Four good goals, stacks of great saves, an end-to-end spectacular in the sunshine to wrap up the league season.
And, yet, here we are. Stuck talking about questionable officiating, the absence of goal-line technology and what feels like the eternal question: What is the point of VAR in Scottish football?
There are many things to discuss in the wake of this thoroughly entertaining affair at Easter Road.
How it proved a lovely send-off for third-placed Hibs at the end of a terrific, albeit rollercoaster, season and a special affair for the retiring Dwight Gayle, who was given a guard of honour by his team-mates at the final whistle.
How it pretty much summed up Rangers’ miserable campaign as a whole with missed chances, dodgy defending and an inability to get the job done highlighting the need for the squad to be ripped apart in the summer.
There’s also the mystery of how Cyriel Dessers, unless Simon Murray goes nap for Dundee at McDiarmid Park later today, is going to end up the Premiership’s top scorer with 18 goals.
Cyriel Dessers celebrates after opening the scoring in an eventful match at Easter Road
Martin Boyle enjoys his goal to draw Hibernian level to 2-2 and guarantee a point for the hosts
Nico Raskin was denied a goal when Rangers led 1-0 despite the ball looking to be over the line
These are sub-plots, though. The result meant little, really. Seeing clear goals pass by the officiating team and then fail to be awarded after lengthy VAR reviews cannot be glossed over, though.
Week in, week out, problems with video reviews and bad decision-making seem to rise to the fore. What happened here yesterday, though, was bonkers.
With a quarter of an hour on the clock, and Rangers a goal ahead through Dessers’ early opener, Nicolas Raskin moved onto a through-ball from Mohamed Diomande, got his foot to the ball to poke it past keeper Jordan Smith and then chased it in with Rocky Bushiri in attendance.
It looked as clear as day that the ball had crossed the line before Bushiri, by then entangled in the net, kicked it clear — leading to a backheeled effort by Dessers being saved by home keeper Smith.
Yet, the goal wasn’t given and Hibs charged straight up the field to make it 1-1 through Kieron Bowie. Watch the TV pictures and it looks self-evident that Raskin’s effort should have been given, but the Scottish FA insist available footage did not provide conclusive proof for VAR Andrew Dallas that the ball had crossed the line.
So, where do we go from here? It’s bad enough that far-side linesman Calum Spence didn’t clock that a goal had been scored, but we’ve known for years that the overall standard of officiating really has to improve.
That brings us to the tech. The use of VAR has been a mess this season and the calls from Rangers last night to bring in goal-line technology to complement it now seem impossible to ignore.
Interim boss Barry Ferguson has surely had his last game in charge of Rangers
There will be opposition because of the costs involved. There remains a lobby which states VAR should be abolished. Sanity suggests, however, there has to be a move towards costing what Rangers are calling for and putting it to the vote.
Put simply, there have been too many arguments this season about whether a ball has crossed the line or not and it is making the national sport look silly and cheap.
It feels such a shame that this issue should be the lasting topic of conversation from a match that offered so much and ended with honours even after a Raskin header to put Rangers 2-1 in front was cancelled out by Martin Boyle.
Right from the off, it was played at an excellent tempo with Dessers breaking the deadlock after just a couple of minutes.
A poor clearance by home goalie Smith made its way straight to Raskin on the left flank. He reacted well by heading the ball back the way it came, finding Dessers gleefully unmarked in a central position on the edge of the area.
He took a touch to control it and struck a lovely shot on the turn that beat Smith easily to his right.
After Jack Butland had saved from Junior Hoilett at the other end, Vaclav Cerny had an excellent chance to make it 2-0 when clean through but saw his effort saved at point-blank range by the keeper.
How that Raskin effort didn’t make it 2-0 seconds later is anyone’s guess and what made things worse for Rangers is that Hibs scored in the immediate aftermath.
Boyle raced into space up the left flank and delivered a perfect low cutback for Bowie, who first-timed it into the net.
Hibs’ Dwight Gayle was given a terrific send-off as he retired from the game after yesterday
A long VAR check followed with the stadium screens stating the review was focused on an offside.
What wasn’t made clear is that Raskin’s goalmouth rumble with Bushiri was considered too — with sources stating afterwards that VAR cameras could not provide a conclusive angle to prove the ball had crossed the line.
Even so, Rangers remained undeterred. Captain James Tavernier forced an excellent flying save from Smith from a 25-yard free-kick on the half-hour and played his part in putting the visitors 2-1 up in the 50th minute.
He fired in a corner from the left and Raskin created space to glance a header into the net. It is becoming the midfielder’s party piece as he adds more goals to his game.
From there, Rangers should have been out of sight. Danilo passed up an excellent chance when shooting straight at Smith after moving onto a cross from Nana Kasanwirjo and paid the penalty when his side coughed up a cheap equaliser midway through the second period.
Nicky Cadden found space on the left flank for Hibs and delivered a deep cross towards the back post. It should have been handled by the visiting rearguard, but Robin Propper, an early substitute for the injured Leon Balogun, and Kasanwirjo got in a fankle and Boyle popped up between them to send a header back across Butland for his 20th goal of a fine season.
Scandalous defending. Super finish.
Danilo had a late chance to snatch it for Rangers and failed, which pretty much summed up his season too.
Who knows if that’s it for him at Rangers? It is certainly time up for interim boss Barry Ferguson, who surely waved his goodbyes to the away fans at time-up.
Who comes next as boss of the Ibrox outfit remains a hot topic. What is no longer up for discussion is that the SFA need to review VAR and look at getting on-the-line cameras installed for next term.
We just can’t go on like this.
