

St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes was understandably crushed in the wake of his team's missed opportunity to take the Perth club into the Scottish Cup final for the first time in their history.

"There was a real belief among our players that they would win the game today," said McInnes. "I know people will say Rangers were poor, but I think we played our part in taking the game to them with a lot of confidence.

"Our players deserve a lot of credit and on another day would have won it, but Rangers showed why they are still challenging on all fronts this season. They have got that winning mentality under their manager."

McInnes was especially sympathetic towards midfielder Jody Morris, who played despite a calf injury and had the decisive penalty saved by Rangers goalkeeper Neil Alexander in the shoot-out.

"Jody was struggling from 60 minutes on," said McInnes, "but stuck with it. We practised penalties during the week and he was the only player who never missed one."

SFA spokesman Rob Shorthouse, meanwhile, last night defended the condition of the Hampden pitch, which hosted the Second Division match between Queen's Park and Ayr United 24 hours earlier.

"The groundsman watered it immediately after that match," said Shorthouse. "He took a look at it again this morning and was happy with the condition of it. The watering system we have takes three hours to work, so time is an issue."

Stephen Halliday