Derek Lyle and Gavin Reilly scored the two goals for Queen of the South to knock out St Johnstone, the Scottish Cup holders, at Palmerston Park and seal their place in the quarter-finals.
The Championship side were rewarded for taking the game to their Premiership opponents and James Fowler, the Queen of the South manager, said: “With St Johnstone being a league above it’s a bit of an upset but with the group of players we have got and being at home as well, I don’t think it was one that we thought was an impossible task,.
“We have had some decent wins beating Hibs and Rangers here but this is a wee bit different being in the cup. It has that wee extra spice to it.”
Ally McKinnon produced a stoppage-time equaliser to earn Lowland League side Spartans a replay against League Two Berwick. Paul Willis had drilled in the opening goal from outside the box for Berwick after four minutes.
Hibs survived a scare to beat Arbroath 3-1 after the League Two leaders went ahead after 17 minutes when Keiran Stewart thumped home Dylan Carreiro’s pass from a tight angle. Recent signing Dja Djédjé restored parity for Hibs before half-time when he knocked in David Gray’s cut-back – his first goal for the club.
The hosts took the lead on the hour when a Jason Cummings shot was deflected into his own net by defender Liam Gordon. Dylan McGeouch slotted in the third in the 67th minute from Djédjé’s pass to send Hibs through.
Falkirk confirmed their place in the next round with a hard-fought 2-1 home win against Brechin. Alan Trouten’s penalty was sandwiched between goals by David McCracken and David Smith, with a close-range finish that won the tie.
First-half goals from Marley Watkins and Greg Tansey earned Inverness a place in the next round at the expense of Partick. Substitute Lyle Taylor got a goal back for the home side after 67 minutes, but Inverness held on.
In the Premiership, Aberdeen kept up their excellent form with a 4-0 victory against Ross County that drew them level with Celtic at the top of the table.
The Dons dominated the play and Adam Rooney’s early opener came courtesy of a spectacular mistake by the County goalkeeper, Antonio Reguero, who was beaten by second-half strikes from Peter Pawlett, Shay Logan and David Goodwillie. The result was the ideal tonic for Derek McInnes’s side after last week’s Scottish League Cup semi-final defeat to Dundee United.
Kilmarnock, under the charge of Gary Locke until the end of the season, benefited from Hamilton’s inability to capitalise from their first-half dominance to pick up a point at New Douglas Park.
In the Championship, Kenny Anderson had a debut to remember as he stepped off the bench to assist leaders Hearts to a 3-2 away win at Livingston and stretch their lead on Rangers to 19 points. Género Zeefuik’s fourth goal in four games broke the deadlock with four minutes on the clock. But in the 52nd minute, Craig Sives levelled against his first club with a close-range finish after a long throw caused havoc. The in-form Zeefuik almost put Hearts back in front just two minutes later only for his effort to fly just over the crossbar. Hearts’ pressure was rewarded when Anderson, sent on at the break, nodded home Billy King’s delivery with eight minutes left. And the points looked to be sealed when another King delivery teed up Jamie Walker two minutes later, only for substitute Brad McKay to foul Myles Hippolyte inside the box. Despite McKay being sent off and Kyle Jacobs scoring from the spot, it was too little too late.
