Steven Davis then netted early in the second half before Lafferty had the final say with Rangers’ fifth, leaving injury-ravaged, 10-man Accies reeling as they were sent crashing out of cup competition by the Govan side for the second time this season.

Rangers had plenty of incentives for recording their fifth win of the season over Hamilton and taking another step closer to Hampden.

They knew they had to make amends following a shock defeat at home to strugglers Inverness in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, which put a major dent in their title hopes.

And Walter Smith’s men were also well aware they were now firm favourites to retain the Scottish Cup in the wake of St Mirren’s stunning triumph over Celtic 24 hours earlier.

Aaron made his first senior start, while Pedro Mendes was back from injury and Lafferty and Whittaker were also given the nod.

Hamilton welcomed back influential defender Mark McLaughlin, complete with bandage after recently suffering a nasty head gash, while 18-year-old James McCarthy made his 100th senior appearance for Accies.

Rangers could have opened the scoring early on when Mendes slipped a lovely ball through to Kenny Miller and he delivered a cross from the left as Lafferty bore down on goal but a timely intervention from Brian Easton snuffed out the danger.

However, Accies were dealt a blow when Easton – who appeared to stretch his hamstring while making the clearance – limped out of the action after just eight minutes and was replaced by Grant Evans.

Rangers took the lead with 15 minutes gone when Whittaker showed some skill to weave his way past two Accies players before turning and rifling into the bottom corner of the net from just inside the box.

Hamilton refused to buckle and were back on level terms after 26 minutes.

McCarthy chipped a ball into the packed goalmouth from the right and goalkeeper Allan McGregor failed to collect among a clutch of bodies. The ball broke to Quinn on the edge of the box and the former Celtic man gratefully lashed home the equaliser.

Accies’ joy was short-lived and Rangers restored their lead nine minutes later. Whittaker was the provider this time with a cross from the right which was knocked into the path of Lafferty by Miller.

The Northern Ireland international skipped past goalkeeper Tomas Cerny before slotting into the empty net from close range.

McLaughlin was then forced out of the action and replaced by Chris Swailes who conceded a penalty by fouling Miller after just seconds on the park.

Aaron stepped up and saw his initial effort blocked by Cerny but referee Iain Brines ordered the penalty to be retaken and, this time, the Spanish youngster confidently fired home from the spot a minute from the interval.

Hamilton’s injury problems intensified when they were forced to swap David Elebert for Derek Lyle at the interval and then found themselves down to10 men when Richard Offiong limped out of the action shortly after the restart.

Rangers took full advantage of the situation and extended their lead eight minutes into the second half.

Davis collected the ball on the right flank and was allowed to make a surging run unchallenged into the box before driving low into Cerny’s bottom right-hand corner to inflict further misery on their visitors.

Any hope of a comeback appeared unlikely but Hamilton did almost pull a goal back, after Madjid Bougherra hobbled out of the action for Rangers.

McCarthy released Quinn into the box but his point-blank shot was blocked by McGregor before Paul McGowan’s chipped effort was gathered by the Rangers goalkeeper.

It was Rangers who scored again when Whittaker’s cut-back found Lafferty in front of goal and he responded with a fierce shot from 10 yards to seal the win with nine minutes to go.