And, talking of fitting swan-songs … (Pars … 2 GERS … 3)

Apparently this is Henrik Larsson’s last season at Celtic. You’d think someone in the media would have mentioned this earlier.

Whatever, the tearful, fairy-tale ending to the cursed Swede’s career in Glasgow perfectly contrasted with that of the man who could so easily have outdone him had he not received a different kind of horrific injury while plying his trade for the Old Firm in Europe.

Larson’s leg-break in Lyon did little more than stiffen his resolve and maybe knock enough time off his career to allow Bobby Lennox to remain second to Jimmy McGrory in Parkhead’s list of all-time top scorers. When Oliver Kahn forced Michael Mols to buckle his knee in Munich, our wonder-striker’s true potential was lost forever.

Mikey undoubtedly displayed the same determination and bravery to recover from his blow but Larsson’s injury was cleaner and the Dutchman became as much enigma as he could have been a God in Govan.

As I’m obviously in the mood for laboured coincidences, contrasts and micro/macrocosms there’s no point avoiding the pathos around Mols’ last game at Ibrox and then his last game for Rangers. While Larsson has been living the departing dream, Mikey played in an away strip on Wednesday night in a defeat by Hearts where his farewell was allowed joint-billing with two compatriots whose combined effort for the Rangers cause might actually be seen as a little insulting next to Mols’ sacrifice. Today he was given the captain’s armband again and ths time did all he could to get himself sent-off when Rangers were trailing and needed him most.

But then that’s perhaps the way fortune has twisted Mikey’s mentaility. The unabashed purity of his goalscoring enthusiasm and the selflessness which seems second nature MUST have been tempered by the knowledge he ruined his chance for TOTAL deification because he tried not to hurt a player who clearly cared not one iota whether Mols lived or died.

Oliver Kahn’s brutal disregard for anything but victory is what you need to get to the top but the selfish streak entailed by that ethos is alien to a damned nice bloke like Mols. In trying to go against the gentler side of his nature, in the endless frustration of knowing his true ability had been denied him, Mikey’s been known to lose it. This is the third time I’ve seen him dismissed - all red cards occurred after his comeback from the Champions League disaster in Munich and all three were a result of hot-headed pseudo-assaults on opponents.

Fenerbache and Celtic were trying to hurt him physically in the previous instances but today, at Dunfermline, the hurt was all emotional. Young Allan McGregor tried to line his wall up like they do on the telly - you have to cling to one post while barking “left ” or “right”. Gary Dempsey dinked the ball into the cavernous gap in the goals which opens up as a result. Ref Freeland had no problem with it but Michael had one HUGE problem with it.

A bunch of McLeish’s kids as team-mates and one of them, the goalie. already with his confidence halfed in two by his latest faux-pas. There was no way Mikey could see his sawn-song ending in anything but the disaster which had been looming round him since he first put on a Rangers shirt back in 1999.

But as he got himself booked for protesting and then second-booked for a camera-friendly bad tackle on Dempsey, Mikey should really have known that we love him so. The guy IS a legend at Ibrox and we just wanted him to play out the ninety minutes so he could say an unspoiled goodbye at the end. Vanoli scored an own-goal past Klos the last time we were in The Kingdom - and that was a game which actually meant something - in a season of humiliations, why should Mols let one more Rangers muck-up get to him so violently?

I suppose it was his way of showing he cared. Not confident that he could even manage a reprise of the under-stated but devestating contribution he made to the Treble win of last season, not mindful of the fact he’s our all-time top scorer in the Champions League and ignorant of the talismanic magic he retained to score in his first friendly outing then his first competitive match after that crushing injury, Michael Mols resorted to what we all resort to when most desperately conveying our depth of feeling: He lashed out.

Who can blame him? A legend like Michael deserves better than playing in a nothing game in front of a half-empty stadium as his parting shot in a Rangers jersey. He deserved much, much more.

And we did too. Us punters who’ve suffered this crap for all but the first two months of the season. Fernando Ricksen fed off the sense of grievance as only he could and lashed in a 25-yarder to equalise while wearing the captain’s armband (maybe all Nando needs is a sense of responsibility). Chris Burke fed off the sense of excitement as only he can to put us up before half-time. And Ross McCormack augmented the glimmering hope for the furture by earning and scoring the penalty which sealed a win for ten-man Rangers.

For once this season we reacted to a set-back the way Rangers teams are supposed to. For once we took an implosive situation and turned the fire outwards onto our opponents.

Dunfermline’s Dempsey took advantage of another McGregor blunder to pull one back for the Pars but, while their season ends next week, ours ended today … with a win which couldn’t paper over some gargantuan regrets.

Michael Mols I’ll miss and always think of fondly - 2003/2004 I will not.