Alloa 1-1 Rangers


A late equaliser from substitute David Templeton secured a point for Rangers against a resilient Alloa Athletic at the Indodrill Stadium.

A 36th minute header from Jonathan Tiffoney gave the home side a shock lead and for a long time it looked as though that would separate the sides at the final whistle.

Rangers, however, kept the pressure on in the second half and with just eight minutes left a goalmouth scramble led to the ball falling kindly for Templeton who placed the ball into the net.

At the death Jon Daly then thought he had scored the winner but as he took his first touch the lineman raised his flag and the game finished 1-1 to end Rangers’ recent winning run.

It was to be a frustrating afternoon for the visitors who worked hard but struggled to break down Alloa’s resolute defence who stuck to their task and did well to deny Kris Boyd, Nicky Clark and Daly the goalscoring opportunities they thrive on.

On top of that first-half injuries to Lewis Macleod and Clark mean both must be doubts for Tuesday night’s League Cup third round trip to Falkirk while Lee Wallace didn’t start today as he is struggling with a calf injury. Steven Smith took his place this afternoon.

Alloa enjoyed an encouraging start to the match and when Ryan McCord’s corner was headed out Stephen Simmons’ low drive from 18 yards was well held by Steve Simonsen albeit the shot was straight at the big Englishman.

On 12 minutes Rangers then created a good opportunity. Darren McGregor’s cross from the right found Boyd who, with his back to goal, played it to his strike partner Nicky Clark.

With defenders blocking his path to goal inside Alloa’s 18-yard box, Clark returned the ball to Boyd and his left foot thunderbolt flew past the postage stamp corner of John Gibson’s goal.

60 seconds later and McCoist was forced to make his first change of the afternoon. It was Lewis Macleod who went down with an injury and the manager quickly decided to take the youngster off with Templeton taking his place on the left wing.

When the game restarted Rangers continued in their search of the opening goal and Boyd again came close with a header from Fraser Aird’s accurate cross before Nicky Law volleyed wide.

With 30 minutes on the clock Alloa boss Barry Smith must have been delighted. His players had created a few half chances at this stage with number 8 McCord adding creativity to their play from the middle of the park.

Indeed the Wasps almost got a reward for their hard graft when they were presented with a goalscoring opportunity in bizarre circumstances.

Gers keeper Simonsen went to throw the ball out but he appeared to hold on to it for too long and it went behind him towards the corner flag.

He then chased it down and tried to punt it up the park but the ball went straight to an Alloa player who hit an audacious shot from 40 yards which went over the bar with the red-faced keeper sprinting back to his line.

On 36 minutes the opening goal arrived and it was the home side that got their noses in front. Left back Mark Docherty had space and time to deliver a cross and Tiffoney’s glancing header nestled in the bottom corner of the net to stun the travelling bears.

Before half time it was to get worse for Rangers as Clark, who had been holding his right shoulder for a while, was clattered by defender Ben Gordon as he jumped for a high ball.

The Alloa player received the first yellow card of the match as a result and, as Clark walked off clearly in a lot of pain, Daly went on for the final 60 seconds before the interval.

Rangers came out of the traps quickly at the start of the second period and four minutes in a defence-splitting pass from Daly sent Boyd through on goal but Gibson did well to dart from his line to snatch the ball at the striker’s feet.

At the other end Alloa were a threat from set pieces and when McCord delivered a dangerous near-post corner Simmons powered a header wide of target when he should have scored.

On 70 minutes the home side then created another great opportunity on the counter. Goalscorer Tiffoney robbed Fraser Aird of the ball and his terrific sweeping pass found striker Greig Spence on the other side of the pitch.

He cut inside Mohsni but with the goal at his mercy he blasted a shot straight at Simonsen.

McCoist’s last throw of the dice was to send Arnold Peralta on as Rangers looked to put increased pressure on Alloa’s resilient backline in the latter stages.

With more men getting up the park the Light Blues got their reward with eight minutes remaining.

With the ball bobbling about in the box it finally arrived at Templeton’s feet and he fired it into the empty net to give his side hope of claiming three points.

It wasn’t be although Daly had his hands in his head when he fired the ball home with two minutes remaining only to turn and see that the far side linesman has already raised his flag.

It was a dramatic end to a fiercely contested match and the result at the final whistle was probably a fair one given the effort both sides put in.

ALLOA (4-5-1): Gibson; Doyle, Gordon, Benedictus, Docherty; Tiffoney (Hetherington 80) , Holmes, Simmons, McCord, Cawley; Spence
SUBS NOT USED: McDowall, Buchanan, Ferns, Asghar, Hynd
GOALS: Tiffoney 36
BOOKINGS: Gordon, Docherty, McCord

RANGERS (4-4-2): Simonsen; McGregor, McCulloch, Mohsni, Smith; Aird (Peralta 73), Black, Law, Macleod (Templeton 13); Boyd, Clark (Daly 45)
SUBS NOT USED: Robinson, Zaliukas, Shiels, Foster
GOALS: Templeton 83
BOOKINGS: Mohsni

ATT: 2,973
REF: John McKendrick

Thanks for posting these reports, BF, they're much appreciated.

that was a tough watch; here's hoping for a return to form against Falkirk