I thoroughly enjoyed the Scottish Cup final on Saturday afternoon – but it is a game that will forever be tainted given the events that took place afterwards.

Hibs deserved their victory. They were the better team throughout, although I did suspect when Andy Halliday scored to make it 2-1 that it was a strike that could well have won the Ibrox side the Cup.

It didn’t, as we know, but there is no question that what happened after the game really overshadowed the scoreline and the Hibees success.

The game will be remembered for all the wrong reasons and I have to say that I suspect Hibs will be hammered for what happened. There is no doubt that a section of their supporters antagonised the Ibrox support, with some of them then retaliating.

But you simply cannot have players being attacked or physically struck when on a football field. It is shocking and the SFA have to throw the book at HIbs for allowing that to happen – there has to be a strong message that it cannot be allowed the happen again.

You can justify exuberance and celebration to some extent – but the minute you start goading other people it takes a different kind of hue. The minute fists start flying and all the rest of it, it is utterly unacceptable.

I don’t know that it is the right thing to do to ban the club from Europe or whatever because it punishes the players for something they had no part of, but whatever sanction is handed out, it has to be hard enough to hammer home the severity of what happened.

There is no way that it can be seen as anything other than unacceptable.

It was a shame for Hibs. Alan Stubbs had done everything right. He got his men up for the game after the mental disappointment of losing to Falkirk, he picked the right team, he got his formation right and then got it right again when he brought on Liam Henderson and went to a flat back four.

So to be denied a lap of honour or the chance to really parade the Cup properly was hard on him and his players because they were deserving of that.