Scott Arfield grabbed a double as a much-changed Rangers side eased into the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals with a 3-1 win over Queen of the South at Ibrox.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst brought in a whole new line-up for the last-16 tie against the League One outfit with 18-year-old striker Robbie Ure scoring on his debut after nine minutes, only for Lee Connelly to hit a stunning equalizer soon afterwards .
Midfielder Arfield put Rangers ahead again midway through the first half but there was little cohesion about the Gers performance before he scored his second with five minutes remaining.
Van Bronckhorst’s star players such as skipper James Tavernier, Connor Goldson, Malik Tillman and Antonio Colak will return for the crunch cinch Premiership fixture against Celtic at Parkhead on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.
Then the Light Blues prepare for their first Champions League group game against Ajax in Amsterdam next Wednesday night as the season starts to gather pace.
With less than 10 minutes on the clock and after some slack play by the visitors in their own half, Gers attacker Fashion Sakala squared to Glen Kamara who set up Ure to flash a deflected shot past Queen of the South ‘keeper Max Currie.
Saturday 3rd September 11:30am
Kick off 12:30pm
It looked like being a straightforward night for Rangers. However, the home fans were silenced in the 16th minute when the visitors levelled.
Sakala, back helping Rangers defend, misplaced a pass to the unmarked Connelly who looked up and from 16 yards beat McGregor with a delightful chip.
But before any anxiety could permeate the Govan men, Arfield restored the home side’s lead from 12 yards when he confidently converted a cutback from marauding left-back Ridvan Yilmaz.
There was still an occasionally disjointed look about the home side after the break, with the Palmerston side threatening to take advantage of any slip-ups and in the 63rd minute Devine sliced a clearance from six yards just over his own crossbar.
Any doubts about the outcome ended in the 85th minute when a clever backheel from McCann set up Arfield to stroke the ball into the net from just inside the box.
Luis Lopes put Aberdeen 2-1 ahead at Annan Athletic
Luis Lopes, Vicente Besuijen and Leighton Clarkson struck in extra-time as Aberdeen eventually defeated spirited Other 4-1 at Galabank to reach the last eight.
The cinch Premiership side looked to be in bother against their League Two hosts after home captain Steven Swinglehurst canceled out Besuijen’s opener to make it 1-1 at the end of the regulation 90 minutes.
But the Dons made their superiority count in the additional 30.
It took Aberdeen 55 minutes to make the breakthrough against their lowly hosts when Besuijen met a low delivery from Jack MacKenzie and forced the ball over the line from close range despite the best efforts of Fleming to scramble it out.
The goal seemed to have taken the sting out of Annan’s play and Aberdeen almost netted again in the 67th minute when Jayden Richardson fired a powerful shot just over after latching on to a Besuijen cutback inside the box.
But they leveled with nine minutes left when Swinglehurst powered home a header from Johnston’s corner to force extra-time.
The Dons got themselves back in front when Lopes headed home in the 97th minute from a Clarkson corner. Besuijen then put daylight between the teams when he slotted home a low angled effort from eight yards out just before the end of the first additional period.
Clarkson sealed the Dons’ progress with a strike from just inside the box with three minutes left.
Aidan Fitzpatrick got the only goal as Partick Thistle beat Arbroath at Firhill
Aidan Fitzpatrick scored the only goal of the game to send Partick Thistle into the quarter-finals with a 1-0 win over Arbroath.
The home side dominated long periods of the all-Championship tie, but struggled to find the breakthrough at Firhill.
Fitzpatrick finally broke the deadlock eight minutes from time with a glancing header from a Stevie Lawless cross.
Arbroath rarely threatened after an early chance for Daniel Fosu, who was inches away from connecting with Bobby Linn’s dangerous cross.
Zach Robinson celebrates scoring Dundee’s third against Falkirk
Cinch Championship site Dundee swept aside League One side Falkirk to advance with a 3-0 win.
It took until the 55th minute for Dundee to break the deadlock, when Zach Robinson played in Lyall Cameron who was able to fire the ball under Nicky Hogarth.
It was 2-0 with 10 minutes left when Lee Ashcroft headed in from Paul McMullan’s corner.
And the visitors’ misery was complete when Gary Oliver saw a late red card for blocking Jordan McGhee’s shot on the line, with Robinson scoring from the penalty spot.