Smith says title win took its toll

A BELOW-PAR performance from Rangers was enough to win the Homecoming Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park on Saturday afternoon, and Ibrox manager Walter Smith conceded that his team may have suffered a bit of a hangover after winning their first league title for four years the previous weekend.

A spectacular strike from Nacho Novo at the start of the second half sealed the 1-0 win over Falkirk but the moment of magic from the little Spaniard was a rare highlight from the double winners. "It was always going to be a difficult match for us today the way Falkirk set out their team," said Smith, who delegates much of his authority to Ibrox assistant manager Ally McCoist for cup games. "Like a lot of teams that we play against, they play five and six players in midfield, and they're good at it

"Today, we never reached the levels we did do last week. The goal from Nacho Novo was terrific for us."

Rangers only sealed the 2008/09 SPL title six days earlier when they defeated Dundee United 3-0 at Tannadice and Celtic were held to a 0-0 draw by Hearts. "It was going to be a bit of a struggle to get everybody back up from that fantastic effort from us last week," added Smith. "I think you could see the game did take its toll."