After a closely-contested first half, Hibernian were rampant after the break, capitalising on uncertain performances at the heart of the Rangers defence to score three times and comfortably earn their place in the quarter-finals.
Barring a minor miracle in either the SPL or the Champions League the Rangers trophy room will remain bare this summer for the second time in three seasons.
Alex McLeish’s side had chances of their own to forge in front before the break but were unable to take them and paid for it in some style in the second half.
McLeish had resisted the temptation to make too many swingeing changes to the starting 11 that had defeated Inverness Caley the previous week, the only alteration the restoration of captain Barry Ferguson in place of Alan Hutton who dropped to the bench.
Tony Mowbray, seeking to guide his team to their third consecutive win over Rangers, elected not to thrust Derek Riordan into the fray following McLeish’s unsuccessful bid to lure him to Ibrox in midweek but could call upon Scott Brown who seemed to have made a miraculous recovery after being effectively all but ruled out by his manager earlier in the week.
If that was a bonus for Mowbray it wasn’t long before his game plan was thrown into turmoil when Kevin Thomson was forced off on a stretcher after just six minutes, just minutes after a malicious challenge on Barry Ferguson that had earned the Hibs midfielder an early booking.
Aside from a couple of early chances for Ivan Sproule – who had wreaked havoc on his last outing here, eventually claiming an unlikely hat-trick – the rest of the first half largely belonged to Rangers.
Chris Burke, restored to full health after taking a kick to the Achilles against Inverness, was again the chief tormentor, switching wings with ease and causing uncertainty with a series of befuddling runs and tempting crosses.From one sumptuous centre, Kris Boyd headed over from a promising position; from another, Peter Lovenkrands mistimed his jump and missed the ball altogether.
Hibs’ best chance before the break in what was turning into a fiercely-contested cup tie actually came from a header from Sotirios Kyrgiakos that sailed narrowly past his own goal, the Greek shrugging it off nonchalantly with a manic grin as if the thought of scoring an own goal never even crossed his mind.
For all the ferocious midfield activity, neither goalkeeper had been greatly tested in the opening exchanges until the 37th minute when Simon Brown stretched athletically to palm a swerving Bob Malcolm drive onto his crossbar and over for the last – and best – scoring chance of the half.
After a comfortable opening period where they were rarely troubled, Rangers were prised open twice within 13 minutes of the re-start.
Sproule, after his merciless execution on his previous visit to these parts, turned provider for the first goal, wriggling past Marvin Andrews to stand a teasing ball up to the back post that Garry O’Connor nodded past Ronald Waterreus from a matter of yards.
It would get worse for Rangers less than 10 minutes later. O’Connor jumped higher than Kyrgiakos to nod a long ball on for Sproule who then outpaced Marvin Andrews before burying the ball behind Waterreus.
It was a sucker-blow for Rangers but they thought they had hauled themselves immediately back into the match when Kyrgiakos sprung highest to power Lovenkrands’ cross over the line only for Stuart Dougal, the referee, to inexplicably rule it out. Boyd, understandably, was booked for making his protests too vehemently.
Rangers, as expected, rallied again but to little avail and were caught again on the break. Riordan, on as a substitute, slipped a tempting through ball to fellow replacement Chris Killen and although Waterreus did well to beat out his first attempt the ball fell kindly for the New Zealander to thrash in the rebound.
Mercifully for Rangers that was the end of the scoring, with only a fine Waterreus stop denying O’Connor his second of the game.
RANGERS (4-4-2): 25 Waterreus; 2 Ricksen, 5 Andrews, 14 Kyrgiakos, 24 Murray; 17 Burke, 6 Ferguson, 12 Malcolm (Prso 57), 4 Buffel; 26 Lovenkrands (Novo 83), 15 Boyd
Subs not used: Klos, Hutton, Smith
Booked: Malcolm (41), Murray (56), Boyd (60), Waterreus (65)
HIBERNIAN (4-5-1): 1 Simon Brown; 2 Whittaker, 15 Hogg, 4 Caldwell, 3 Murphy; 20 Fletcher (Riordan 64), 6 Stewart, 8 Thomson (Glass 6), 7 Scott Brown (Killen 59); 9 O’Connor, 17 Sproule
Subs not used: Malkowski, Shields
Booked: Thomson (3), Sproule (59), Riordan (68), Caldwell (83)
Referee: Stuart Dougal
Attendance: 40,722
Key Man: Chris Burke, probed tirelessly all afternoon with little reward