Rangers' title hopes suffer a blow at Easter Road

The UEFA Cup finalists could not find a way past the Leith defence although striker Daniel Cousin had a second-half goal ruled out for offside.

After reaching their first European final in 36 years with a penalty shoot-out win over Fiorentina in Florence on Thursday, the Govan club found it just too much to return to their title challenge.

And although they cut Celtic's lead over them to seven points they have only three games in hand over the Parkhead club who, with the Ibrox club's fixture congestion, must feel they have a genuine chance of retaining the title.

As both sides took time to settle, Hibs midfielder Filipe Morais cut open the Ibrox defence in the third minute after receiving a Steven Fletcher pass.

However, Dean Shiels, darting through on goal with only Rangers keeper Neil Alexander to beat, was ruled offside although television evidence appeared to contradict the decision.

In the 15th minute, in the midst of a mostly midfield battle, Kevin McCann was robbed by Nacho Novo just outside the Hibs box but the Easter Road full-back recovered his mistake with a saving tackle as the Spaniard shaped to send in an angled shot.

The first half warmed up as it neared its conclusion.

In the 36th minute, following a Steven Davis corner, Hibs keeper Andrew McNeil made a fine save from Carlos Cuellar's header which looked to be heading in to the bottom left hand corner.

Moments later, as the visitors stepped up their quest for the opener, Hibs stopper Rob Jones threw himself to block a Novo shot with his leg at the expense of yet another corner but the Easter Road side survived.

In the final minute, Shiels' whipped-in cross from wide on the left was punched by Alexander on to the head of the in-coming Ross Campbell but the ball rebounded up over the bar.

An exciting end to the first half promised an improvement after the break and there was a sense of urgency from Rangers especially after the restart.

After latching on to a back-header by Cousin, Novo skinned McCann on the bye-line with some ease but his toe-poked cross was cut out at the front post by McNeil.

The Ibrox side kept pressing and in the 53rd minute Cousin had the ball in the net from close range after latching on to a Cuellar header but the flag went up for offside.

Moments later, Light Blues skipper Barry Ferguson had an angled-shot blocked by the knees of McNeil for a corner and again Hibs emerged unscathed.

The pressure mounted on the Easter Road goal. Kirk Broadfoot's long throw-in from the right was flicked on by Cousin but the ball sped across the goalmouth with no Rangers player in sight.

In the 61st minute Hibs responded with a Morais shot from 25 yards which had Alexander scrambling to tip the ball over for a corner.

A note of desperation became apparent in the Ibrox side's attacks and as they threw men forward, they left themselves susceptible to the counter-attack and Hibs looked more than capable of taking advantage.

In the 76th minute, as Rangers stepped up their bid for the opener, prolific striker Kris Boyd was thrown on for Papac but he struggled to get in to the game.

A Kevin Thomson free-kick from 25 yards sneaked past McNeil's left-hand post and Cuellar headed a Christian Dailly free-kick over with the Hibs keeper in no-man's land.

There were a few more escapes for the Easter Road side but Rangers trooped off knowing they had failed to take advantage of one of their games in hand.