DAVID MARTINDALE rued a 'schoolboy' error from keeper Max Stryjek as Livingston were dumped out of the Premier Sports Cup at Ibrox.
Rangers booked their place in the semi-finals thanks to second half goals from Kemar Roofe and Alfredo Morelos.
Roofe converted from close range after being picked out by Ianis Hagi as Rangers stepped it up after the break.
And Morelos made sure of the win as he capitalised on a poor pass from Stryjek and finished emphatically from inside the area.
Livingston were well beaten in the end but Martindale pointed to the moment of madness from his keeper as the decisive blow on the night.
Martindale said: "We knew it was going to be difficult but the gameplan worked to a certain degree in the first half. Obviously you frustrate Rangers, you have got a low block.
"They found it difficult to get any meaningful shots on goal so the plan worked. Then second half you come out early doors and give away cheap, cheap possession in the middle of the park which then leads to a goal. But you are still in the game at that point.
"We were going to make a couple of substitutions, more offensive substitutions, to try and overturn the goal and then a basic schoolboy error, I can’t think of another work for it, a basic error kills the game.
"At 2-0 you are probably never coming back from that here to be honest. The game is dead on the second goal.
"I have told the boys they have to forget about this. You can’t do anything about it. It is cup football. We will deal with it tomorrow.
"The two goals we will talk about, we will analyse the two goals and what we could have done better. But the game gets put to bed because we have got a quick turnaround and we are looking at Hearts.
"Cup football. It is out of the system and you need to deal with it and get on with it."
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