Ten-man Peterhead were overpowered and outclassed by a ruthless Rangers as their Betfred Cup run ended with a 5-0 defeat at Ibrox last night.
The first half was a stroll for Mark Warburton’s men with Niko Kranjcar and Clint Hill giving the Scottish Premiership side a two goal lead at the break but it could easily have been three or four.
A Fiacre Kelleher own goal three minutes after the restart increased the advantage before Peterhead midfielder Nathan Blockley was sent off for a lunging challenge on Joey Barton to make it a very long second half for the visitors.
Clint Hill headed home a fourth before Joe Dodoo piled more misery on a tiring Peterhead defence as Rangers advanced to the quarter-finals of the competition.
Rangers comfortably won 4-0 when these sides met at Hampden in April’s Petrofac Training Cup final – but there were plenty of survivors in the Peterhead squad from their memorable 2-1 victory at Ibrox three years when goals from Scott Ross and Rory McAllister stunned the then Third Division Gers.
Peterhead had progressed to the knockout stages of the Betfred Cup by winning a group that included Dundee, Dumbarton, East Fife and Forfar – but went into this match on the back of a 4-0 trouncing by Alloa in their opening League One fixture.
That defeat prompted Blue Toon manager Jim McInally to shuffle his pack with Simon Ferry, back from suspension, and Nathan Blockley stepping in to replace Jordon Brown and Kevin Dzierzawski, who both dropped to the bench.
Rangers made six alterations from the team that started Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Hamilton but new signings Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar both maintained their spots, while captain Lee Wallace missed out through illness – ending a run of 69 consecutive appearances for the Light Blues – with Rob Kiernan donning the armband in his absence.
Peterhead were placed under immediate pressure with the hosts winning three corners in the opening six minutes and on-loan Celtic defender Fiacre Kelleher forced into making a perfectly-timed sliding challenge to prevent Joe Dodoo going through on goal.
The Balmoor men produced the game’s first two shots on target but Matt Gilks had no problem stopping tame efforts from Jamie Stevenson and Nathan Blockley.
But it looked only a matter of time before a dominant Rangers would take the lead and the opening goal duly arrived after 19 minutes when Dodoo laid the ball into the path of former Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth midfielder Kranjcar who expertly found the top corner from 20 yards out.
Rangers went close to doubling their advantage moments later when former England under-18 international Dodoo swivelled in the penalty area before unleashing a powerful drive that was well handled by former Ibrox goalkeeper Graeme Smith.
The Peterhead goalkeeper made an even more impressive stop soon after, tipping a James Tavernier shot onto the crossbar as the home side pushed for a second.
But Smith was let down by his defence 10 minutes before the break when some shoddy marking allowed Clint Hill to tap home a Kranjcar corner.
It was poor from Peterhead and they were fortunate to only be two down at the break with Michael O’Halloran and Harry Forrester both going close.
There was no let up from Rangers who increased their advantage three minutes after the restart.
Former St Johnstone midfielder O’Halloran displayed great pace to dart past Steven Noble before sending a tantalising ball across goal which was turned into his own net by Kelleher.
A difficult task became even harder for Peterhead when Nathan Blockley saw red for a late challenge on Barton only 10 minutes into the half – and Rangers netted their fourth within 60 seconds.
Another Kranjcar corner picked out central defender Hill, whose glancing header found the corner of the net.
Rangers weren’t content with four and soon had the ball in the net again with Tavernier cutting the ball back for Dodoo to score from close range.
The one man advantage and a tiring Peterhead meant the final 15 minutes were more akin to a training exercise for the top flight side, who kept easy possession for long periods.
To their credit, Peterhead kept pushing forward whenever possible in the hope of gaining a consolation goal but they rarely troubled the home defence with Scott Rumsby’s long-range attempt trickling harmlessly wide.
Rangers almost scored a sixth as time ticked down but Smith showed great reflexes to keep out O’Halloran’s low effort.