RANGERS' hopes of lifting the Scottish Cup this season have come to an end after Aberdeen won 2-0 at Ibrox last night. Niall McGinn and Connor McLennan got the goals for the visitors, who will now face Celtic in the semi-finals.

Speaking after the match, Rangers boss Steven Gerrard admitted that the defeat was his fault. "I’ve put this squad together and I’ve picked the team and tactics, so I’ll take full responsibility for it," said Gerrard.

The Herald's Matthew Lindsay was at the game last night and has picked out five things that we can learn from Aberdeen's win over Rangers.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is hoping his side can go all the way in the Scottish Cup this season. "It’s significant for us only in that we’re in a semi-final again and we want to go and win the tournament that goes without saying," McInnes said. "We’re going to have to do it the hard way."

Hearts have booked their place at Hampden after coming from behind to defeat Partick Thistle 2-1 at Tynecastle last night. Hearts boss Craig Levein says he is now targeting a place in the final. He said: "It means more to me than anything that this club should be successful I’ll be doing my best to make that happen."

Alex McLeish announced his Scotland squad yesterday and revealed he is confident that his "back-up squad" have what it takes to secure positive results against Kazakhstan and San Marino. McLeish said: "It's not ideal, I'd rather the guys were available for us."

The Herald's Stewart Fisher believes that McGregor's retirement is a significant setback for the national team.

And McLeish insisted that Allan McGregor's decision to retire from international football had nothing to do woth the goalkeeper's recent SFA ban. "I spoke to him about that and he says it is utter nonsense," the Scotland boss revealed.

Celitc goalkeeper Scott Bain could fill the void left by McGregor in McLeish's starting XI and the national team manager said that Bain is a prime candidate for the position. "Scott Bain is in a good position," said McLeish. "He is in a good moment with Celtic."

Dr Niall Hamilton-Smith, a senior lecturer in sociology and criminology at the University of Stirling, believes that the introduction of strict liability won't solve the growing problem of anti-social behaviour at football matches. "Bringing in strict liability has been mentioned as a solution, but just doing that alone won’t really solve the problem," he said.

The Herald's James Cairney has ran through the numbers of Neil Lennon's first three games in charge of Celtic and has had a look at how Lennon's side differ from Brendan Rodgers'.

And we've also taken a statistical look at each Premiership club's ability in front of goal, in a bid to see who the league's most wasteful side is.

In rugby, former Scotland captain Grant Gilchrist has called for Gregor Townsend's side to get physical against England in their final Six Nations game. "Physically, we need to be better than we’ve ever been before," said Gilchrist. "That’s a given."

Fifer Murray Douglas will interrupt his two year stint at Australian Super Rugby side the Brumbies to help Edinburgh through the World Cup period in the early part of next season. "I’m really excited to be presented with the opportunity to join Edinburgh," said Douglas.

And Ryan Wilson has dismissed England coach Eddie Jones’ complaints over the way Scotland celebrated last year’s Calcutta Cup triumph at Murrayfield. "I think it’s important to have a few beers after the game, and we certainly did after that one! It was a good celebration that night," said Wilson.

Elsewhere, the Scottish Sun are reporting that Alex McLeish won't put any pressure on Southampton goalkeeper Angus Gunn to choose to play for Scotland over England.

And Partick Thistle boss Gary Caldwell has told the Daily Record that Hearts striker Uche Ikpeazu falls 'like my little girl in the park'.