Ten-man Hibs suffer heavy defeat at Ibrox

Ten man Hibs suffered their heaviest Ibrox defeat in almost 25-years this afternoon after going down 6-1 to Rangers.

Paul Heckingbottom made two changes to the starting XI that
beat St Mirren last weekend with Adam Jackson and Florian Kamberi making way
for Darren McGregor and Christian Doidge.

Rangers started brightly and opened the scoring in the 9^th
minute when Sheyi Ojo’s strike was parried away by Ofir Marciano, only for
Jermaine Defoe to fire in the rebound.

Six minute later Defoe added a second from close range after
a low cross from Ojo.

The hosts looked to increase their lead but Marciano did
well to keep the deficit at two.

Stevie Mallan almost pulled one back with a long range
effort as Hibs tried to get back in the game then in the 40^th minute
a fantastic through ball from Scott Allan found Daryl Horgan who calmly
finished past Allan McGregor, much to the delight of the small band of
travelling fans.

Hibs finished the first half on top and emerged with
confidence ready for the restart.

Joe Newell was replaced by Fraser Murray as Hibernian sought to get back into the game but hopes of taking something all but vanished when yougster Sean Mackie was shown a second yellow card for a deliberate handball in the 57^th minute.

From then Rangers pressed forward and Marciano produced save
after save to deny Defoe, Jordan Jones and Ojo.

Rangers secured the points with 16-minutes remaining when Steven
Davis’ cross was met by Defoe at the back post who headed home for his
hat-trick.

Just three minutes later Alfredo Morelos burst through on
goal and fired the ball past the helpless Marciano.

Morelos grabbed his second and Rangers fifth in the 90^th
minute then Ojo made it 6-1 when his close range effort was deflected into the
net.

Hibs now face Morton at Easter Road in the last 16 of the
Betfred Cup next Saturday and Heckingbottom will be keen for his players to
bounce back with on-loan winger Glenn Middleton available for selection.

Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Katic, Flanagan
(Halliday, 80), Davis, Jack, Aribo, Ojo, Defoe (Morelos, 75), Jones (Stewart,
75). Unused substitutes: Foderingham, Edmundson, Docherty, Arfield.

Hibernian: Marciano, Whittaker, McGregor, Hanlon, Mackie,
Vela, Mallan, Horgan (Gray, 60), Allan (Kamberi, 67), Newell (Murray, 45),
Doidge. Unused substitutes: Maxwell, Slivka, Jackson, Shaw.

Referee: John Beaton.

Attendance: 49,718.