Lindsay Herron reporting from Easter Road

RANGERS and Hibs will have to go through it all again at Ibrox after an enthralling and highly charged cup tie at Easter Road produced no goals.

The Light Blues will be missing Allan McGregor for the replay after the keeper was sent off for bringing down Dean Shiels three minutes from time when the Hibs striker had a goal-scoring opportunity.

However, they will mostly be rueing their missed chances in a match which really came alive in the second half.

Rangers' recent SPL success at Easter Road was achieved with a three-pronged attack with Chris Burke and Stevie Naismith playing off Daniel Cousin.

And Walter Smith decided to stick with the formula, playing Lee McCulloch in the main striking role having utilised him in a forward role against Hearts five days earlier.

The system worked well in the first half but it did not produce the goals that Smith had hoped for.

McCulloch had two decent efforts but missed the target on each occasion.

In 19 minutes Sasa Papac found space on the left side and played a good low ball to the front post area which was begging to be struck.

McCulloch got there ahead of Rob Jones and connected with his left foot but his shot flew over the bar.

And in 35 minutes the Scotland man just could not quite direct a header into the left corner after a good deep delivery from Charlie Adam.

The best chance fell to Barry Ferguson who was only 10 yards out when he was found by Chris Burke but Yves Ma-Kalambay made a good save from the captain's left foot shot.

In saying that there was a decent claim for a penalty in the first minute of the game when Naismith went down after Kevin McCann's challenge but it was not given.

Rangers had had the best of the play but it was Hibs who came desperately close to scoring just before half-time.

Dean Shiels had a shot deflected for a corner by Brahim Hemdani in 39 minutes when he seemed certain to score.

And from the corner Stevie Naismith had to clear a Steven Fletcher header off the line.

McCulloch forced Ma-Kalambay into another good save three minutes into the second half when he connected with Ferguson's ball in and produced a good header.

Then in 52 minutes he fired over the bar after Kirk Broadfoot overlapped to great effect on the right side.

It was Allan McGregor's turn to show his ability with two vital saves in the space of a minute as Hibs came storming back into the cup tie.

Firstly he brilliantly pushed away Fletcher's fierce left foot shot in 57 minutes, pushing the ball away for a corner.

Then in 58 minutes he did well to block Zemmama's low shot after the Moroccan's first effort was blocked.

Jean-Claude Darcheville came on for Naismith in 64 minutes with Burke moving to the left side as Rangers tried to find the formula to win the game.

It was wide open at this stage and Rangers nearly made the breakthrough in 68 minutes after another excellent run by Broadfoot which earned Rangers a free kick just outside the box at the right corner.

Adam, who scored from a similar position last season, tried to beat Ma-Kalambay at his near post but the keeper was equal to the dead ball effort.

Kris Boyd was next to come on, replacing Adam in 75 minutes, as Rangers sought to finish the tie at the first time of asking but Hibs were not for cracking.

Indeed McGregor had to make another good save in 84 minutes to stop John Rankin from scoring.

However, there was astonishing drama three minutes later when McGregor was sent off for bringing down Shiels just outside the box when the Hibs man was bearing down on goal.

It meant an unexpected debut for Neil Alexander and Hemdani was the man sacrificed to make way for the keeper who suddenly had to face a highly dangerous free kick situation.

Shiels, however, wasted the dead ball firing his effort over the bar.

Now the two sides will meet again at Ibrox when McGregor will be suspended.