The young Gers opened the scoring in the second half when substitute Josh McPake curled home, but they were quickly pegged back when Edin Lynch headed home from a corner for the home side.
The Light Blues continued to pepper the Stenny goal as the second half wore on, and they were rewarded in stoppage time when Zak Lovelace finished beyond Lyle to seal his side’s place in the third round draw on Thursday afternoon.
The rain subsided just in time for kick-off in Stenhousemuir, with the home side enjoying the better of the contest in the opening exchanges as Mikey Anderson headed wide from a dangerous Ross Taylor cross on five minutes.
The Light Blues slowly began to establish a foothold in the match, going close on 16 minutes with a lovely sweeping move through the heart of the Stenny rearguard. Zak Lovelace swivelled neatly in midfield, stabbing a delicious outside-of-the-boot pass through to James Graham whose curling finish prompted Curtis Lyle into a diving stop to his left. The rebound then fell to the feet of Cole McKinnon from 10 yards out, but the midfielder was denied by a sliding block as the hosts survived.
Seconds later and danger arose again for the home side. It was Ross McCausland who this time pierced the home side’s defence, feeding a pass onto Paul Nsio inside the danger area whose cut-back across the face of goal had no takers of a Rangers persuasion.
The fluidity of the Rangers forward line was causing Stenhousemuir issues aplenty, underlined neatly on 19 minutes when Graham manufactured space on the edge of the penalty area and, after his attempted slide rule pass broke kindly back to him, he fizzed a rasping effort that only narrowly missed the target.
Nsio and McCausland combined once again on the half-hour mark to call Lyle into action in the Stenhousemuir goal, with the latter striking a powerful effort from a tight angle which the Stenny goalkeeper was equal to.
Lyle came to the rescue for his side just moments later as Graham looked destined to break the deadlock in the contest. The move was initiated by Lovelace down the left-hand side before possession was quickly moved onto McCausland on the opposite flank. The Northern Irishman fed a pinpoint pass into Graham whose first-time effort was tipped over the crossbar.
It was one-way traffic at Ochilview Park, although the home side nearly opened the scoring against the run of play just five minutes shy of the interval. A corner from the left-hand side wreaked havoc inside the Gers penalty area, allowing Gregor Buchanan to head towards goal. The ball looked certain to cross the goalline before Lovelace produced a heroic scissor kick to keep the score level in Stenhousemuir.
Half-time prompted a change from the Gers as Josh McPake replaced McKinnon, and it took less than ten minutes for the attacker to threaten the Stenny goal when he drew a diving stop from Lyle with a dipping effort from 25 yards. The hosts’ goalkeeper could only push the ball straight to Robbie Fraser from a narrow angle, although the full-back could only steer the rebound back into the grateful arms of Lyle.
The substitute then broke the deadlock in the contest to give the Light Blues their just rewards. Stepping inside off the left-hand side, McPake curled an unstoppable effort into the far corner that left Lyle with no chance.
However, the visitors’ advantage was short-lived as Stenny equalised less than 90 seconds later when Edin Lynch rose highest from a corner to power a header home from close range.
Lovelace was left with his head in his hands five minutes later as he was inches away from restoring the Gers’ advantage. A lightning counter-attack from the Light Blues found its way to the Englishman on the edge of the penalty area who danced inside and left the upright trembling with a ferocious effort.
The away side continued to batter down the Stenny door as the game entered its latter stages. Fraser was first to go close from a tight angle inside the penalty area after Graham fed the ball across, before substitute Mackenzie Strachan stung the palms of Lyle after McCausland had done excellently to dance through a congested danger area.
McPake thought he had grabbed his second goal of the evening when his dipping free-kick from distance required Lyle to tip the ball over the crossbar at full stretch.
Stenny could have stolen the match at the death when substitute Adam Brown contrived to miss from close range after a sweeping counter-attack from the home side.
That proved the cue for the Light Blues to deliver a last-gasp victory. The ball arrived at McCausland’s feet in the final third before he moved the ball inside to Lovelace. Showing immense strength, the 17-year-old brushed off a Stenhousemuir challenge, steadied himself in the penalty area, and scooped the ball over Lyle via a deflection to seal a merited triumph for Rangers at Ochilview Park.
STENHOUSEMUIR: Lyle, Meechan, Lynch, Wedderburn, Buchanan, Bilham, Berry (Brown, 70), Anderson, Taylor (Yates, 80), O’Reilly (Kirkpatrick, 85), Aitken
Subs not used: Jamieson
RANGERS B: Budinauckas, Hutton, Allan, Yfeko (Webster, 67), Fraser, Rice (Strachan, 47), McKinnon (McPake, 45), Nsio, McCausland, Graham (Stevens, 80), Lovelace
Subs not used: Munn, Young, Eadie, Robertson, Curtis
REFEREE: Ryan Lee
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