Carlos Cuellar hailed Rangers' penalty shoot-out heroes Neil Alexander and Nacho Novo after they overcame St Johnstone to reach the Scottish Cup final. The first division side took the lead in extra time, but Novo equalised with a penalty soon after and then scored again in the shoot-out. Alexander, deputising for the injured Allan McGregor, produced two fine stops from Steven Milne and Jody Morris to set up an end-of-seasons showpiece against Queen of the South on May 24.

"Nacho Novo and Neil Alexander were our two best players," insisted the Rangers defender, who also captained the team in the absence of Barry Ferguson yesterday. "Nacho scored two penalties and Alexander stopped two penalties, which was very important for us. This was a very difficult game for us and we had a poor performance, but we are in the final and that is the most important thing."

Rangers created and spurned a hatful of chances and were almost made to pay when Daniel McBreen scored in the fourth minute of extra time. However, they equalised through Novo and then won the shoot-out. "We only played in spells but we are in the final," said Steven Whittaker, the Rangers defender.

"Once you start flat it can be hard to lift it and we struggled at times. We created enough chances but didn't take them. They got the goal in extra time but we showed character to come back. There was disappointment in not performing as well as we can. St Johnstone were probably not at their best either but it was just a case of getting to the final. We've got one trophy under our belt and are now in another final."

The loss of Chris Burke and Steven Naismith to injury inside the first 20 minutes disrupted Rangers' rhythm and adds to their concerns ahead of a hectic run of domestic and European matches. "We set up our team in such a way that Naismith and Burke could attack and I think losing them did upset us," admitted Whittaker. "Players pick up injuries and that's just the way it is in football. We just have to get on with it."

Paul Sheerin, the 33-year-old St Johnstone veteran, lamented his side's failure to take their chances. Steven Milne, in particular, missed several good opportunities in open play, while Sheerin himself also had a chance just after replacing Martin Hardie. "It is the same old story as last year," said Sheerin, referring to the Perth club's 2-1 defeat to Celtic at the same stage of last year's competition.

"We need to be a bit more clinical in these situations. It's another so-called hard luck story and it means nothing to us. We knew there was another first division team in the final and it was a great opportunity for us. After getting the goal, if we had held out till the end of the first half of extra time then it would have been a big psychological boost."

Liam Craig, the St Johnstone midfielder, said his team must learn from the experience and take the positives into next season. "It is the worst feeling I've ever had in football. We gave it everything we had. We didn't play that well in the first half but put on a decent performance in the second half and into extra time. The gaffer has told us that it is pointless getting up for games like this and not taking it into the league. We need to learn from it and take it into our promotion challenge next season."