The Light Blues opened the scoring through a terrific Thompson Ishaka strike in the first half, before Findlay Curtis doubled his side’s advantage midway into the second half when he converted from Archie Stevens’ cut-back.
The Spiders pulled a goal shortly afterwards to set up a tasty final 20 minutes, but the young Gers puffed out their chests and showed their defensive resilience to seal their place in the final.
David McCallum’s side were boosted pre-match by the inclusion of first-team midfielders, Ryan Jack and Alex Lowry, as the pair stepped up their return from injury.
And Rangers wasted precious little time in stamping their authority on the contest when Thompson Ishaka, lining up through the middle on this occasion, did tremendously to manufacture space inside the penalty area before curling his effort wide of the Queen’s Park goal.
The home side were purring with intent during the opening exchanges and their early endeavour was rewarded inside 15 minutes when Ishaka latched onto a loose ball inside the penalty area and guided a gorgeous, cushioned finish into the top corner to break the deadlock.
The opener gave the Light Blues further confidence, and a sweeping move out of defence almost engineered a perfectly worked goal moments later.
After playing through Queen’s Park high press, the ball made its way out to Archie Stevens advanced on the right flank who quickly moved possession inside to the underlapping run of Mackenzie Strachan. Lifting his head, the 20-year-old midfielder squared the ball dangerously across goal to Chris Eadie but the young forward could only steer his finish off target while on the stretch.
Rangers ought to have been further ahead for the quality of their play in the first 45 minutes, with Ishaka going ever so close to doubling both his and Rangers’ tally in the contest when he met Stevens’ pull-back and curled his effort wide of Sam Kane’s goal.
Half-time prompted a shuffling of the pack as Findlay Curtis replaced Ryan Jack after a productive run-out for the Scotland international, with Rangers picking up where they left off in the first half when Ishaka and Stevens combined once again before the former pulled his finish only inches wide of the far corner.
And moments later, the young Gers found their second goal of the contest to leave their visitors with an uphill struggle.
The combination of Connor Allan and Stevens on the right-hand side was proving increasingly fruitful for the home side, and it was the avenue which caught Queen’s Park on the hop when Stevens collected a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area before hitting the byline and pulling an inch-perfect delivery across the face of goal to substitute Curtis who stroked a cool finish beyond Kane.
However, just as quickly as the Gers were basking in the comfort of their two-goal lead they found themselves pegged back by the visitors who gave themselves a lifeline thanks to a terrific long-range strike from substitute Tyrece McDonnell.
There was little time for Rangers to feel sorry for themselves with the destiny of the last four tie still very much in their hands, with the energetic Stevens soon replaced by Josh Gentles.
16-year-old Calum Adamson also entered the fray, with the teenager connecting with Curtis whose curling effort drifted wide as he sought to restore his side’s two-goal advantage.
From a position of strength, the Light Blues were forced into some desperate defending when a deep delivery to the far post forced Kristian Webster to clear the ball to safety from close range.
Fortunately, that would prove to be the final act of an entertaining contest at the Rangers Training Centre, with the young Gers sealing their place in a second successive Old Firm final.
RANGERS: Munn, Allan, Allen, Webster, Hutton, Jack (Curtis, 45), Strachan, Lowry (Eadie, 30), Stevens (Gentles, 83), Nsio, Ishaka (Adamson, 72)
Subs not used: Pazikas, Wark, Robertson
QUEEN’S PARK: Kane, Smith, Thomson, Carrick, Reid (Ferguson, 30), Graham, Hickey-Fugaccia (Fairlie, 65), Waugh (McLean, 80), Fiddes (Mahon, 80), Connolly (McDonnell, 65), McCormick
Subs not used: Scott, Balfour