Michael Beale sniffs stench of Rangers blame game as Ange Postecoglou reacquaints himself with smell of silver polish - Keith Jackson

They promised a cup final classic. They produced a car crash instead.

And even though it all ended with another trophy for Celtic’s heaving cabinet, the pair of them ought to be done this morning under the Trade Descriptions Act. Because what we got at Hampden Park yesterday was an absolute mess of a football match.

Celtic won it with two expertly poached goals from Kyogo Furuhashi. The striker’s first came split seconds after Daizen Maeda had swung and missed at a fresh-air winder six yards out from Allan McGregor’s goal. His second arrived after half-time following a gift-wrapped pass from James Tavernier who gave up possession for no apparent reason when he passed to a green and white shirt rather than a blue one. On reflection, these were more than just the match-winning moments.

They encapsulated the entire, error-strewn contest which amounted to nothing much more than a running skirmish from start to finish, until ref Nick Walsh put the match ball out of his agony as an act of mercy at the end. By then Rangers had at least managed to make it interesting – and for a while mildly exciting – with a scrappy second-half goal from Alfredo Morelos, which Joe Hart should have kept out but succeeded only in helping into the back of his own net.

The keeper’s gaffe was far from the biggest howler of the day. But it was perfectly in keeping with the tone nonetheless. Just when the world was watching and anticipating something spectacular, what we got was an endless succession of blunders, misplaced passes, badly-timed tackles, dreadful decision-making and trampoline-toe touches.

It was remarkably low-brow stuff from its first kick to its last. But it was won, eventually, by the side which just about deserved it because what