Abdallah Sima delight as Rangers' goalscoring run continues

A flying start from the hosts saw Sima put them in front just 10 minutes in with a finish in the top corner before a stunning solo move from Ridvan Yilmaz doubled the lead in the second half.

Rangers then finished off the game with two quickfire goals in the final 10 minutes as Sima found the net through a deflection before Ryan Jack struck late in stoppage time.

The win set up a semi-final with Hearts in November and Sima was delighted with his night's work.

"It was a hard game for us, we prepared to win this game so we are happy to win it," he told a press conference.

"That's why I joined this club, to play games, score and help them so I'm happy."

Sima's first goal caused some controversy as the forward appeared to nudge Jamie Brandon off the ball before cutting inside the box to finish, while his second goal deflected off Luiyi de Lucas, which he admitted came from looking for a pass.

"(For the first goal) we knew this week we were working for the start of the movement, I am very happy now to get the goal and I scored like that so I am very happy," he said.

"For (the second) my intention was to make an assist and make a pass so I'm happy the ball went further!"

Wednesday's cup contest was Rangers third game in seven days, coming off the back of wins against Real Betis in the Europa League and Motherwell in the cinch Premiership.

Manager Michael Beale warned about the busy schedule but also praised Sima for his "eye-catching" performance.

"When you ask teams to play three games in seven days then ask them to play four in 10 the entertainment and energy value is going to go down at the risk of players getting injured," he said.

"Not just at Rangers, in any league and any country. For us it's to keep winning at this time, look at the list of players who are out, they're the players who bring the guile and the style to the team.

"First half I thought Sam Lammers played well, I thought Abdallah was eye catching - he's scored in some important games so far so well done to him."

The Viaplay Cup semi-finals see Rangers face Hearts while Hibernian take on Aberdeen at Hampden Park.

Rangers reached the final last season but lost out to Celtic, with their last win in the competition coming in 2011, and Beale is looking forward to competing in the last four.

"I think both ties look very good for the neutral, good for the competition," he said.

"It's quite a long way off with the amount of games we've got and it'll be a really good day out for everybody when we get there.

"There's no point in going to a semi-final without wanting to go back for the big day out in December. That's our focus now, we need to recover and play against Aberdeen."