GLASGOW'S Sikh community took to the streets yesterday to celebrate the festival of Vaisakhi, but it was another day when they were to be consigned to the margins of the city's religious scheme of things. Scottish Christendom had another in a long line of scores to settle and green, white and blue rather than the saffron of the winding street festivities were always going to be the main colours of the day for the bulk of the local population.

Around the city's centre there was little evidence of the impending confrontation as those supporters entering bars and restaurants were asked to remove or cover any signs of their allegiance; but a short distance away where the tribes were gathering at Hampden Park it was an altogether different story.

On the wall of the Mount Florida Parish Church the huge Union Jack bore a simple message "Duncan Ferguson Loyal", while around the corner there was a steady trade being done in elaborate William of Orange banners.

At the entrance to the ground itself each group observed a studied indifference to each other, apart from some mild jeering from the Rangers fans as the police led away a solitary Celt whose balance had deserted him due to excess of alcohol and, presumably, the strain of supporting what looked like the biggest green and white hat on the face of the planet.

Asked before the game if the two sides met too often to keep the occasions special, Airdrie's manager Alex McDonald, himself a former Rangers player, scoffed and claimed that if this pair met every day each clash would be a sell out. It certainly seemed so before the game - as one harassed official put it "there are thousands of guys prepared to sell their grannies to get inside".

Inside, for the next hour and a half they fumed both on the pitch - where the bookings seemed destined, on a few occasions, to run well into double figures and off of it where "The Fields of At henry" was drowned out by "Can you hear the champions sing?" with increasing regularity as the match wore on.

After it all, however, both managers were calm and both remarked that the result had been a fair one, even if Celtic might have gotten something for their efforts in the dying minutes.

"I thought we created all the best chances early on and they created the best ones later in the game. We might have been more than 2-0 up at one stage, but then Celtic might easily have grabbed an equaliser. It's nice to be in the Cup final again, though," commented rangers manager Walter Smith afterwards.

"Some people might think that all you've got to do is win an old firm semi final to lift the trophy but that's actually not the case, he added, as the departing fans outside made it plainly felt that they were at odds with their manager on this, if on no other, point.

Burns looked sombre when he entered the room and, in the style of Jack Charlton, reacted poorly when a journalist asked about the mood of the dressing room. On balance, however, he was prepared to admit that his team had not deserved the win on the day.

"The problem was that it took too long for us to realise that the game was slipping away from us. We gave it a good shot and there were good things to take out of it, but on balance they were probably better alright," he said.

"I thought some of the younger players looked a bit nervous, but Donnelly improved as the game went on and hopefully he and the others will take something away from this and maybe they'll be a little bit better for the experience.