The Burke is back, but Hibees still lack sting

From what I saw of today's cup match, Hibs-Rangers looked like possibly the most entertaining 0-0 draw ever. (How come only Rugby Park got to see goals in the cup? Bizarre) The scoreline wasn't for want of trying; it has to be said that both goalkeepers - yes, even Ma-Kalambay, who, in terms of reliability, is the footballing equivalent of a Lada - had blinders. At least up until the dying seconds.

Obviously, as he pushed the ball past Allan McGregor, Dean Shiels must have had some sort of visual hallucination caused by the stifling Edinburgh heat, for he clearly forgot he was at Easter Road and instead believed for a few seconds that he was running towards a swimming pool in the Maldives. Hence, with completely, absolutely no contact whatsoever from the Rangers no.1 (and not even a half-assed attempt to trip him), Shiels threw himself flat on his face. I certainly can't think of any other possible explanation. Anyway, Craig Thomson also clearly suffers from hallucinations, as he decided McGregor had tripped him, and sent him off. In short, Thomson got it completely wrong and Shiels is a cheating little scumbag. I hope Gordon Smith takes note, since he insisted months ago that he was going to try to get players banned for diving.

Thankfully, from the point of view of that great beautiful goddess Justice, Shiels clearly only has as many brain cells as he has eyes. For if he had kept going and stuck the ball in the net, rather than punt it towards the stand and keel over, Hibs would have surely held on for a few more secs and nicked a place in the next round. Instead, it was only a free kick that got skied, the game finished 0-0 and Hibs face a replay at Ibrox. And Rangers can put another Scottish international in goal now, in Neil Alexander. Well done, Dean. Pat on the back, eh? Prat. Complete and utter prat. I hope you get what's coming to you.

It didn't really happen for Rangers today, but they still had the better of it and should have finished things today. However, it's good to see 8 Scots in the starting 11, and even better to see Chris Burke once more gliding past defenders like, well, a glider, I suppose, his ginger hair flowing behind him. Mind you, I could have sworn he was wearing a hairband today, unless I'm the next person seeing things. I wouldn't wear that out on the town in Govan, Chris. Burkey had a smashing game, and was at the centre - well, to the right if you want to be literal - of every good thing Rangers did. Let's hope he can stay off the treatment table for a bit.

Meanwhile, Hibs continue to underwhelm despite big Mixu, the only SPL manager as wide as he is tall. Take Steven Fletcher out of that team and they have the cutting edge of a spoon. Maybe that's because John Collins didn't adequately replace the talent he and Tony Mowbray lost because the club couldn't afford to keep them (here's the list: Garry O'Connor, Derek Riordan, Gary Caldwell, Kevin Thomson, Scott Brown, Chris Killen, Ivan Sproule, Steven Whittaker, David Murphy and the now returned Ian Murray) - basically that's an entire 11 apart from a goalie; I'm not old enough to remember when Hibs last had a goalie worth selling. But whether it's because of the lack of resources available to them or because of poor transfer dealings (and a lot of Collins' summer signings were worse than being gored by a rabid rhinoceros), Hibs are a shadow of what they were about 2 years ago under Mowbray. Instead of looking like a strong challenger for third, they are now clearly stuck back with the Invernesses and Falkirks of this world, at least for this season. In order to get the cash he needs to rebuild properly, Mixu may yet need to resort to Fight Club-esque tactics, and sell the products of his liposuction as prime Finnish soap.

Still, here's one little fact for Paatelainen to cling to - at least Hibs are still look in better trim than Kilmarnock...

L.