The game started brightly for us and we led early on thanks to a Connor Goldson own goal before Rangers struck back quickly when James Tavernier converted a penalty just four minutes later.
The visitors dominated thereafter and goals from Antonio Čolak (2) and Fashion Sakala ensured Rangers won comfortably.
Lee Johnson made one change following our weekend win over Livingston with Lewis Stevenson replacing Marijan Čabraja at left-back.
Kevin Nisbet and Mykola Kuharevich were once again amongst the substitutes and were joined on the bench by Harry McKirdy, following his return from injury.
Michael Beale named an unchanged side following Rangers’ victory over Kilmarnock on Saturday.
Ahead of kick off there was a touching and emotional tribute for Ron Gordon as a packed Easter Road belted out the club’s anthem – Sunshine on Leith.
The match started brightly and we carved out the first chance of the evening as Stevenson’s threaded pass found Ewan Henderson and from his cross, Matthew Hoppe hooked a shot just wide.
At the other end a Borna Barišić free-kick found Sakala’s run only for the attacker to head wide under pressure from Will Fish.
We opened the scoring in the 8th minute when Henderson’s deep delivery from a free-kick found Hoppe at the back post and from his cut back was turned into the net by Goldson.
Our celebrations were short-lived as Rangers were awarded a penalty kick after CJ Egan-Riley caught Ryan Kent with his trailing leg as he slid in, and Tavernier dispatched from 12 yards.
Buoyed by their quick-fire leveller, Rangers began to dominate the midfield and were targeting the channels in behind our full-backs to great effect.
An early example of this came on 13 minutes when Sakala stole in behind on our right and from his near post cross Kent diverted an effort across goal and wide when he had the goal at his mercy.
David Marshall was called into action to save from Kent before Chris Cadden’s last-gasp block denied the Rangers man moments later after he was sent through on goal.
On 33 minutes a Todd Cantwell cross from the right was met by Barišić flush on the volley and was kept out by a magnificent diving save from Marshall to push it over the crossbar.
Rangers finally got the goal their play deserved when Sakala once more stole in behind on the left and his cross found Čolak nipping in ahead of Paul Hanlon to score from close range.
The Croatian international passed up the chance for a quick-fire double when his shot on the angle just 60 seconds later was wide of the far post with only Marshall to beat.
Against the run of play we were nearly level when a quickly taken free-kick caught out the Rangers back line and released Élie Youan only for Allan McGregor to read the danger and block brilliantly from the striker at point-blank range.
Rangers were dominant and had further opportunities to increase their lead before the break with Sakala thwarted in the act of shooting by a combination of Fish and Marshall before Tavernier flashed a rising shot just over the crossbar.
There was no change after the break as we were penned back by relentless Rangers pressure.
They scored a third goal on 52 minutes when a poor clearance from Marshall was pounced upon by Ryan Jack and from his header, Sakala spun before slotting the ball into the far corner of the net with a clinical finish.
Five minutes later the game was put beyond us as Čolak stabbed in a Sakala pass despite us having 10 players inside our penalty box.
Rangers' front three had been very impressive all evening and on 60 minutes Čolak was denied a hat-trick by a Hanlon block when he appeared to have the goal at his mercy.
On 63 minutes Rangers had the ball in the net once more as Sakala swept in a Tavernier cross however the offside flag denied them a fifth goal.
Substitute Nisbet went close with a fine curling effort on 72 minutes during a rare foray forward from us however, we were soon defending once more.
Ianis Hagi and Tavernier both saw efforts from the edge of the box saved by Marshall in the closing stages as the final whilst brought out unbeaten run to an end.
Hibernian: Marshall, Cadden, Egan-Riley, Fish, Hanlon, Stevenson (Cabraja 70’), Jeggo, Campbell, Henderson (McKirdy 84’), Youan (Kuharevich 58’), Hoppe (Nisbet 58’). Substitutes not used: Johnson, Miller, Tavares, Devlin, MacIntyre.
Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Davies, Barisic, Jack, Raskin (Lundstrum 78’), Cantwell (Hagi 78’), Sakala (Wright 78’), Kent (Arfield 78’), Colak (Morelos 78’). Substitutes not used: McLaughlin, Matondo, Kamara, Devine.
Referee: Don Robertson.
Attendance: 19,341.
