Moira Gordon's Hibs verdict: Alfredo Morelos out of line with stamp and it's Hibs who are left to pay the price

Rangers' Alfredo Morelos appears to stamp on Hibernian's Ryan Porteous during their latest head to head at Easter Road. Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group

Already this season the Ibrox players have refused to share a post-match handshake with the Hibs man, while the Govan gaffer, Steven Gerrard, verbally slaughtered the Leith player when these teams fought out a draw at Easter Road earlier in the season.

Porteous was in the thick of it once again on Wednesday night. This game was only 18 minutes old when Alfredo Morelos had one of his mad moments and, having already barged the Hibs defender over to concede a foul, the Rangers striker was extremely fortunate to escape with no further punishment after he appeared to stamp on the grounded 21-year-old.

Then, having been in the thick of it all game and infuriating the away side with his uncompromising style, it was Ryan Jack who lost it midway through the second half, raising his hand to push away the centre-back – who is currently attracting the attention of Millwall – after some choice words were exchanged. That did catch the attention of referee Kevin Clancy but he was happy to settle it with a talking to.

Morelos did inflict the telling blow, though, popping up in the 51st minute to pounce on a Joe Aribo fllck through and slot the opening goal past Ofir Marciano.

Some big changes

After the disappointment of Saturday, there were always likely to be changes to this Hibs line-up as Jack Ross searched for a result to appease fans.

And there were high-profile casualties as Paul Hanlon and Martin Byle were dropped to the bench. Jamie Murphy was another absentee having aggravated his hamstring in that Betfred Cup semi-final loss.

Going with 3-5-2, Darren McGregor, Melker Halberg and Christian Doidge were deployed to fill the gaps.

While nothing they could do in this game would ever convince their angry supporters to forgive and forget that Hampden transgression, they had to move on and another positive performance against the league leaders would see them back on track, with plenty still to look forward to, provided they can keep troubling the teams above them and stave off the treat of Livingston.

How it all unfolded

In the end, they failed to get a win but they did show more of the resilience their manager Jack Ross had been calling for.

While the Rangers goal had been coming, particularly since the beginning of the second half when Rangers piled the pressure on youngsters Josh Doig and Porteous, on the left hand side of the home rearguard.

But having lost one goal, Hibs didn’t cave. Two minutes later Rangers again came close after Aribo dragged Porteus away and left space for Morelos in front of goal. The Columbian scooped it high and wide.

That miss gave Hibs hope of perhaps snatching something and while Porteous was substituted, carrying a slight injury, there were plenty of attacking options thrown into the mix as Boyle and Scott Allan made their entrances.

That gave them some pace to breakaway and that showed in the 77th minute when Marciano saved from Ryan Kent, batting it away, and his team-mates charged upfield. Jackson Irvine swung in a deep cross for Doidge to attack but he was inches away from connecting as he dived in at the back post.

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