Rangers v Celtic is pushed back as cup rejigged to avoid Duke funeral

Rangers and Celtic’s Scottish Cupfourth-roundmeetinghas been pushed back to this coming Sunday to avoid it clashing with the funeral of Prince Philip the previous day.

The Old Firm meeting, which will kick off at 3pm, will be shown on Premier Sports. Hibs’ trip to Stranraer, initially scheduled for on Saturday, will also now take place on Sunday, kicking off at 12.15pm with live coverage on BBC1.

The Scottish Cup weekend will start with St Mirren v Inverness Caledonian Thistle at 6pm on Friday, followed by Motherwell v Morton an hour later. Forfar Athletic’s tie with Dundee United remains unchanged and proceeds as planned at 7.45pm on Friday, with coverage on BBC1.

Kilmarnock and Montrose will now kick off at 11.45am on Saturday , allowing enough room for extra time and penalties if necessary while still avoiding a clash with the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.

Aberdeen’s meeting with Livingston has been brought forward from 2pm on Sunday to 5.30pm on Saturday. It will still be screened by Premier Sports, and played at the same time as the non-televised fixture betweeen St Johnstone and Clyde.

Meanwhile, the SPFL have also pushed nine lowerleague fixtures forward to a noon kick-off on Saturday to ensure they do not clash with the service. In the Championship, Alloa's visit of Raith Rovers, Ayr's trip to Arbroath and Dunfermline's East End Park clash with Queen of the South will also start at noon.