Already this season, Rangers have made several changes for cup games against lower-league opponents. That should not be repeated on Sunday against Raith Rovers. 

After Wednesday’s excellent humbling of Hibs, Michael Beale and his team need to make the most of the moment by pushing on, keep going full steam ahead. 

As witnessed in the League Cup win over Dundee earlier in the season and then in the infamous encounter with Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup last month, too many changes can be counter-productive, even if the motivation to give game time to others and a chance to impress is sound. 

With Rangers struggling this season from a lack of cohesion and consistency in terms of performance levels, it is very pertinent that the manager shows his faith in the men who were so impressive in Leith during the week. Even more so with the deflating Hampden loss to Celtic and the subsequent noise around it still casting a shadow at the club. 

Yes, there will need to be consideration given to any niggling injuries and perhaps one or two changes will be deemed appropriate by Beale but other than that, it is a case of wanting more. The fans didn’t want the Hibs game to end, so there will be a justified expectation of a similar display to be delivered at Ibrox this weekend. The boss will demand more from his players to pick up as they left off and they should also be demanding more from each other. 

Despite the well-documented issues with the current squad at Ibrox, there is significant ability within the dressing room and hopefully what was inflicted on Hibs during the week is a sign of what lies ahead from the Beale masterplan.

He said at Friday’s press conference:

“It will be the strongest team, it’s a quarter-final. The team set a standard for the last couple of games the boys that have started so as long as there are no issues it’ll be close to those two teams and the other boys will have to fight in training to earn their minutes.” 

“If the game allows, we’ll give people minutes but this is a quarter-final so we’re giving it the respect that it deserves.”

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In midweek, five subs were utilised at once indicating the growing competition for places. It is most likely that the likes of John Souttar, Ridvan Yilmaz and Rabbi Matondo will also be in contention to get onto the pitch on Sunday as more options become available.

Beale must stick to his intended plan, as above.

Raith has only recorded one win in their last five games, which was the 5th round scalp of Motherwell at Stark’s Park with their last Championship victory recorded over Arbroath on 4th February. 

Rovers manager and one-time Rangers’ full-back Iain Murray, who featured in Champions League Last 16 action against Villarreal in 2006, wants his men to make the most of their moment on the big stage: 

"It's a proud moment that we've got there. We deserve to be there after we beat Motherwell, Linlithgow and Auchinleck and the boys will enjoy it.” 

“We're hoping it's a full house with as many fans in as we can. We're playing against a manager who's trying to revamp his team, we're playing against a Champions League team and the current Scottish Cup holders so the occasion itself is built up to be fantastic for us.”

"We just need to give a good account of ourselves, not panic and enjoy it.”

If Murray was watching events at Easter Road on Wednesday evening, he will certainly have had cause for concern thinking ahead to the prospect of that performance being replicated against his Raith team. Given the disparity in quality and resources between the two sides, Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final provides the ideal chance for Michael Beale’s Rangers to put down a statement result by carrying on the momentum and feel-good factor from midweek. 

Anything else, within reason, would be something of a disappointment but as ever the objective in cup football is to win.