due to having a better goal-difference of 57, four more than Rangers. This did not prove to be decisive, however, as Rangers surrendered their hopes of landing the championship with a 2–0 defeat at Pittodrie. The club had held a ten-point lead in late March. On 16 March 2008, Rangers appeared in their first final since 2005. They played Dundee United in the League Cup Final, and won on penalties. The match was tied 2–2 after extra time, with both goals coming from Kris Boyd, who also scored the winning spot kick. They also reached the 2009 Scottish Cup Final, the club's 50th such appearance. The side had beaten St Johnstone 4–3 on penalties in the semi-final after the score was tied at 1–1 after extra time. The final was against Queen of the South and was played on 24 May 2008, two days after the decisive Old Firm fixture that had ended in Celtic's favour. Rangers won the final 3–2, thanks to goals from DaMarcus Beasley and a double from Kris Boyd. The 2008–09 season began with an exit from the UEFA Champions League and European football altogether, losing 2–1 on aggregate to Kaunas in the second qualifying round. The first leg at Ibrox finished goalless, but the return leg in Lithuania ended in defeat for Rangers after an 87th-minute header from Linas Pilibaitis. The financial consequences of the failures to qualify for the Champions League were revealed when the club posted a loss of £3.9 million for the six months to December 2008, and in March decided to offer staff the option of voluntary redundancy as a way of cutting costs. Player departures included Chris Burke, Jean-Claude Darcheville and a couple out-on-loan deals, but the increased debt meant that the club needed to find a cash injection. This resulted in the attempted sale of Kris Boyd to Birmingham City, which fell through due to the player's wage demands. In the first Old Firm game of the season, Rangers won 4–2, with Pedro Mendes scoring his first goal for the club and Kenny Miller scoring a double against his former employers. However, the team's league form stuttered thereafter. Despite a run of five wins from six matches following the Old Firm victory, the side trailed Celtic by seven points in the league at the turn of the year. For the first few months of 2009, both sides dropped and