RANGERS have been knocked out of this year’s William Hill Scottish Cup following a two-nil defeat to Celtic at the semi-final stage this afternoon.
Callum McGregor’s goal on 11 minutes and Scott Sinclair’s penalty in the 51st minute gave Brendan Rodgers’ side a deserved victory at Hampden Park, and they will now go through to the final to face Aberdeen on May 27.
This afternoon’s game was expected to be a tight encounter following the 1-1 draw at Celtic Park last month, but in truth the Light Blues will be disappointed with their overall performance on this occasion as they failed to trouble Craig Gordon or put any kind of sustained pressure on the defenders in front of him until the latter stages.
Alex McLeish’s men had lifted this trophy in cavalier fashion last March when they routed Dundee United 7-1 in the semi-final before dismantling Motherwell 5-1 at Hampden in the final.
Back then – only eight short months ago – there had been style, passion and a constant glut of goals in Rangers’ play but those qualities have been lacking for weeks now and it was no different here this evening.
McLeish had offered a brave face when he addressed the media prior to this match but even he, in private, must have been fearing the worst.
0 - 2 
