Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

See how I said earlier that Easter Road was an oasis of calm? Scrap that.

Agnes seems to have arrived. While not quite a storm, swirling wind and rain has now engulfed this part of the capital.

Might be a testing old night.

And tie three of the evening is also under way.

A minute's silence at Ibrox for former Rangers striker Jim Forrest, the most prolific forward in the club's post-war history, who has died at the age of 79.

Forrest scored 145 goals in 163 games for his boyhood club.

The County captain hauls Duk while he's through on goal and is shown a straight red.

A grim start for the hosts.

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

Loud chorus of 'Oh when the Saints go marching in' from the away end. Little wonder the St Mirren fans are in such good voice.

Their side's unbeaten in their last ten matches, winning eight. Best unbeaten run since Jim Goodwin's class of 2020 went 11 without defeat.

Where did they come unstuck? Easter Road.

Image source, SNS

Tyrone Smith
BBC Scotland at Global Energy Stadium

Graeme Shinnie's opening goal was a thing of beauty on an ugly night.

The ball fell to him 18 yards out and he showed wonderful composure to volley it high into the net to send the large travelling support into a state of delirium.

Image source, SNS

Allan Preston
Former St Johnstone defender on BBC Sportsound

Every one of them is going to have be on the top of their game and Rangers are going to have to have a bad night.

Image source, SNS

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland at Ibrox

The question above is relevant given the rollercoaster ride Rangers fans are enduring right now.

One minute, it's the high of defeating a Real Betis side littered with quality. The next, it's booing the team off after a laboured win over an impressive Motherwell.

You wonder if the home side are on the verge of handing out a thumping to someone or buckling under the scrutiny.

Livingston come here with no previous wins at this venue. They've offered some problems in recent visits and David Martindale will demand more than his side gave against the 10 men of Celtic at the weekend.

A Hampden semi-final awaits.

St Mirren have started brightly, the decent contingent of travelling Buddies will be well pleased.

One would imagine they've been fair pleased with a lot of things at the start of the season.

Livingston manager David Martindale tells BBC Sportsound: "It's going to be a difficult game.

"I think you can see the conditions. Park's going to be really quick. It's going to be a slippery surface for the players.

"Rangers have had three wins in their last three games, three clean sheets. That probably tells you a wee bit more about what we're facing than probably the external noise that we can hear just now.

"There's also an opportunity for us to get ourselves back to Hampden. It's cup football and it's about getting in the next round.

"Joel's [Nouble] going to be play up against [James Tavernier]. I'm looking forward to seeing how that battle develops. Daniel MacKay up against Ridvan [Yilmaz] so I'm looking forward to see how that develops."

Image source, SNS

At Ibrox, yes.

At the Global Energy Stadium and Easter Road, no.

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

Storm who? No sign of Agnes at all in Leith.

As things stand right now, it's a near-perfect night for football. Pitch looks fantastic.

We're expecting about 9,000 in total, which should generate a decent atmosphere.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Scotland at Global Energy Stadium

A very big and a very noisy Aberdeen support have made the long trip to Dingwall.

Credit to them for making the journey on such a wild night.

Away we go in Leith and Dingwall.

Kick-off at Ibrox is in about 15 minutes.

Image source, SNS

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

A full 20 minutes before kick-off, the Hibs squad has a huddle on the Easter Road pitch.

Earliest huddle I've ever seen in my life. A new thing under new manager Nick Montgomery?

Let's see if it has the desired effect against a St Mirren team which has only lost once this season, to the mighty Montrose in the middle of July.

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson is expecting a strong test against Ross County despite what happened just a few days ago.

"It’s a different game," he tells BBC Scotland. "We start again, it’s the cup, we need to be at it.

"You need to win the fight, but you need to stay in the fight here before you can actually try to play at times.

"So it will be a difficult night, but we need to try and be at our best and put on a really good performance for our fans."

Ross County boss Malky Mackay knows his side have a chance to make amends for their 4-0 loss at the hands of tonight's opponents.

"Obviously we were well-beaten at the weekend," he tells BBC Scotland.

“It’s rare that you play the same team twice in three days, but we get the chance to play against them again. It’s one of those occasions where you have Hampden staring at the winner tonight.

"There’s a huge carrot for both clubs."

Image source, SNS

Three days on from their last meeting, County and Aberdeen do it all over again.

On their home turf, Malky Mackay will undoubtedly be looking for an improvement from his side after Sunday's 4-0 defeat at Pittodrie.

A win for the Highlanders will take them back to Hampden for the first time since they won this trophy back in 2016, whereas Aberdeen lost out in extra-time against Rangers in last season's last four.

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland at Easter Road

As well as the prestige of a domestic cup semi-final at Hampden in the infancy of his Hibs tenure, home boss Nick Montgomery has another incentive to beat St Mirren tonight.

"I've never been to the national stadium, so that would be nice," he tells me. "And maybe some of the players haven't either."

If Hibs can end St Mirren's excellent 10-game unbeaten run, they will be back at Hampden in November.