Hibernian went to Ibrox looking for three points, and for the opening 45 minutes they looked like they might do just that - but as was demonstrated in the recent visit to the other side of Glasgow, hard work and intent needs also to carry a bit of fortune both in defence and attack. Neither favoured John Hughes' side and from the moment the home team went ahead early in the second half concerns around Ibrox started to lift and that was clearly transmitted to the players in blue.

For all that aboard the team coach returning from Glasgow there could well have been thoughts that the final result of this game was rather cruel on the Easter Road side. After more than matching their hosts in that first half there can be little doubt that all the concern at the interval was being expressed by Walter Smith; his side however reacted to that, the opening goal coming from the first piece of real quality produced by Rangers. For the second and third goals however there was no such quality, a disputable penalty kick finally easing home nerves before the ultimate misfortune befell the visitors, Kevin McBride suffering the indignity of twisting his foot on the Ibrox turf - and as he went down under no challenge the ball broke to Rangers with the entire Hibernian defence caught pressing ahead of their unfortunate team-mate.

The disappointment felt was as ever very well expressed by the Hibernian manager, who will now seek to rebuild his sides confidence as they head into another two difficult road trips this week: "It was a massive disappointment, people will say that we have come here had had a real go at them and I think that was evident in the first half by the fact we had one or two cleared off the line. I would say that my goalkeeper didn't have a save to make in the first half, Zemmama and Benji looked lively and they were getting at Rangers and giving it a right go. The game was quite even in the first half and I said to my boys at half time that Walter would have been tearing into them and that I wanted my players to stand up to that, to show plenty of character and belief, but then we go out and give a goal away when we were in possession and that was disappointing.

"It knocked us for a bit after that and even though we were still hanging in there it was one-way traffic. If we were going to score it was going to come on the counter attack, and if I am being critical of my team I would have to say that in the second half we never passed the ball as crisp or as quick as we should have been doing. Apart from that however we have come and had a go with nothing to lose and even in defeat I still think I had the best player on the park in Liam Miller. I thought he was outstanding along with young Paul Hanlon who acquitted himself well at centre half. Sometimes we just need to take it on the chin - the third goal was irrelevant in terms of McBride turning and injuring himself and them going up the park and scoring."

The manager refused to enter into any discussion over the penalty kick that put an end to any chances his side had of recovering the game - instead preferring to concentrate on the questions posed by his own sides performance: "I haven't seen the penalty again yet so I can't really comment. But that's football, we came here to have a go and to test my players on this stage against the league leaders and Scottish Champions, to ask who can go out there and show the character and self belief required for 90 minutes . I said before the game there would be plenty of questions asked of the boys and that they needed to come up with answers. It was my job to pick up those answers and make them better.

"Truthfully at Parkhead a few weeks ago we carried a lot of luck, it was just a case of hanging on in there until the final ten minutes. There was a wee bit of nervousness going around Parkhead and we capitalised on that. If we could have done better for the first 20 minutes of the second half on Sunday then it might have been a different outcome but we didn't and it wasn't. Take nothing away from Rangers, I felt their second half performance was dominant and we couldn't match it."

Pics: Alan Rennie for Hibernian TV