A closely-fought first half seen the Gers go in level after Ross McCausland had cancelled out Cammy Russell’s opener. However, the Light Blues were made to pay after the interval as Jordan Tapping headed home for Spartans before Rhys Armstrong extended his side’s advantage with less than a minute remaining.
David McCallum named three changes to his Rangers B side for the trip to Edinburgh, with Charlie Lindsay, James Graham and Jack Harkness coming into the starting lineup.
The Light Blues wasted little time in threatening the Spartans goal on the evening, with Robbie Fraser centring for Robbie Ure to draw a fine reflex stop from Blair Carswell at close range.
The home side carried an attacking threat of their own, however, as Jordan Tapping glanced a header wide from a dangerous free-kick delivery just minutes before they broke the deadlock.
Brad Whyte picked up possession in the centre of the pitch for the hosts before driving menacingly towards the Rangers goal, feeding Cammy Russell down the left who drilled an unstoppable strike across goal into the bottom corner to inflict an early setback on the Gers.
Rangers threatened with an immediate response less than 90 seconds later. Harkness spun magnificently into a pocket of space on the inside right channel as the away side entered the final third, firing a left-footed effort off target from the edge of the penalty area that served as a reminder of the visitors’ threat.
A curling strike from Ross McCausland almost engineered a leveller for the away side minutes later, with the Northern Irishman’s strike blocked en route to goal before Fraser’s strike on the follow-up from a narrow angle was held by Carswell.
Lewis Budinauckas was called into action down the opposite end on the half-hour mark, saving well from goalscorer Russell after the Spartans forward was freed down the side of the Gers defence by captain Ian McFarland.
Rangers then found the equaliser that they craved with a move of fine quality. Receiving possession in a central position, Charlie Lindsay threaded a delicious slide rule pass through to McCausland who steadied himself before slotting an unerring finish into the bottom corner to restore parity.
There was much to be encouraged about in the attacking third from a Gers perspective, with Ure going close to completing the turnaround just three minutes later. Arron Lyall fed a pass into Lindsay whose first-time around-the-corner flick floated invitingly into the path of the Light Blues forward, but he could not trouble the Spartans goal with his header.
Graham’s directness troubled the home side’s defence just minutes into the second period, with the winger eventually thwarted as he looked to dance through towards goal before Lindsay lashed the follow-up inches over the crossbar.
However, Rangers fell behind for the second time in the contest just shy of the hour-mark when Tapping rose highest from a corner for Spartans before powering his header into the bottom corner.
The Light Blues built a period of sustained possession immediately after, with Fraser doing ever so well to evade his marker advanced on the left flank before his low cross was turned away by goalscorer Tapping at the front post. Lindsay then whipped a dangerous in-swinging delivery from the resulting corner that only narrowly evaded Johnly Yfeko in the six-yard area.
Bailey Rice dragged an effort wide with a quarter of an hour remaining on the clock for the visitors, collecting the ball from 30 yards out after Fraser showed great tenacity to keep the ball in play on the left touchline.
The Gers were unfortunate not to carve out a clear-cut opportunity from the second phase of a corner with nine minutes remaining. Substitute Tyler Pasnik reacted first and lofted a dangerous pass back into the penalty area and towards Lewis MacKinnon, but Spartans were alert to the danger and cleared the ball for a corner.
Pasnik almost caught Carswell off guard from the resulting corner, only for the Spartans stopper to claw the attacker’s delivery to safety.
The hosts sealed all three points in the dying embers of the contest, however, as Sam Jones turned the ball across to Rhys Armstrong who stroked beyond Budinauckas.
SPARTANS: Carswell, Watson, Allan, Waugh, Tapping, Whyte, Dishington, McFarland (Henderson, 69), Brown (Morrison, 69), Swann (Jones, 69), Russell (Armstrong, 45)
Subs not used: Penker, Laing, Meek
RANGERS B: Budinauckas, Harkness, MacKinnon, Allen (Yfeko, 45), Fraser, Rice, Lindsay (Pasnik, 71), Lyall, Graham (Strachan, 59), McCausland, Ure
Subs not used: Pazikas, K. Ewen, Allan, Young
REFEREE: Colin Whyte
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