After the disappointments of Manchester, Motherwell and Pittodrie, Smith had extolled his charges to end the season on a high and having rung the changes he sent out some fresher legs in the hope of getting them over the winning line.

"I'm delighted we got the two cups, it's something tangible at the end of an extremely good season for everyone," said Smith, having guided the team to as many trophies in this season as the club had managed in the past three. "It obviously doesn't take away the disappointment but we are a little happier than we were a few days ago.

"It is a little bit of a relief, I must say, given the amount of football we have had in the past couple of months. I think it has taken its toll a little bit but I'm delighted for all the players because, after the disappointment of the last 10 days or so, it was always going to be a difficult task for us. I think, given the circumstances of the game, we always thought it would be difficult and worried about a level of fatigue but it was actually a bit of slackness on our own part on two occasions that allowed them back into the game and I wondered then if we had enough in us to come back again. We managed to do that and I'm delighted for every one of them."

With Rangers worried about players being drained as they contested their ninth match in May alone, it was a case of two extremes as Queen of the South manager Gordon Chisholm bemoaned the lack of competitive match practice enjoyed by his players. The SFL season reached its conclusion at the end of April and since then he has struggled to keep his players at peak sharpness and he claimed that ultimately proved their undoing

"In the first half we never really turned up. It was the poorest we have played in a long time. I'm not making excuses but I think four weeks is a helluva long time to have a break and in the first 45 minutes we looked rusty. When you are 2-0 down at half-time against the Old Firm I think we feared it could go to four or five and could get embarrassing but we spoke at half-time and in the second half showed the hunger and belief to get ourselves back into it."

Two goals in quick succession allowed the First Division side back into the game and, while the Queens contingent celebrated, Smith was infuriated by the slack play he said contributed to the goals. It meant the Ibrox side had to dig even deeper into their depleted reserves if they were to avoid another period of extra time. They had coped with that in the CIS Cup final but a further 19 games down the track, there were question marks over their levels of stamina.

"It would have been interesting if we could have taken it to extra time, it would have been a test for Rangers," said Chisholm. "I would have liked to see how they would've handled an extra 30 minutes." But in the end it was the underdogs who ran out of puff. "At 2-2 it could have gone either way but I think, after the effort we put in to get back into the game, it was a step too far. We didn't push out and sat too deep as tiredness set in."

Having acquitted themselves well against Premier League opposition in the semi-final, overcoming Aberdeen, Chisholm said it wasn't a case of his players freezing on the big stage. "I just wanted them to make a fight of it. People asked me if the four weeks off would affect us and I do think it showed in the first 45 minutes."

Both managers believed circumstance conspired against them. Only one had the players to overcome it. "I think we deserved something from the season," said Smith.

Jubilation? Yes. But most of all, relief.