Gers breeze past East Fife

East Fife 0 Rangers 4

Kris Boyd clinched his 50th goal for Rangers as they cruised into the quarter-finals of the CIS Insurance Cup.

East Fife may have earned their shock troops label by sending Queen of the South and St Mirren out of the competition in earlier rounds but there was to be no upset tonight as Rangers ran out comfortable 4-0 winners.

Nacho Novo opened the scoring with a thrilling long range shot, before Boyd celebrated his own personal milestone.

Carlos Cuellar then put the tie beyond the Fifers and Boyd sealed the win with his second goal of the night from the penalty spot.

Rangers manager Walter Smith made all the right noises beforehand about taking this tie seriously but was still in a position to make no fewer than nine changes.

Only Cuellar and Steven Whittaker featured in the starting 11 against Aberdeen at the weekend, while goalkeeper Roy Carroll and Alan Gow made their competitive debuts.

In stark contrast, East Fife made only one change from the side who drew with Dumbarton in their Third Division clash, Gary Greenhill making way for Ryan Blackadder.

The match had been switched from New Bayview to Dunfermline’s East End Park to accommodate more supporters and the Fifers were determined to put on a show for their vocal fans.

They enjoyed a decent amount of possession early on but Rangers did not appear overly concerned, a fact illustrated by the amount of time Carroll took to reacquaint himself with the boot he lost during a cheeky challenge from Paul McManus.

If the travelling fans behind his goal were growing impatient by the lack of action, they only had until the 14th minute to wait for something to celebrate.

Boyd knocked the ball into the path of Novo, who rifled a superb 30-yard shot over static goalkeeper Willie McCulloch and into the back of the net.

Moments later, East Fife had a decent chance of their own. Blackadder was audacious enough to wear bright yellow boots to match his yellow and black shirt and he was certainly confident enough to have a go from distance, his effort crashing off the crossbar and over.

Instead, it was Rangers who extended their lead 10 minutes before the break.

Boyd attempted to flick a Kirk Broadfoot shot into the back of the net, the effort came off McCulloch and fell to Boyd, who prodded home from a few yards out.

The tie could have taken an interesting turn just before the break had East Fife been awarded a penalty. Greig McDonald needed treatment following a clash with Carroll but referee Willie Collum opted not to point to the spot and few claims were forthcoming from the ’home’ team anyway.

Rangers were out of the traps quickly after the break and Novo embarked on an impressive run down the left flanks before drawing a decent save from McCulloch.

However, the goalkeeper was powerless to prevent Rangers from claiming their third of the night after 54 minutes. Charlie Adam swung a corner into the box and Cuellar connected to direct a header home from six yards.

With victory now in the bag, Novo was withdrawn on the hour mark to allow Thomas Buffel to make his first appearance since sustaining a serious knee injury back in January.

The Belgian had an almost immediate impact on the game when he was brought down in the box by Jonathan Smart and the referee pointed to the spot.

Boyd stepped up to lash high into the net from 12 yards with 65 minutes on the clock.

In the end, most of the 7,413 crowd went home happy – Rangers had a quarter-final draw to look forward to tomorrow while East Fife’s fans went home knowing their team had not disgraced themselves against the SPL leaders.