Rangers v Hibernian - Scottish Cup 09/03/08

[DavidMc]

Rangers v Hibernian
Scottish Cup 5th Round Replay
Sunday 9th March 08
Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow

Neil Alexander will make his first start in goal for Rangers in Sunday's Scottish Cup fifth-round replay.
Allan McGregor is suspended after being sent off in the 0-0 draw at Easter Road, while striker Jean-Claude Darcheville is an injury doubt.

Hibs duo Colin Nish and Martin Canning are cup-tied but captain Rob Jones returns from injury.

Dean Shiels, Guillaume Beuzelin and goalkeeper Yves Ma-Kalambay aim to shake off knocks in time to feature.


Abdessalam Benjelloun returns from a lengthy lay-off and Clayton Donaldson is hoping for a rare appearance, with Nish ruled out.

"Even if the gaffer brings in Benji or goes with one up front we've got some good goalscorers in midfield so we'll still be capable of getting goals," said Hibs' top-scorer Steven Fletcher.

Rangers stretched their unbeaten run to 19 games with a win over Werder Bremen on Thursday but Hibs can take heart from a league victory at Ibrox in October.

"We have the capability of making one or two changes and we will do that and bring in a bit of freshness to the team," said Ibrox boss Walter Smith.

"But everybody who is involved with Rangers knows we've got an extremely tough game."

As well as the Scottish Cup, Rangers have the CIS Insurance Cup final to look forward to the following weekend while hoping to retain their lead at the top of the Premier League.

But Smith insisted: "They would rather play now than train and it's just a matter of getting that balance and keeping everybody ready to play.

"We are in the early stages of playing a lot of games and, if we can keep everyone injury-free, I'm sure everyone will keep their fitness at the proper level."



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Rangers (from): Alexander, Broadfoot, Cuellar, Weir, Whittaker, Dailly, Burke, Novo, Ferguson, Davis, Adam, McCulloch, Boyd, Smith, Naismith, Cousin, Hemdani, Papac, Fleck, Darcheville.

Hibernian (from): Ma-Kalambay, McNeil, Gathuessi, Hogg, Zarabi, Kerr, Zemmama, Beuzelin, Chisholm, Murray, Rankin, Fletcher, O'Brien, Morais, Campbell, Hanlon, Jones, Shiels, Benjelloun, Donaldson.