The young Gers went ahead twice in the contest through Calum Adamson in the first half and Max Cameron after the interval, but the dubious awarding of a spot-kick in the second period brought Hibs back into the contest against the run of play.
A pair of late goals from Logan Jimenez then delivered all three points for the away side as Rangers will now shift their attention to the return of league action on Thursday eveningagainst Motherwell.
Malky Thomson named six changes to his side for this one, among which there were starts for several loan players in Adamson, Arran Kerr and Jack Wyllie.
And it took until just nine minutes into the contest for Rangers to break the deadlock through a player currently impressing on loan at Alloa Athletic.
Indeed, the young Gers have punished Hibs from set-piece situations on numerous occasions this season, and it was a delightful delivery from McCallion which was met by Kerr before Adamson pounced quickly to slam home the follow-up low and into the bottom corner.
However, the hosts’ advantage in proceedings lasted little more than two minutes as Hibs made amends from a corner of their own when a deep delivery fell invitingly to Callum MacDonald who lashed a left-footed effort into the far corner.
The situation came about when the away side almost punished goalkeeper Reid for a slack pass out of his six-yard area, with Wyllie forced into a last-ditch intervention when Josh McDonald picked out a teammate from a pull-back.
It’s rare to see a team at Under-19 level utilise long throw-ins, but Hibs threatened soon after when Luke Davidson collected a knockdown and fired goalwards. They were grateful for a cluster of Rangers bodies in the way.
After Kyle Glasgow went into the referee’s notebook for a foul down by the nearside corner flag, a floated delivery towards the back post saw Zach Bruce rise highest and force Reid into a save at full-stretch.
Rangers were controlling the lion’s share of the ball without truly testing the Hibs goalkeeper. That was until McCallion combined with Kerr on the right and poked a cross into the near post which Jaden Riddell almost turned into his own net.
Clear-cut opportunities were few and far between for either side, underlined on the stroke of the interval when the away side advanced through Lewis Gillie on the left before his deep delivery was volleyed wildly off target by Davidson.
It was always going to take a moment of opportunism, and it arrived six minutes into the second period when Adamson harried the away side into a mistake inside their own defensive third before laying a pass into the stride of Cameron to slide a terrific finish into the bottom corner.
The impressive Adamson went close to doubling his tally on the afternoon when a delivery flicked up into his path at the near post, but he couldn’t quite contort his body to strike goalwards.
Rangers were beginning to lay siege at the Hibs goal in search of a third as Kerr rose highest from a free-kick delivery before a sweeping move moments later saw Kyle Glasgow’s pull-back to the edge of the penalty area controlled impeccably by Cameron Fernie who subsequently crashed a left-footed effort against the crossbar.
Cameron was guilty of being overambitious when he dropped to receive a pass from McCallion just inside the Hibs half before unleashing an effort 30 yards from goal which trundled wide of the target.
Such was the Gers’ superiority in the contest that the only worry was whether they would rue their catalogue of missed opportunities.
Fernie, who replaced Aiden Crilly in the first-half, couldn’t believe his misfortunate when he headed goalwards from close-range but against a Hibs body on the goalline. Moments later, Cameron picked out McCallion at the edge of the penalty area, but the midfielder caressed a low effort wide of the target.
However, they were soon counting the cost of a Hibs equaliser with a quarter of an hour remaining, engineered in dubious circumstances.
There didn’t appear anything untoward when a delivery into a crowded penalty area was cleared by the hosts, yet the referee pointed to the penalty spot signalling a pull of Adam Buckley’s jersey when the midfielder threw himself to the ground.
McDonald assumed penalty duties for the Edinburgh side and converted to restore parity against the run of play.
Hibs could have completed the turnaround moments later when McDonald raced clear with only Reid to beat, but an outstanding last-ditch challenge from Ashton Scally kept the scoreline as it was.
But it lasted only seconds as from the subsequent corner the ball zipped through a crowd of bodies and Jimenez swept goalwards on the half-turn to wrongfoot Reid and edge the away side in front.
Cameron was then denied a leveller when he met a Glasgow cut-back.
Any hopes of a Gers comeback in a frenetic contest were quashed with three minutes remaining when Davidson raced clear on the counter-attack before he squared the ball across for Jimenez to add a fourth into an empty net for the away side.
RANGERS: S. Reid, Kerr, Hynd, Wyllie, Scally, McCallion, Crilly (Fernie, 19), Adamson, Lawson (Rankin, 64), Cameron, Glasgow
Subs not used: Millarvie, J. Reid, Wark, Fergusson, Hall
HIBERNIAN: Mallon, McSporran, Gillie, Riddell, McNeill, Bruce, Davidson, Buckley (Downie, 86), Jimenez, McDonald (Shankland, 86), MacDonald
Subs not used: Brown, Gallacher, Burns
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