Rangers fans are chuckling at the premature Premier Sports Cup exit calamity around Premiership rivals Hibs, but after last season’s Hampden horror show it provides a major boost to the Gers.
Rangers have toiled at the national stadium when it comes to the Edinburgh side and whilst the exit of Lee Johnson’s floundering side has some laughing it now means we can’t face them in the competition.
Hibs are officially out of the Premier Sports Cup after Greenock Morton were awarded a 3-0 win over the Easter Round outfit after they fielded an ineligible player.
The Hibees already looked buried in the competition after a losing on penalties to the Championship side following a 1-1 draw earlier in the week.
But now their exit has been confirmed by the SPFL after the Premiership club fielded centre-back Rocky Bushiri in the match, the 22-year-old centre-half suspended courtesy of receiving a yellow card in each of the club’s previous two group stage matches [BBC Scotland].
The 3-0 defeat ensures Hibs end on a points total that means they cannot get out of the competition’s controversial group stages and some Rangers fans might be breathing a sigh of relief.
Rangers boosted by Hibs’ early Premier Sports Cup exit
Whilst Rangers fans have wasted no time gloating over their Edinburgh rivals, with no love lost between the two clubs, Hibs have proven troublesome cup opposition for the club recently.
Last season, in the first match after Steven Gerrard jumped ship to Aston Villa, Rangers succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to Hibs in a Hampden horror show that rankled all season long
Giovanni van Bronckhorst was forced to watch on from the stands.
Connor Goldson’s explosive post-match interview had plenty of Rangers fans nervous and it was a defeat, inspired by Martin Boyle’s first-half hattrick, that meant the Hibees made the final.
Let’s not talk about the Scottish Cup Final of 2016 either.
Celebrating like they’d won the cup after that November victory, releasing t-shirts and the like in the aftermath, Hibs went on to surrender the final to Celtic who are the current holders of the Cup.
Rangers haven’t won the tournament since 2011 and Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his backroom staff, not to mention many of these Ibrox players, will be desperate to get their hands on that trophy this season and set an early, winning standard in the squad.
It’s difficult to argue against the notion Hibs raise their standards against Rangers but now it is one team that will not be able to stand in our way in the hunt for Premier Sports Cup glory.
Meanwhile, Rangers fans might be praising a new signing duo but their appearance at the club can free-up a £7m asset to flourish next season.
