The brutal Rangers and Celtic truth facing Hearts five year quest to bridge the gap - Ryan Stevenson

As a Greek tragedy played out on Saturday afternoon, it was a Scottish Cup Final reality check which lifted the gloom.

Allow me to set the scene of a first foreign holiday in years and finding the smallest pub on the island to watch the game.

My Rangers daft father-in-law and I were the only guys in a boozer which had opened especially for us.

He was a happy man as his team lifted the trophy but what score would I give Hearts after signing off this season with a defeat at Hampden? Ten out of ten.

This is a club which was in the Championship last season and finished third in the Premiership at a canter.

There are so many positives, the recruitment has been on absolute point and that needs to continue. It needs to be slow and steady and as a club they need to continue what they've been doing.

Just continue to prove they are the third biggest team in Scotland year in and year out and that will be a huge success.

Winning a trophy is the ultimate aim but defeat at the weekend shouldn't disguise the fact Hearts have had an amazing season.

They did well in the first half, I felt they did enough to earn a lead at the break but the big moment came with the Ellis Simms chance which hit the post when he should really have scored.

It's the old story about not taking the chance when it arrives and not making that dominance they enjoyed in the early part of the game pay.

I always had the feeling that Rangers would come back into it and so it proved, in the end it was that extra bit of quality which told.

Gio van Bronckhorst's side took their chances and that's the difference at this level.

Everything just started to fall away in the second half for Hearts, player after player started to come off the Rangers bench and made an