Rangers finished off a fine week for the club with a comprehensive battering of visitors Hamilton Academical in the Scottish Cup on Saturday. After losing to Inverness Caledonian Thistle last Friday night the pressure was on the team to pick up results in two consecutive matches at Ibrox and they did just that.

Wednesday night produce a last gasp win against a talented St Johnstone side and Saturday's big win over Accies will only feed that confidence further.

In terms of scoreline it was the Gers' biggest win of the season and perhaps that's the case in terms of importance too with the club now looking forward to a semi-final at Hampden.

They're now heading into next week's derby against Celtic with confidence, a far cry from where they were even 10 days ago.

Here are FIVE lessons we learned during the big win against Hamilton...

Joe Garner may turn out alright after all

Joe Garner was verging on the status of flop before coming off the bench on Saturday against Hamilton. Scoring just 4 goals all season after a costly move to Glasgow, supporters were beginning to wonder if he'd ever show significant goalscoring form.

His hat-trick on Saturday will have done him the world of good, just about the best way he could have proven to supporters he still has something about him.

His energetic, if somewhat overly combative style, entertained supporters and he took all of his goals well, undoubtedly the inspiration to the team's performance after a drab first half.

Can he now push on and be the player Gers supporters hope he can be?

Murty's starting to get things right

After a tumultuous few weeks at Rangers it appeared that installing Graeme Murty was a bit of a mistake, or at least a mistake to keep him in the position for so long. However, if anything, it appears to have galvanised the squad and they're playing with the attitude and determination it takes to win games for Rangers.

Perhaps there's a bit of an underdog spirit gathering pace. If there is, Murty is tapping into it and it has worked wonders over the last two games.

Most importantly on Saturday the Gers kept a clean sheet, the first time that has happened under the caretaker boss and in fact the first time since January that has happened.

It's a great platform to build on and while supporters can't be expecting too much from next week's trip to Celtic Park, after that they could go on a bit of a winning run.

Scottish referees continue to get it wrong

Make no mistake, Rangers deserved their win against Hamilton but the game was mired by bad officiating. This seems to happen at least once a week in Scottish football, if we're lucky. The standard of refereeing this season has been very poor and has had an effect on just about every team.

Hamilton were on the receiving end on Saturday. John Beaton and his colleagues made some bizarre decisions over the 90 minutes including not spotting a clear Wes Foderingham hand ball outside of the box, awarding a penalty that was soft to say the least and not punishing Joe Garner adequately for what was a wild challenge on Dougie Imrie.

There's improvement needed. The odd bad call is understandable, we see it in leagues across Europe all the time, but in Scotland it's become a consistent talking point. Every week on highlights shows a good chunk of the programme is taken up by decisions that have had a massive influence on the match.

Ali Crawford could be playing for a bigger club

Ali Crawford has long been one of Hamilton's top performers and again, in the first half anyway, he was the one player that looked like he could cause a bit of damage to the Rangers backline.

In truth he could probably be playing for a bigger club. Perhaps not the likes of Celtic but surely teams like Aberdeen, Hearts and possibly Rangers should be looking at investing in him. There were some who thought he might finally move on in January but no move transpired.

After over 200 appearances for Accies, he's earned his big move but where will it be?

Rangers are real cup contenders

No matter the crisis that engulfs Rangers you can be sure that they'll be massive contenders in the upcoming semi-finals. With last year's winners Hibernian also safely through, Celtic and Aberdeen are also favourites to make it, setting up massive clashes however the draw shakes out.

The Gers will be dangerous opponents whoever they face. We saw in the League Cup Semi-Final earlier this season that they can even push Celtic right to the death at the national stadium.

Supporters are dreaming of major honours and of stopping the Celtic treble of trophies, can the team back those ambitions up with the performances required?