No cup shock at Ibrox

SPL quality brushed aside a plucky The Rangers as Inverness moved into the semi-finals of the League Cup for the first time in their history with an emphatic 3-0 win in Glasgow.

The minnows were looking to get into the next round at the expense of their more illustrious opponents from the North of Scotland, but by the end of the game they were well beaten and looked in disarray as the SPL club showed the gulf in class was too great for them to overcome.

A first half strike from Andy Shinnie was added to by Gary Warren in the second half, and brother Graeme Shinnie buried a penalty to end the scoring and put Inverness into the semi's along with Celtic, St Mirren and Hearts.

Inverness were treating this game the same as any other and fielded an unchanged side with a surprise on the bench as Richie Foran made sufficient recovery to get stripped for action. Reguero kept Esson away from the gloves for his fifth game in a row.

The game had started evenly enough but Neil Alexander had to save sharply from Doran and McKay as Inverness showed their class. It was fifteen minutes before Antonio Reguero earned his wages, saving from Macleod and Little in quick succession.

A period of posturing was ended in the twenty seventh minute when Andy Shinnie made amends for his series of misses last Saturday after knocking in a feed from Aaron Doran to open the scoring.

This goal stunned the third division side but they struggled to make any headway against a resolute Inverness back four who look more commanding with every game. Hegarty had the only effort of note just before the break, but he headed onto the roof of the net.

Half Time 0-1

Inverness upped the pace after half time and Phillip Roberts was popping up on both flanks and causing problems with his pace and close control. David Raven was booked and then tested the referee's balls as he committed another rash challenge within minutes but he went unpunished for it, much to the chagrin of the home support.

Lee McCulloch passed up the best chance for the liquidated team as he turned a Little centre wide of the mark and five minutes later the game was put beyond them when Gary Warren headed home a Graeme Shinnie corner to put the clinical visitors two ahead.

This prompted McCoist to change things around and he withdrew Shiels and Sutton for Barry McKay and Kevin Kyle, but the pattern remained the same, Inverness dominating play and The Rangers continuing in their error strewn ways.

Billy McKay should have scored the third when Hegarty was short with a passback but Alexander blocked well and an even better chance came when Andy Shinnie played him in on goal, but again Alexander was equal to it.

The goal was merely delayed though as Andy Shinnie was needlessly bundled over on the edge of the box going away from goal by Argyriou, and brother Graeme showed him how to take a spot kick as he stuck it behind Alexander.

Inverness were now well in control and Roberts stung the keeper with an angled shot while Andy Shinnie blasted one over from twenty yards.

Reguero did have one excellent save to make with five minutes left as Barry McKay got a low shot away from twelve yards but found the keeper saving well, diving to his right to deny The Rangers a consolation goal.

Full Time 0-3

So, big team beats wee team, nothing to see here, move along.

Excellent result for Inverness and some all round decent performances with Andy Shinnie in the thick of the action most of the time. Back four looks good once again but were not stretched by the third division outfit and Phillip Roberts just oozed class when he got on the ball, leading the home defence a merry dance.

31st Oct 2012	Scottish Communities League Cup (Quarter Final)	Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow
Rangers	0 -
	TEAM: Alexander, Hegarty, Cribari, Perry (Argiriou 46), Wallace, Hutton (Kyle 62), Black, MacLeod, McCulloch, Little, Shiels (McKay 62)
	SUBS: Gallacher, Aird
	Booked: Cribari (22), Black (74), Alexander (78), Little (87)
	Sent Off: none
Inverness C.T.	3 - A.Shinnie (27), Warren (59), G.Shinnie (pen.79)
	TEAM: Reguero, Raven, G.Shinnie, Warren, Meekings, Tudur-Jones, Draper, A.Shinnie (Foran 88), McKay (Pepper 90), Doran, Roberts (Sutherland 82)
	SUBS: Esson, Cooper
	Booked: Raven (52), McKay (52)
	Sent Off: none
Referee	Steven McLean
Attendance	28,033