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By David Sharp
1800: Well that's it for another day of high drama. Thanks again for joining me and cheers for all your wise and witty contributions. St Johnstone's outstanding goalie Alan Main came out top-dog on the player rater, but you can still cast your vote below and cruelly snatch another gong from his grasp.
1754: "Well done Rangers, commiserations St Johnstone. Its not the best way to settle a game but Rangers fans can look forward to another final." peepshow Join the debate on 606
1750: As Dougie rightly points out, Rangers are still on for an historic quadruple. With the CIS Insurance Cup already in the bag and the SPL title race with Celtic hotter than Georgia asphalt, Rangers bruised and battered squad take on Fiorentina in the first leg of their Uefa Cup semi-final at Ibrox on Thursday. Oh, and now they're in the Scottish Cup final too where they'll take on Queen of the South. Can they keep their insatiable trophy bandwagon rolling along?
1748: "Rangers limped over the line, but the quad is still on." BBC Scotland's Sportscene anchor Dougie Donnelly
1745: "Will there be highlights of this match on the BBC website for those in the UK?" 'Serbinator' - Starring Nemanja Vidic Join the debate on 606
'Fraid not Serbinator. The BBC doesn't have online rights for this game. Sorry!
1744: That's cruel for Saints.
1743: GOALDaniel Cousin sends Rangers into the final! The ridiculously laid-back Rangers striker strokes the ball past Main. He barely even celebrates. Almost Marco Negri-esque in his muted expressionless-ness. That's a bit of a mouthful! 4-3 Rangers.
1742: SAVE Alexander leaps to turn away Jody Morris' wimpy shot. Still 3-3.
1741: SAVEBrahim Hemdani's penalty is saved by Main. A lame effort from the French-Algerian midfielder, easily saved by the Saints' keeper. Still 3-3.
1740: GOALAndy Jackson sends Alexander the wrong way. 3-3.
1739:GOALNacho Novo makes it 3-2 to Rangers with an unstoppable penalty. He lashed it into the roof of the net.
1738: SAVESteven Milne's effort is saved by Alexander. Advantage Rangers. Still 2-2.
1738: GOAL Even cooler finish from the super-composed Steven Whittaker. 2-2
1737: GOALLiam Craig slots home cooly. 2-1 Saints.
1737: GOALSteve Davis brings Rangers level. 1-1
1736: GOALPaul Sheerin for St Johnstone. Sends it high past Alexander. 1-0 Saints.
1735: Alan Main hugs his Rangers counterpart Neil Alexander as the players prepare to begin the shoot-out
1731: "The penalty kicks will be taken at the east end of Hampden, the empty end." BBC Radio Scotland's Chick Young
That will look a bit weird on the telly, but I guess it's fair on St Johnstone since the Rangers fans are packed into the other end of the ground.
1730: Game over. Both sides are deadlocked at 1-1 after 120 minutes of play. Penalties. All the drama coming right atcha.
1726: Novo's shot on the turn is touched onto the post by Main. The ball rebounds to Buffel but Anderson prevents him scoring from two yards out with the empty net gaping. Was Buffel stopped illegally? It didn't look like the Saints defender got any of his boot on the ball. I think that was more of a penalty than the Cousin one. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles...
1724: Penalties are looming. Five minutes to go.
1721: And Milne must score! He's clean through, bearing down on the Rangers goal but he's skied it over the bar. Row Z. A fabulous opportunity, squandered horribly.
1720: Allan McManus takes a fresh-air swipe at Hemdani's header in the Saints box but luckily for the unfortunate defender a releived Main flops on the ball with no Rangers players around.
1719: "Just as I was writing... typical. But odds were always on for a dodgy penalty - the Rangers speciality." healthy_haggis Join the debate on 606
1716: Are Rangers fated to contest yet another tense penalty shoot-out? Remember it took a series of nerve-shredding spot-kicks to overcome Dundee United in last month's CIS Cup final. Nothing is coming easy to the Gers in this most epic of seasons.
1714: It's a quick turnaround and the second-half of extra-time gets underway.
1713: Saints haven't let their heads drop though and launch another attack. Too late. The ref's whistle marks the end of the first period of extra-time. We're still all square - but at least we've got goals!
