Hibs humble Rangers in Scottish Cup

Hibernian humbled Rangers with an emphatic 3-0 victory at Ibrox in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup.

Hibernian humbled Rangers with an emphatic 3-0 victory at Ibrox in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup.

Second-half goals from Garry O'Connor, Ivan Sproule and Chris Killen meant Tony Mowbray's side won by the same scoreline they managed at Ibrox in the Scottish Premier League in August and made it three wins out of three against Rangers this season.

The result ensured both sides of the Old Firm are out of the competition before the quarter-finals - following Celtic's defeat away to Clyde in the previous round.

And Hibs' amazing victory also almost certainly ends Alex McLeish's side chances of winning any silverware this season due to their position in the SPL in third place - 15 points behind leaders Celtic.

Hearts, meanwhile, will now be favourites to win the Cup after their 3-0 win at home to Aberdeen. All three goals came in the first-half through Czech forward Michal Pospisil, Calum Elliot and a penalty from Steven Pressley. Zander Diamond was sent off for Aberdeen just before half-time.

At Ibrox Hibs boss Mowbray was thrilled with his side's victory.

He said: "They had quite a few chances in the first-half but we knew the longer we could stay in the game we would create chances with our youth and energy and that's what happened.

"I am delighted to be in the hat for the next round but there are still some dangerous teams for us in the competition.

"We want to try and win it now and bring some silverware to the club."

The Rangers manager, meanwhile, blamed the defeat on bad luck and poor defending.

McLeish said: "Sometimes you know it is not going to be your day. On another day the chances we created would have went in but the lapses we made at the back cost us.

"All credit to Hibs as they took their chances in the second-half and we didn't take ours in the first-half and I wish them all the best for the rest of the competition."

Rangers had dominated the first-half of the match but in the 50th minute Hibs scored against the run of play.

Northern Irish forward Sproule twisted and turned his way past Marvin Andrews on the left-hand side before dinking over a cross, which Rangers' Dutch keeper Ronald Waterreus appeared to completely misjudge allowing it to drift over his head, and O'Connor had the simple task of nodding into the empty net.

Nine minutes later the Edinburgh side doubled their lead when Sproule drove a low shot into the corner of the net from 12-yards in front of the large travelling support in the 40,722 crowd.

With the Ibrox side throwing bodies forward in an attempt to salvage their season there was room for Hibs to exploit which they duly did in the 77th minute.

Derek Riordan threaded a perfectly weighted pass to Killen and he scored from a tight angle at the second attempt after his first effort was blocked by Waterreus.

The two Edinburgh sides were the only teams to book their places in the fourth round with the other five games on Saturday finishing in draws.

The only other Scottish Premier League sides still in the competition, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Falkirk, were both held by lower league sides.

Caley were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Second Division Partick Thistle with Roy McBain and Craig Dargo scoring for the Inverness side while Mark Roberts grabbed a brace for their opponents.

Falkirk needed to come from behind to draw 1-1 at home to Ross County of the First Division with Daniel McBreen scoring a late equalizer after Don Cowie put the visitors ahead in the 17th minute.