Rangers ease past League Two Annan Athletic in Scottish Cup

A much-changed Rangers side cruised into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with a commanding 3-0 win over Annan Athletic at Galabank.

Fit-again defender Filip Helander headed in the Gers’ opener after seven minutes before attackers Kemar Roofe and Fashion Sakala added further goals in the first half to end any hopes of the League Two side providing a shock.

Annan manager Peter Murphy had said the Light Blues would have “failed” if they did not put four or five goals past his side but it may well have been that and more as Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side negotiated the foul weather and artificial pitch as well as a battling home side with consummate professionalism.

The last time Rangers travelled to Annan was in 2013 when they met in the Third Division as the Light Blues began making their way back through the leagues after re-emerging in the bottom tier following financial meltdown.

This time the Ibrox men arrived in Annan as champions of Scotland, but boss Van Bronckhorst changed the whole team following the midweek win over Hibernian.

Notably on-loan Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey made his first start, Helander featured for the first time in five months after recovering from a knee injury and there was a debut for Mateusz Zukowski, the new signing from Lechia Gdansk.

Peculiarly, Annan, fourth in League Two, named manager Murphy, assistant Colin McMenamin and goalkeeping coach Jon Connolly among the 11 substitutes allowed.

Amid the swirling wind and rain, the visitors took a nerve-calming early lead when Helander powered in a header from a Borna Barisic corner, after his header from a first corner had been cleared off the line by Dominic Docherty.

Moments later, Barisic’s curling free-kick from 25 yards was palmed away