Rangers progress in Scottish Cup

Rangers 1 Hibernian 0

Chris Burke fired Rangers into the last eight of the Scottish Cup when he bagged the only goal of the fifth round replay against Hibernian at Ibrox.

Burke netted shortly before half-time before the tie erupted in the final minutes when substitute Nacho Novo was red-carded and boss Walter Smith sent to the stand.

The hard-fought win earns Rangers a home tie against First Division outfit Partick Thistle in the quarter-finals.

With Rangers competing for four trophies, Smith admitted he had no option but to freshen up his team for today’s tie and he made no fewer than six changes from the side who defeated Werder Bremen in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night.

Goalkeeper Allan McGregor was suspended and was replaced between the sticks by Neil Alexander, who was joined in the starting line-up by Burke, Kevin Thomson, Steven Naismith, Lee McCulloch and Steven Whittaker.

Daniel Cousin missed out with broken jaw sustained against the Germans that could keep him out for up to six weeks, while David Weir, Sasa Papac, Brahim Hemdani and Charlie Adam were all rested ahead of the trip to Bremen this coming midweek.

Hibs boss Mixu Paatelainen also swapped his goalkeeper for the visit to Ibrox, with Andy McNeil dropping to the bench in favour of Yves Ma-Kalambay. Martin Canning and Colin Nish were both cup-tied and Guillaume Buezelin missed out through injury.

Despite mass changes for the home side, there was little chance of Rangers taking the threat of Hibs lightly. As well as grinding out a goalless draw at Easter Road at the first time if asking, the Edinburgh club remain the only Scottish team to leave Govan with a win this season.

An Abderraouf Zarabi foul on Burke provided Rangers with their first real chance of the game. Thomson played the free-kick quickly to Barry Ferguson, who swept the ball out to Whittaker on the left flank, but his long-range effort was turned wide by Ma-Kalambay.

Whittaker then turned provider when he set up McCulloch for the header but the midfielder nodded just off-target as Rangers attempted to crank up the pressure.

Alexander had made an impromptu debut when McGregor was dismissed in the final minutes of the last cup clash with Hibs and he did well when he was called into action to parry a powerful 30-yard drive from Steven Fletcher.

There was concern for Hibs when Ian Murray was withdrawn for treatment after suffering a facial injury and he was off the park for eight minutes before finally returning to the action.

During his absence, Rangers took full advantage of having an extra man when they took the lead six minutes from half-time.

Burke collected a Steven Davis pass from the left before squeezing the shot between two green jerseys, leaving Ma-Kalambay with no chance as the ball nestled in the goalkeeper’s right-hand bottom corner.

McCulloch and Ferguson then saw efforts cleared off the line before Naismith’s close-range header cracked off the underside of the crossbar.

Hibs tried to haul themselves back into the tie after the restart and Murray was not too far away with a thunderous shot that deflected just over the crossbar.

Fletcher then saw a smart free-kick from 25 yards smothered by Alexander at his left-hand post, before fizzing a shot across goal and wide of the upright.

Naismith then had a go at the other end but he blasted well over and Ma-Kalambay was never troubled in the Hibs goal. That proved to be Naismith’s last contribution when he was withdrawn for Novo with just over 20 minutes to go.

Novo could have won a penalty for Rangers when his shot came off the hand of Chris Hogg but referee Craig Thomson ignored the claims from the home side.

Thomson then had the chance to finish off the tie when he collected a superb ball from Ferguson only to fire straight at Ma-Kalambay after finding himself one-on-one with the Hibs goalkeeper.

The match ended in controversy when Novo was dismissed for a two-footed challenge on Thierry Gathuessi with 10 minutes to go before boss Smith was sent to the stand for his furious protests.