As this writer was dotting his final i's and crossing remaining t's in the Hampden press box yesterday, a vocal spectator let out a bellow, directed at Cyriel Dessers. Lamenting his ability with similar vocabulary to that chosen by Dujon Sterling in Dundee last Wednesday.

That moment was befitting of the big Nigerian’s peaks and troughs at Rangers and, perhaps, the reality that criticism will never be far away even on a day he’s delivering. Dessers had scored two goals to send his side into a Scottish Cup final. By his own admission, this wasn’t his best of performances but for any striker a double at Hampden is no gimme.

It captures the 29-year-old’s reality. On the face of things his move to Glasgow, especially since regime change in the dugout, could have scarcely gone better. Dessers has 19 goals and eight assists in all competitions, his 0.71 non-penalty goals/90 in the Scottish Premiership since Philippe Clement arrived is the league’s best. The man signed from Italy has made a habit of scoring in run-of-the-mill games Rangers have lacked a clinical domestic goalscorer under previous managers. If not for a foul in the build-up a fortnight ago, he’d have had an Old Firm goal to add to the collection.

What if Dessers had been injured before Clement’s arrival and only started to play from mid-October? Has that disastrous start clouded judgment? For all the frustrations associated with Dessers does he not have domestic goalscoring numbers that will be hard to find elsewhere?

Of course there are limits to the striker’s game. Hearts were able to squeeze up and gain territory in yesterday’s semi-final by pushing their full-backs forward in part because Dessers is not a dangerous player with his back to goal in space. There’s little risk of him outrunning a centre-back pairing and hold-up play is not a shining light.

That contributed to the ebb and flow of this tie. Clement’s side started quickly to offer themselves a platform in this game as opposed to giving the opposition a shot within the first minute. Hearts had dangerous moments and at the start of the second half in particular appeared to hold the momentum in their grasp. In the end, Steven Naismith’s side were punished by two moments of quality that decided the day. Two final balls from Todd Cantwell that were full of composure and creativity, two swings of the left boot from Dessers to set up the first Old Firm Scottish Cup final in over two decades.

READ MORE: Cyriel Dessers has SPFL's best goalscoring numbers - but is he any good?

The opening goal derived from the speed of the Ibrox side’s build-up. Clement admitted Rangers were too quick to “play deep” in Dundee, constantly shelling passes into a back five happy to head each ball away.

On this occasion, John Lundstram picked the right moment to try and turn the Hearts defence - as they were squeezing up the pitch and defending his pass on their heels, as opposed to on their toes ready to attack a long ball.

This ensured that, even though the initial pass into Abdallah Sima was cut out by Stephen Kingsley, there was enough space ahead of the Hearts defence for James Tavernier to twice regain possession, even after being fouled. 

Cantwell was able to pick up the ball in these pockets throughout the game given Hearts’ change to a 4-4-2 left them a man down in the middle if attacks were quickly organised. Cantwell himself told RangersTV he’d been surprised at the areas in which he could pick up the ball and turn close to goal.

The No.13’s first touch allowed him to turn and face play immediately. Look at the positioning of Dessers in relation to his teammate in the below frame. Both are on the same line but Dessers’ body shape changes, offering a passing option. By creating separation from his marker the striker has the space to turn and then foresight to superbly chop beyond Atkinson rushing in from right-back.

The second goal originated from Lundstram dispossessing Macaulay Tait and Diomande’s quick pass releasing Cantwell into space ahead of Beni Baningime. From here the midfielder’s feet were superb to separate the centre-backs and ghost beyond Baningime, delaying before setting up his teammate.

Dessers' pressing to guide Tait into the midfield trap was also important.

“It was in my head [to hit it] the whole time to be honest. I heard and saw Cyriel running out of the corner of my eye,” Cantwell later told RangersTV.

Dessers' first shot was saved but at the second time of asking, again having gone beyond a man in the build-up, the No.9 made it 2-0.

So often the conversation surrounding Dessers focuses on what he's not. At times justifiably so. The striker's costly miss in the Highlands last week could've ended Ross County's hopes before they started and that moment is far from isolated throughout the campaign. He's underperformed his 14.13xG by a single goal. It's fair to suggest that the big forward should've had a few more than 19 to his name across all competitions.

Don't let that cloud what Dessers is, however, and perhaps the quality he clearly does possess which has allowed him to bounce back from that tumultuous start and bounce back from more than one mini-crisis ever since - the mentality to play for Rangers.

"It's not an easy club but it's a beautiful one," he explained in the mixed zone post-match.

If ever a sentence summed up the pressures of Ibrox it's that one. Dessers still has time, and will still have chances, to make this season all the more memorable in May. You can't doubt by now he has the mentality to do so.