1712: "1-0 St Johnstone - If the score stays this way we should get a good final between them and Queen of the South..." neish1875
1711: Are we going to be seeing the biggest shock in British Cup history?! 1-0 - amazing!" Name On The Trophy Join the debate on 606
1710: GOAL St Johnstone 1-1 Rangers
Nacho Novo steps up and rifles it low past Main. Saints' lead didn't last long.
1709: Penalty to Rangers. Cousin is barged from behind by Rutkiewicz. The St Johnstone skipper manhandles Cousin to the ground.
1703: Sensational stuff! And now Saints are pressing for the clincher. Steven Anderson gets a free header in the Rangers box but directs the ball wide. Rangers aren't defending cross-balls at all well.
1701: GOALSt Johnstone 1-0 Rangers
Daniel McBreen scores for Saints. Paul Sheerin curls a teasing cross into the Rangers box, Stevie Smith is caught under it and McBreen nods the ball past Alexander.
1700: "At least this match is not going to a replay! Extra time and then penalties - there has to be some drama coming!" commonsensefootball Join the debate on 606
1658: EXTRA-TIME kicks off.
1655: Oranges. Energy drinks. Magic sponges and pep talks are required to rouse the players for a final 30 minutes of extra-time. Full-body rubs with shell pies even. And don't forget this game could go to penalties too. At least that might inject some excitement into the rather lacklustre proceedings.
1654: Extra-time will be played.
1654: FULL-TIME St Johnstone 0-0 Rangers
1653: Rangers have a corner. Last-chance saloon. Main catches the ball and the ref blows for full-time.
1650: Rangers break at speed. Whittaker's cross is met by Daniel Cousin. His looping header is cleared by Jody Morris. A shaky finish for the First Division side. The board goes up - three minutes of added time.
1647: Rutkiewicz makes a superb sliding tackle to stop Buffel scoring and then Craig boots Steve Davis' header off the line. Rangers are turning up the heat as extra time rapidly approaches.
1645: Saints striker Peter McDonald is leading the votes in the player rater so far, with five minutes of the 90 minutes left. His score is 7.33. You can still vote below.
1642: Novo races through one-on-one with Main but the flag goes up for offside. Main saves his shot anyway but the Rangers striker was at least a full yard on. Poor decision.
1639: The 40-year-old Alan Main belies his age to rush out and stop Whittaker. Buffel laced the ball through to the galloping Rangers right-back in the box but Main does enough to put him off. What a chance. Rangers must be desperate to win this game in normal time to avoid further weariness in their ranks. It's a heck of a week for the Ibrox squad with four massive games in 10 days.
1636: "I immensely dislike Cousin...I have never seen a player play with less passion." Strachan Must Stay Join the debate on 606
He does tend to saunter about as if on a Sunday promenade in the park. The Gabon international has a langorous style and can at times appear to be contributing, well, nothing really.
1634: Dailly is all over Jackson as the Saints striker attempts to wriggle past him. Free-kick. The ball is floated in to Rangers box but amounts to hee-haw.
1630: Saints sub Paul Sheerin is inches away from scoring with his first touch of the match. The Celtic-supporting striker arrowed a shot across Alexander's goal but it crept agonisingly wide of the post. Hardie played him in brilliantly. This game is balanced on a slo-mo knife edge. St Johnstone are well in it. In fact, they're arguably the better side. We have less than twenty minutes to go.
1628: The game is being played in slow-motion. Did someone slip a vial of mogadon into their half-time cuppas?
1625: "The second half has been very scrappy so far. You can see better football than this in the Pub leagues. Let's hope the excitment picks up!!!" doubleD85 Join the debate on 606
Yer darn tootin doubleD85! This game really needs a goal to liven things up. At the moment the atmosphere is as dead as a dodo. The 26,000 crowd are as quiet as church mice on a sponsored mute-a-thon.
1623: Going by the number of chances created by both teams we should have a goal by now. But the finishing has been dreadful, so we've not.
1621: Milne goes close again. He connects with Liam Craig's low free-kick and jabs a shot at Alexander from point-blank range. The Rangers keeper gets down well and holds Milne's effort on the line.
1620: "If it goes to extra time then St Johnstone will win. Rangers have played so many games in the past three weeks and I think I'm right in saying that they played every Saturday and mid-week in the last 5/6 weeks. they'll be running on empty in extra time and will be beaten." utd_fan_til_i_die Join the debate on 606
1617: Jackson races past Whittaker down the right flank and sends a teasing cross deep into the Rangers box. Milne climbs high above Cuellar but directs his header just over the bar. Great chance for Saints. Very unlucky not to score.
