Aribo’s Rangers beat Celtic to reach Scottish Cup quarter-finals

Joe Aribo’s Rangers are through to the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup thanks to a 2-0 defeat of rivals Celtic.

First-half goals from Steven Davis and Jonjoe Kenny were enough to hand Steven Gerrard’s Gers a place in the next round.

Unbeaten in their last three games, the newly crowned Scottish Premiership kings took a 10th-minute lead through Davis with Aribo playing a role in the build-up to the goal.

The Nigeria international darted down the right before cutting inside, and his deflected shot fell into the path of the Northern Irish midfielder, whose overhead kick from six yards out beat Bhoys goalkeeper Scott Bain.

Having gone down early, Celtic woke from their slumber, began to work their way into the fixture and in quick succession, Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie and Callum McGregor all missed chances to level matters.

In the 23rd minute, the Bhoys came close to scoring, however, Stephen Welsh was unable to steer the ball into the box on target, while Kris Ajer’s effort from the rebound was off target.

Eleven minutes later, Gerrard’s team doubled their advantage as Kenny turned a low cross into the near post past his own goalkeeper.

Goalkeeper Allan McGregor was forced to make a smart save from David Turnbull just after the restart.

Almost immediately, Edouard missed a golden opportunity to reduce the deficit for Celtic as he missed an empty net after being teed up by Norway international of Morocco background Mohamed Elyounoussi.

In the 79th minute, John Kennedy’s team got a lifeline as Leigh Griffiths was pushed in the penalty box and the referee pointed to the spot. Edouard stepped up to take the ensuing kick but it was saved by McGregor.

After the end of 90 minutes, it was Gerrard’s men who emerged victorious in the derby showdown.

Aribo - who was cautioned in the 74th minute - was in action from start to finish. However, his compatriot Leon Balogun and South African star Bongani Zungu were unused substitutes.

For the opposing side, Cote d’Ivoire prospect Ismaila Soro was not listed for action for the Glasgow-based side.

Although they have been crowned as champions, Rangers travel to McDiarmid Park for their next top-flight encounter versus St. Johnstone on April 21, while Celtic are guests of Aberdeen.