Philippe Clement in veiled Rangers swipe at Michael Beale as 'fitness' message decoded with injury woes mounting

Philippe Clement appeared to aim a dig at Michael Beale as Rangers dumped Hibs at Easter Road in a match that had everything.

The Light Blues kept their hopes of a domestic Treble alive and kicking as they booked a return trip to Hampden for a Scottish Cup semi-final day out after a 2-0 win in the capital thanks to goals from John Lundstram and Fabio Silva. The Ibrox men continue to transform their season under Belgian boss Clement after a horror start to the campaign under previous boss Beale. They found themselves out of the Champions League qualifiers and well off the pace of rivals Celtic in the league but now sit two points ahead of the Hoops in top spot and have a League Cup in the trophy cabinet and could reach the Europa League last eight in the coming days.

The Hibees were reduced to NINE men after two red cards in two second half minutes minutes while the home side also suffered a major blow over Martin Boyle. The game was paused for a long period as the attacker was stretchered off in worrying scenes in the first period. Rangers also suffered two injury blows to Dujon Sterling and Ross McCausland in a real battle in Leith. Reacting to the quarter-final showdown, Clement told Viaplay: "I think we deserved to go through. It is a difficult game to play. We come out of a massive game on Thursday that cost a lot of energy plus the travelling and everything

"Hibs had all week to prepare for this game. But in the end we were the team getting the best chances, scoring two goals and not conceding too many chances against.

"So well deserved victory and important to go through and again it shows how much ambition this dressing room and club has to stay in all competitions and work hard for that."

On the injuries to