1615: Novo has two chances in quick succession but Main is alert to the danger and denies him on both occasions. I think Saints' skipper Rutkiewicz got a toe to the ball to thwart Novo second-time round.
1613: Steven Milne fires a powerful long-range shot over Neil Alexander's bar. The Saints striker will still be dining out on his performance at Ibrox last season when his two goals ousted Rangers from the League Cup.
1611: Saints must really believe they can win this game today since Rangers seem decidedly out of sorts. Walter Smith took his seat in the stand with a terse expression on his face. Like a bulldog chewing a wasp. The Rangers gaffer is not happy with his side.
1607: Main leaps acrobatically and tips Novo's header over the bar. Novo got on the end of Whittaker's floated cross and Main kept Saints in it with a brilliant save.
1603: The players emerge for the second half.
1600: According to BBC Radio Scotland's Chick Young the playing surface at Hampden is "atrocious". It looks lush and smooth from a distance but up close it is a mess. A little like an Impressionist painting then. Makes sense from far away but is a messy profusion of coloured splashes at close quarters. I'm gibbering now. Anyway, Chick reckons the savannah grass and dry, bumpy lunar surface hasn't helped the quality of play and has probably contributed to Burke and Naismith's injuries.
1549:HALF-TIMESt Johnstone 0-0 Rangers
After four minutes of added time Dougie McDonald sends the teams down the tunnel. A mostly forgettable first-half for Rangers. St Johnstone will perhaps rue the fact they failed to take advantage of Rangers' injury troubles.
1548: Saints finish the opening 45 on the attack. Nice possession but no penetration.
1544: "Rangers with the best opportunities by far, already had the ball in the net too, its building up nicely for the opening goal, need a better atmosphere to drive the lads on though its sounding a bit on the quiet side." Gers-Fanatic Join the debate on 606
You're dead right. It is a tad flat at Hampden today. But then again the game has lacked flow and there hasn't been an awful lot for either set of fans to shout about. Not a patch on last week's goalfest between Queen of the South and Aberdeen.
1543: Two minutes til half-time. Still no goals.
1541: Novo picks out Davis in space and the Northern Irishman has a clear sight of goal but he hesitates and wellies the ball wildly over the bar.
1538: At the other end Hardie steps inside Davis and Hemdani and shapes to bend the ball round Alexander from outside the box but he scuffs it and the ball trickles into the arms of the Rangers keeper. Lovely play from Hardie. Unlucky he couldn't get enough on the shot.
1534: This time Davis races clear but his dinked centre eludes Cousin and Saints hoof it out of the danger area.
1532: Novo misses a sitter! Stanic in a trance plays a pass-back to Main but it gets stuck in the high, Maracana-esque grass and Novo collects the ball and streaks clean through on goal but he sclaffs his shot and Main gets a leg to it.
1526: Buffel tucks the ball high into the net but he strayed offside before stepping back. No goal. Neat play from the diminuitive midfielder. Close but no cigar.
1526: "Maybe the state of the pitch at Hampden is bending the fabric of time?" LadyWithTheBlueNose Join the debate on 606
1525: "Theres something wrong with my eyes or your clock lads, because its 15:12, but St Johnstone and Rangers started playing at 13:00 and have only been playing for 10 minutes." Park_Lane_Block_34 Join the debate on 606
Ha ha! Thanks for pointing that out. I was stuck in a crazy timewarp!
1524: It's a disjointed affair so far for various reasons.
1522: Cousin foxes the Saints defence with a soft-shoe shuffle but his clipped cross drifts narrowly wide of Main's left-hand post.
1521: Saints should get a lift from Rangers unsettled start to the game.
1520: "They say the pitch can be a leveller when a small club meets a big club and that could be the case today. Numerous passes have failed to reach their targets already and the ball is constantly getting stuck under the players' feet. A disgraceful situation considering the few games which have been played at Hampden this season." bmoffat9 Join the debate on 606
1519: Has the pitch contributed to the injuries too?
1518: Naismith has hit the deck with the ball nowwhere near him. He's obviously still suffering from Hardie's clumsy stamp. Steve Davis is primed to come on for him. The Rangers side are dropping like flies.
1514: Martin Hardie accidentally steps on Rangers forward Steven Naismith's thigh. Oooyah! The Hampden pitch is playing strangely slow. Is the grass too long? Some players appear to be getting their feet stuck. Like they've got velcro on their soles.
