Nacho Novo cemented his hero status at Ibrox with a wonder goal against Falkirk at Hampden to help Rangers secure the Homecoming Scottish Cup and, with it, the domestic double.

The little Spaniard, limited in ability but limitless in his affection for the Govan club and the Light Blues' fans, replaced top scorer Kris Boyd at the interval as the Clydesdale Bank Premier League champions toiled.

Exactly 29 seconds later, with most of the corporate fans still not back in their seats, he took a Sasa Papac throw and drove a wonderfully speculative volley from 40 yards dipping over Falkirk goalkeeper Dani Mallo.

The 30-year-old former Dundee and Raith player was already a legend for his penalty shoot-out winner against Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup semi-final last season to take Rangers to their first European final in 36 years.

His intermittent digs at Celtic since signing from Dens Park five years ago, such as the taunting of Hoops' striker Georgios Samaras following the title celebrations at Tannadice last week, had already endeared him to the Gers fans.

But more than that, while sat on his usual place on the bench, his heart-on-the-sleeve style of play, often erratic and occasionally brilliant, gave Rangers fans continual hope.

So it proved against Falkirk when he made the difference once again.

In typical Novo fashion, following his goal, he did little else right for the rest of the game and even picked up a late booking as Rangers hung on for dear life.

History books will record the capture of yet another domestic double for Rangers, but only objective analysis will reveal the whole story of the season. Even die-hard bluenoses, perhaps particularly die-hard bluenoses, will not rate this team one of the great double-winning Ibrox sides of all time.

Reportedly called the worst Rangers side in 50 years by one of the Lisbon Lions - Celtic's greatest team which captured the European Cup in 1967 - Rangers struggled for most of the season to disprove that theory.

They were eight points behind Celtic in January with some fans calling for the head of Walter Smith and his assistant Ally McCoist.

Criticisms included being over-cautious, picking off-form players and playing players out of position.

While few cared when they prevented Celtic winning their fourth title in succession last week, those criticisms surfaced again in the bright sunshine of Hampden.

At times Falkirk simply and slickly passed through the static central midfield of Lee McCulloch and Barry Ferguson.

Kyle Lafferty showed once again that he is not a left-sided midfielder and his fellow Irishman Steve Davis coming in from the right to where he feels more comfortable left space for Tam Scobbie down the left.

Falkirk's last Scottish Cup win was in 1957 and their last final appearance 12 years ago, but nobody had told this current crop of Bairns that history was not on their side.

Surviving relegation on the last day of the season had clearly inspired John Hughes' side rather than made them grateful to be just sharing the showpiece occasion with the champions.

As expected, Rangers went on the attack from the first whistle but without conviction, and in the 13th minute it was former Ibrox winger Neil McCann who skimmed the bar with a looping drive.

Seven minutes later, his volley from inside the box sped inches wide of the target.

Rangers, as far as their fans were concerned, were back to their infuriating worst. Just before the break, Bairns striker Steve Lovell, back defending a corner, cleared Davie Weir's goalbound header over the bar. That was as close as the SPL champions had come to grabbing the breakthrough.

Novo's goal right after the break settled Falkirk's fate but not before a second half of mostly defensive duties for the Ibrox side.

In the 73rd minute Bairns' boss John Hughes made all three substitutions at once and minutes later one of them, Carl Finnigan, had the ball in the net but was correctly ruled offside.

Lovell struck the post in a frantic five minutes as Rangers reverted to this season's type and hung on in desperation.

It was far from pretty but ultimately, once again, it got the job done.

Rangers can look forward to a summer of preening before the incessant pressure which follows both Old Firm clubs starts again on the first day of the new campaign.

And it will.