Hibs ended their 114-year Scottish Cup hoodoo with a 3-2 win over Rangers at Hampden.
The match had barely got underway when Anthony Stokes opened the scoring for Hibs. Left to run down the left unopposed he then cut inside before curling a shot just inside Wes Foderingham's far post. Rob Kiernan and James Tavernier were both at fault, both allowing Stokes to progress without challenge, and it summed up both player's early contribution.
As the first half wore on Rangers looked very much like a side that hadn't played in three weeks and Hibs continued to threaten. Continually misplacing passes, coming out second best in 50/50 challenges and being beaten to almost every loose ball Rangers were out of sorts and it was showing. Rangers faced an injury scare when James Tavernier picked up a knock from a fairly innocuous looking challenge from Lewis Stevenson but the free-scoring fullback was able to eventually shake it off. Despite having an overwhelming amount of possession Rangers never looked like doing anything with it until James Tavernier's cross found Kenny Miller and the veteran striker levelled the score just before the thirty minute mark. A cross from wide on the right fell perfectly for Miller who headed beyond Conrad Logan.
With the score level again Hibs almost immediately retook the lead when Stokes rattled the post from the edge of the area and his strike bounced out. Rangers began to find more of a foothold and Kenny Miller was unlucky not to grab second when, from a Barrie McKay corner, he found himself free in the Hibs penalty area but his header crashed back off the crossbar. Both sides looked to take the lead before the break but neither side could break the deadlock before ref Steven McLean brought the first half to a close.
The second-half began with both sides hoping to get an early advantage. Rangers looked to have shaken off their earlier 'ring-rust' and Hibs were confident of repeating their impressive first-half start. Warburton's side tried to get the ball down and play something like the football we've seen over the course of the season. Rangers looked the more likely to take the lead and as the second half started to get a little bit scrappy, including bookings to Tavernier & Fyvie, Rangers made the first change of the game with Shiels replacing Zelalem just after an hour.
Then up stepped Andy Halliday. Picking up the ball 30 yards away from goal, Halliday took a touch or two then rifled an absolute screamer high into the Hibs net. Conrad Logan stretched but couldn't get close. Halliday had been fairly anonymous throughout the game but with one swing of his boot he sent one half of Hampden into sheer ecstasy.
With 25 minutes to go Rangers had the lead for the first time and Hibs would need to now change their entire gameplan, which had been designed to frustrate offensively much more than it had been to exploit any Rangers weakness defensively, and bring to game to Rangers. Rangers made a second change with 15 minutes to go when Nicky Clark replaced Martyn Waghorn.
Hibs did start to put more pressure on but Rangers' defence was much more composed than they had been earlier in the game and were dealing with everything Hibs had as the clock ticked down but it finally paid off for them on the 80th minute. Anthony Stokes rising to meet a corner and firing a header beyond Foderingham. 2-2
It continued to be mainly all Hibs in the last 10 minutes of normal time but Rangers should have made more of a late corner. A few minutes later Hibs had a corner of their own which Rangers again failed to deal with and David Gray bulleted a header beyond Foderingham to make it 3-2 Hibs with only a few minutes to go.
Rangers: Foderingham; Tavernier, Kiernan, Wilson, Wallace; Halliday; Holt; Zelalem (Shiels 62'); McKay, Waghorn (Clark 75'), Miller.
Unused subs: Bell, Law, Burt.
Goalscorers: Miller 27', Halliday 64'