1513: "Nice to see that even with 9 changes to the Gers squad today, weve announced a team still very capable of doing the job today. Mon the Gers! 3-0!" Gers-Fanatic Join the debate on 606
1511: Stanic fells Novo as he rolled round him on the edge of the Saints box. Free-kick Rangers. The Spanish striker thought he was chopped in the area. The ref is having none of it. Thomson's curling cross is punched clear by Main.
1510: Thomas Buffel is set to come on for Burke. The Belgian international has been less than a fringe figure at Ibrox for a long time.
1507: Burke has been clumsily unpended by Rutkiewicz and it looks like he will be stretchered off. Surprisingly no booking for the Saints defender. Apparently Rutkiewicz spent some time recently working in Molly Malone's pub in Glasgow while recovering from a career-threatening injury - well, it may just be a coincidence but that was a real pub team tackle. A sore one for little Burkey and a blow for Rangers. His game is over before it even begun.
1502: Saints start well. Jody Morris looks spritely. He already has a Cup winners medal from his time south-of-the-border. While at Chelsea he was a late substitute in the 2000 FA Cup Final and bagged a winner's medal. Roberto di Matteo's goal was enough to defeat Aston Villa on that occasion.
1501: "Come on Saintees, do us proud! 'tis the season of the underdog - as proved by Rangers' progress through the Uefa Cup." healthy_haggis Join the debate on 606
Ooooh, cheeky!
1500: Ref Dougie McDonald peeps his whistle and Rangers' Kevin Thomson and Nacho Novo gets things underway at Hampden Park. Rangers are in their white change strip. Saints are wearing their canary-yellow away top. Quite fetching it is too.
1454:Rangers have lifted the Scottish Cup 31 times. St Johnstone have never made the final before - could this be their big day? With their First Division counterparts Queen of the South awaiting in the final it's a terrific chance for the Perth side to lift the trophy in this season's showcase finale. Of course, Rangers have their own grand ambitions with a domestic treble still up for grabs.
1450: Walter Smith has ditched his favoured 4-5-1 formation for an attacking 4-4-2. Burke and Naismith are the wide men with Novo and Cousin through the middle. In saying that, his sidekick Mr McCoist is in the dugout hotseat today, with Walter taking a pew in the stand.
1445: St Johnstone have beaten four SPL clubs in cup competition in the past two seasons. Quick triv quiz: does anyone know who?
1441: Only four changes for Saints from the side that defeated Morton 3-2 in their last First Division match - former-Chelsea man Jody Morris passed a late fitness test, while Allan McManus, Peter MacDonald and Kevin Rutkiewicz are drafted in.
1440: A grand total of nine changes for Rangers from the side that lost to Celtic in Wednesday's tempestuous clash. Only Carlos Cuellar and Christian Dailly retain their places in the starting line-up. David Weir is suspended following his part in the Old Firm post-match brouhaha.
In today's match Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist goes head-to-head with close friend and former team-mate Derek McInnes, the St Johnstone manager. The pair first met at Rangers in the 1990s, and McInnes used to pick McCoist up for training when Coisty was serving a drink-driving ban.
"Coisty had his licence taken off him for drink-driving and I lived closest to him," McInnes told The Herald newspaper. "No, that's not true actually; Gazza, Paul Gascoigne lived closer but he couldn't be trusted to look after himself. I'd spend half the morning sitting in his driveway waiting on him to go to training. Coisty tells the story that I only got an extension to my contract at Rangers because he needed me to drive him around."
The story also goes that McCoist did not let on to McInnes when his ban had expired and continued to accept lifts from him every day. The pair share an impish sense of humour which masks a more serious, dedicated side.
1430: Another day, another big game. It's the so-called business end of a wildly entertaining Scottish football season and the fun and frolics are seemingly never-ending. Welcome to our live text coverage of this season's second Scottish Cup semi-final. The action at Hampden Park gets underway at 1500 BST.
First Division St Johnstone are expected to bring 10,000 fans bedecked in blue-and-white bunting from Perth while a large contingent of Rangers supporters will be making the short hop to the national stadium on the south side of Glasgow.
We would like to hear your views during the game, so, if you are a fan in exile or simply can't make it to the south side of Glasgow, send us your messages of support and thoughts on the game.
BBC Sport will provide live coverage on BBC Radio Scotland 810 MW and online.
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