RANGERS suffered heartache in the Petrofac Training Cup as Greig Spence’s last-gasp goal gave Alloa a remarkable victory over Rangers and booked the Wasps’ place in this season’s final.
RANGERS suffered heartache in the Petrofac Training Cup as Greig Spence’s last-gasp goal gave Alloa a remarkable victory over Rangers and booked the Wasps’ place in this season’s final.
In when proved to be an unbelievable night in the Indodrill Stadium, the Light Blues scored two goals early in the second half but Barry Smith’s men produced a sensational fight back to send their fans into ecstasy.
For Rangers it was to be a miserable evening and to make matters worse Scotland starlet Lewis Macleod was stretchered off with a hamstring injury.
After a stuffy first half in which Alloa more than matched the players in all-blue it was Miller who pounced in the 48th minute to find the net with an accurate finish after Craig McDowall had saved a powerful free kick from Kris Boyd.
Rangers’ performance in the second half was better than the first and when Shiels made it 2-0 in the 64th minute they looked to have one foot in April’s final.
Alloa, to their credit, never gave up and when Spence headed past Steve Simonsen from close range on 71 minutes it gave the home side a glimmer of hope.
That hope turned into joy just four minutes later when Ryan McCord equalised and this remarkable game took a dramatic twist.
With the tie now hanging in the balance Spence made it 3-2 in the 89th minute when he got on the end of a cross and side footed a sweet strike beyond Simonsen to send Rangers out of the Cup at the semi-final stage.
As expected Alloa came out fighting from referee John McKendrick’s first whistle and in the opening 10 minutes the match was played in the middle of the park with Simonsen and Wasps keeper McDowall having little to do.
Ally McCoist, however, was busy in his technical area and he had to act swiftly when Macleod sprinted through on Alloa’s goals and fell to the turf with no players around him.
The young playmaker was clearly in serious pain as he clutched the back of his left leg on the artificial surface and if the injury is as bad as it looked it will be a massive blow for Rangers at this important stage of the season.
After the break in play, and with Dean Shiels now on, the Light Blues had to get back into their stride quickly although it was Alloa who had a glaring chance to open the scoring with just 14 minutes on the clock.
A deep free kick was nodded into the danger area by Ben Gordon but Spence could not get enough purchase on the ball as he spun on the six yard line and it was easily gathered by Simonsen.
At the other end Nicky Law tried his luck from 25 yards but his effort went high and wide of target before Adam Asghar powered a low drive towards goal but the ball swerved past the post with Simonsen diving to his right as a precaution.
With half an hour played Barry Smith would have been the happier of the two managers with Rangers struggling to find the form they displayed in the Scottish Cup against Kilmarnock on Sunday.
A lot of that was down to the graft and enthusiasm shown by their opponents who again should have scored on 37 minutes.
Spence darted in behind the Gers defence to latch on to a long ball. He turned inside his marker but when his initial shot was blocked it fell to strike partner Liam Buchanan but he snatched at his effort when he should have done better.
That was another let-off for the visitors in a hard-fought opening 45 minutes which ended with Simonsen crouching down to hold a crisp shot from midfielder Mark Docherty after Nicky Law was on the end of a poor challenge from defender Kyle Benedictus.
At half time it was impossible to guess which way this match would go but, if Rangers were to progress, they certainly had to put in an improved second half showing and the early signs were good.
A minute into the restart a deep cross from Darren McGregor caught the Alloa defence napping. Shiels nipped in in front of his marker but he couldn’t redirect his header towards goal and it went a foot wide.
The opening goal then arrived and it came after Ian Black had been brought down by a clumsy challenge 25 yards out.
Boyd blasted a thunderbolt free-kick through a crowd of players and after McDowall had made a good save Miller was there to place an accurate left foot shot inside the keeper’s near post.
It was an excellent finish from the former Scotland star who could have elected for power but instead showed great composure to edge his side in front.
The goal lifted the pressure of the Rangers’ players shoulders and they started to play with a confidence which was missing in the first half.
Before the hour mark that was evident as McGregor produced a neat side step to create a yard of space and his right foot drive across goal brought out an impressive save from McDowall.
Rangers should have had a penalty when Fraser Aird was brought to the ground in the 63rd minute but they doubled their advantage in the next attack through Shiels.
The Northern Ireland internationalist worked hard to get on the end of Miller’s through pass before he curled a terrific shot inside the far post before celebrating with the travelling bears.
At that point Rangers looked to be in the driving seat but in the space of 11 minutes Alloa were, remarkably, back on level terms after Spence guided a header past Simonsen before McCord wriggled free in the box before passing the ball beyond the Gers goalie.
With David Templeton and Jon Daly were now on Rangers were in need of a spark and the big Irishman almost provided it when he headed towards goal but McDowall was there to flick it over the bar.
With extra-time looming fans were bracing themselves for another 30 minutes when Spence struck in dramatic fashion with just a couple of minutes remaining.
A cross came in from the left and the striker was there to fire a match-winning shot past the helpless Simonsen.
ALLOA: McDowall; Doyle, Gordon, Benedictus, Meggatt; Asghar (Ferns 68), McCord, Docherty, Hetherington; Spence, BuchananSUBS: Gibson, Hynd, Wilson, ForsythGOALS: Spence 71, McCord 75, Spence 89BOOKINGS: Benedictus
RANGERS: Simonsen; McGregor, McCulloch, Mohsni, Foster; Aird (Templeton 80), Law, Black, Macleod (Shiels 11); Boyd (Daly 68), MillerSUBS: Robinson, Hutton, Faure, ClarkGOALS: Miller 48, Shiels 64BOOKINGS: McCulloch, Foster, Templeton
REF: 2,443ATT: John McKendrick