Hibs midfielder John Rankin wants the Hibs support to head along the M8 in numbers on Sunday for their Scottish Cup fifth-round replay game against Rangers in a bid to inspire their favourites to a famous win. The Easter Road side enjoyed the backing of and large and enthusiastic travelling support against Falkirk last midweek who enjoyed a deserved 2-0 victory. This weekend's away game to face the SPL league leaders promises to be a more difficult proposition. However, Rankin believes that Hibs will have a better chance of causing an upset if backed by a vocal following. Rankin said: "We all noticed the difference last midweek at Falkirk. "Hopefully, our support can do that again on Sunday and give us a huge lift when we run out at Ibrox."
Manager Mixu Paatelainen is facing a striker crisis ahead of the game. With the in-form Colin Nish cup-tied, Paatelainen is worrying over the fitness of Dean Shiels and Moroccan ace Abdessalam Benjelloun, with his only other attacking option being the out-of-favour Clayton Donaldson. The Easter Road side travel to Glasgow knowing the tie has to be finished on the day while also wanting to bounce back from Saturday's 2-0 defeat by Celtic. However, Shiels sat out the visit of Gordon Strachan's men at the weekend due to a knee injury picked up in the win over Falkirk. The Northern Irishman failed to take part in training on Monday although it is hoped he will be able to be available for selection for Sunday's game. Speaking on Tuesday, the Hibs manager said: "Dean is improving although he didn't train yesterday. He is still feeling his knee a bit. It's always important to have your players fit but if he isn't then there are others as well who are in contention."
Nish and Steven Fletcher have struck up an immediate partnership since being first paired together at the start of last month scoring seven goals between them. But Nish will be in the stand on Sunday having played, and scored, for Kilmarnock in their win over Airdrie United in the previous round just days before he signed for Hibs. Morrocan Benjelloun hasn't featured for the first team since the middle of January due to a niggling hamstring injury. He is back in training but well short of match sharpness. Should Shiels and Benjelloun both fail to make the squad it would leave Donaldson as the only other fully fit forward at the club although he hasn't featured since the start of January. Paatelainen went on: "Benji will not play in the reserves at Kilmarnock. Whether he needs a reserve game before he plays again we'll wait and see. Just now it's more important that he trains. Clayton is training hard just now and will play in the reserves tonight. Hopefully he does well and then we will look at things from there."
