The Easter Road side will rue a host of missed chances that means that it will be Rangers and not they who make the trip to East End Park to take on Dunfermline in the next round.
For all Hibs’ superior possession, the match remained evenly-poised at 2-2 when Peter Lovenkrands latched onto Claudio Caniggia’s through pass and drove the ball past Nick Colgan – meaning Rangers had scored three goals for the sixth consecutive game – and it was sufficient to land Gers the victory
Injuries had meant, however, that the Light Blues’ performance was not up to the usual high standard that McLeish has demanded from his players.
Much of Rangers’ recent run of good form has been based on solid defensive foundations but the Ibrox box was forced to make two changes to his usual back four formation prior to kick-off.
Bert Konterman stepped in for Craig Moore – who was hampered with an ankle injury – and only minutes before kick-off Bob Malcolm was called upon to take over from Lorenzo Amoruso.
The changes seemed to unsettle Rangers and the pairing of Konterman and Malcolm looked decidedly uneasy in the early stages as Hibs poured forward through the driving rain.
It was hard to decipher where the biggest gaps were at this point, in the Easter Road stands or in the Light Blues’ defence, and on-form Garry O’Connor tested Stefan Klos with a swerving drive after only three minutes.
Klos was helpless, however, just three minutes later when the home side took a deserved early lead.
O’Connor was the creator this time, zipping in a low cross off the wet surface that Ian Murray slid high into the top left corner.
Rangers were looking very dis-jointed, with none of the midfield trio able to garner possession and offer openings for the forwards.
Mikel Arteta in particular looked out of sorts and he was replaced by Stephen Hughes on the half-hour mark.
By that stage, however, Rangers had surged into a surprise lead with two goals in the space of three minutes.
The home side’s Derek Townsley was the unfortunate protagonist in both strikes, diverting Mo Ross’ cross past his own goalkeeper on 21 minutes to gift Rangers an equaliser.
While still contemplating his error, he then gifted possession to Ronald de Boer whose precise pass allowed Claudio Caniggia to clip the ball past the advancing Colgan.
Townsley’s evening didn’t get any better after that, missing a simple header early in the second half before being taken off to be replaced by Tom McManus.
Rangers’ two goal haul seemed to reawaken them and they surged forward looking for a third goal that would surely have ended any Hibs’ aspirations of a comeback.
The game was stopped for a few minutes when Alen Orman seemed to suffer a seizure, and he was stretchered off to be replaced by Gary Smith.
After a brief re-organisation, it was the home side who continued to look more dangerous and Klos again pulled out a vital save to deny the lively O’Connor before Caniggia was booked for diving after he seemed to be brought down in the penalty box.
The second half started again in the home side’s favour and, after Mixu Paatalainen had passed up two decent chances, the spritely O’Connor grabbed a goal that his work-rate had undoubtedly deserved.
Parity in the scoreline lasted only three minutes before Rangers forged into the lead again.
Lovenkrands had had a quiet game up until the 78th minute when he latched on to Caniggia’s weighted pass and slid the ball under the advancing Colgan.
Hibs chased desperately for another goal that would take the tie into extra-time but their cause was weakened when Smith smacked the ball off a prone Caniggia and received a second yellow card for his troubles.
It was not the best performance from McLeish’s men but it was sufficient to send them into the fourth round.
Hibs: Colgan; Orman (Smith 31), Fenwick, Zambernardi, James, Murray; Wiss, Brebner, Townsley (McManus 68); Paatalainen (Luna 77), O’Connor
Subs not used: Caig, Brown
Booked: Smith, Murray
Sent Off: Smith
Rangers: Klos; Ross, Konterman, Malcolm, Numan; Ricksen, Ferguson, Arteta (Hughes 37); Lovenkrands, De Boer, Caniggia
Subs not used: McGregor, Mols, Dodds, Muscat
Booked: Caniggia
Sent Off: None
Man of the Match: Claudio Caniggia