Craig Gordon admits Hearts laid everything on the table against Rangers but fell short to a side which are masters at achieving triumph over adversity.
The Jambos keeper is adamant there was never any doubt Gio van Bronckhorst 's squad would galvanise themselves after their Europa League Final loss to Eintracht Frankfurt four days earlier.
There was pre-match talk of the mental drain on the Ibrox players from their exertions in Seville but Gordon has seen enough from the Light Blues this season to be convinced they'd be at full pelt for yesterday's Scottish Cup Final and despite extra-time finished the stronger.
He said: "No, it didn't surprise me at all. They can mix and match their squad around and still play exactly the same way. They've got great strength in depth.
"I’ve seen them doing it before - they came back from extra-time and beat Celtic here in the semi-final. So I knew that wouldn't have that big an effect, they had something to come and fight for.”
Gordon insists Hearts left Hampden with their heads held high after going down to two Rangers strikes in extra-time and believes a combination of bad luck and having several players fighting back from injury to make the showcase occasion proved crucial in the outcome.
He added: “We gave it our best shot with what we had. We had a lot of injuries leading up to the game. Everybody has been doing so much work to try and get ready to get out there and put on a performance and give it everything we had
"I can't fault any of the guys for the effort, for everything they've gone through in the last eight to ten weeks to make themselves available for this game. Some of the guys have really put in a shift. We did try. We didn't have a lot going forward, we hung in.
"We needed something to go our way, a little decision to go our way, something to fly in and it just didn't happen."
