Dramatic night as Rangers beat Hibs to reach semi-final

Rangers beat nine men Hibs 2-0 at Easter Road in pulsating Scottish Cup quarter-final clash.

In a chaotic and controversial game, goals from Lundstram and Silva sent the visitors to Hampden as they remain in the hunt for a domestic treble.

The game started ferociously with Rangers looking the brighter early on, they came close to capitalising on some nervy touches from the home side.

Rangers sought to exploit the wide areas and they almost opened the scoring when Fabio Silva flashed the ball across the goal but failed to find a teammate.

With Hibs struggling to find a foot in the game they were almost gifted a goal by on-form goalkeeper, Jack Butland in the 16^th minute.

He took far too many touches on his goal line and failed to clear the ball with Hibs striker Myziane Maolida closing him down, the Frenchmen slid in with his effort rebounding off the post and going out for a corner.

That effort invigorated the Hibs support, but just as it looked like the home side were beginning to play with some confidence Rangers were awarded a penalty.

A tangle of legs between Jordan Obita and Dujon Sterling resulted in referee Steven McLean pointing to the spot, VAR did check for contact and stuck with the on-field decision.

After a lengthy wait, James Tavernier’s spot kick was well saved by Marshall initially, but after a stramash in the six-yard box, the rebound was eventually bundled in by Jon Lundstram to put the visitors ahead after 23 minutes.

Not long after, Marshall was called into action again, Sterling found himself through on goal, but his effort was well kept out by Marshall.

The goal seemed to spark both the supporters into life and the players responded with aggression, Nathan Moriah-Welsh and Jon Souttar almost came to blows after Emiliano Marcondes was scythed down in the middle of the park.

Referee McLean tried, and failed, to calm things down, as the home support grew increasingly angry with his performance.

There were concerning scenes late on in the first half, Martin Boyle had to be stretchered off the pitch after staying down following a nasty clash on the edge of the box with Souttar.

That resulted in a lengthy amount of additional time where not a lot happened, and the first half ended with the Hibs support booing McLean off the park.

The home side came out from half-time looking the better side, they put together some nice phases of play, and during a period of four successive corners, Will Fish came closest as his effort was cleared off the line.

Hibs continued to threaten on the break but failed to find a final pass and the ball would just not fall for them, they only managed to test Butland from an Emiliano Marcondes free kick that was well parried away.

With 68 minutes on the clock, and with Hibs well in the game, mayhem struck.

Jordan Obita, who looked shaky all evening, received a second yellow card for an off-the-ball collision with Rabbi Matondo, whilst he did plead his innocence and it did look soft, VAR stuck with McLean’s decision.

Just moments later, Hibs were reduced to nine men after a head loss moment from Moriah-Welsh, he brought down Lundstram with two feet and was instantly shown his marching orders.

After that, there was only going to be one winner, Rangers smelt blood and continually exploited the acres of space that they had available to them.

For a period, Hibs did heroically defend will with just nine players, and on some occasions even looked like scoring on the break, again failing to find a final piece of quality.

Eventually, and inevitably, Rangers doubled their lead with 83 minutes played, on loan Wolverhampton striker Fabio Silva shimmied past the Hibs defence and finished low past Marshall to kill the game off and send the visitors to Hampden.

A frustrating night at Easter Road for Hibs, who for large periods of the game were competing well with a Rangers side who ran Benfica close on Thursday night.

In the end, they let their frustrations, perhaps with the referee, get the better of them, and two head loss moments from unlikely players left the side with an impossible mountain to climb.

There will be no silverware coming to Leith this season, and the priority for this side turns to finishing in the top six whilst pushing for a European qualification place.

Hibs confirmed post-match that Martin Boyle was taken to hospital following his head clash and is currently in a stable condition. On the game, Nick Montgomery said: “It was lively, a lot of drama, unnecessary drama. I thought we were on the end of some tough decisions. For big periods of the game, we were more than at it, especially that 20-minute period after half-time, how we didn’t score I don’t know.”

The head coach failed to hide his frustrations with referee McLean throughout, on Moriah-Welsh’s red card he said: “I was really surprised he didn’t go to the VAR monitor to have a look, considering it was three metres from where the incident happened. There’s just sometimes a bit of inconsistency, looking at decisions.”

Hibs have now conceded three penalties in two games against both the Old Firm, Montgomery said: “We can talk about whether it’s a penalty or whether it’s not a penalty. A couple of weeks ago, against Celtic, we had the exact same incident with Martin Boyle, a quick winger running inside, the fullback chasing, but Martin gets a yellow card, and we get a penalty given against us today. You see incidents like that, and it does just baffle you at times.”

After a battling encounter there is no rest for Hibs as they face Ross County and Livingston in the coming six days, games that they really should win if they are to compete for those European qualification places.  

Callum Napier

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Masters Student currently studying Sports Journalism at Edinburgh Napier University.

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