RANGERS moving so serenely into the next round of a cup competition is the kind of thing which could almost be said to constitute a shock these days.

The Ibrox club had been knocked out of the Scottish Communities League Cup by Inverness Caledonian Thistle during the week, had been eliminated from the Ramsdens competition by Alloa Athletic's second division counterparts Queen of the South earlier in the campaign. They had even toiled against 10-man Highland League outfit Forres Mechanics in the previous round of this tournament, the William Hill Scottish Cup. But such misadventures were firmly put to one side as they scored seven without reply against Paul Hartley's Alloa side yesterday. "Second division, you're having a laugh," some home fans chanted as their club moved on to the fourth round, the stage of the competition in which SPL clubs join.

If the pressure had been building pre-game on Ally McCoist, this was as good a way as any to answer it. Afterwards he said this was the first time his side had demonstrated the ruthless streak he remembered in the great Rangers teams of old. "I felt once we got the fourth goal we showed a streak that we haven't seen before, and that was a desire to really go and score more goals," he said. "I would cut our boys a little bit of slack because a lot of them are new to the club and new to first-team football. But when good Rangers sides in the past smelled blood they went for it."

For Hartley, however, things could barely have gone any worse. Last year's third division champions are just one point adrift of the top of division two, but despite being treated by a local businessman to an overnight stay in Glasgow, and being followed through from Clackmannanshire by a great crowd, they never got started here. Their misery was complete when Michael Doyle, arguably their best performer all day, was sent off for manhandling Chris Hegarty in an off-the-ball tussle on the touchline. "We didn't get into a rhythm until about 30 minutes into the game and by then we were already 3-0 down," Hartley said. "Credit to Rangers, they were the better team by a mile. I said to the players afterwards 'don't feel sorry for yourselves, because nobody else will."

McCoist made two changes two his side, with Anestis Argyriou coming in for the injured Lee Wallace and winger Fraser Aird preferred to Kyle Hutton. The intention was to get on the front foot immediately and it took just two minutes for the home side to impose their will on their guests. An Aird corner from the left was only partially cleared and the ball broke to Dean Shiels, whose shot took a deflection on its route into the bottom corner of the net of Scott Bain, the Scotland Under-21 goalkeeper. It was the last thing the visitors needed and before long, it was two. Aird again was involved, finding McCulloch in space and from the veteran's reverse pass, the Northern Irishman used his left foot to fire in his seventh of the season under the body of Bain at his near post.

Ian Black had been quoted in the morning papers complaining of the rough treatment he has received in the third division, but Alloa's best intentions of playing passing football seemed to work against them. Just when they were coming into the game, Jason Marr – a former Celtic centre-half who was once on the verge of a move to Tottenham Hotspur – pirouetted away from one challenge, only to be caught on the ball by Shiels. The ball was funnelled to McCulloch, whose low finish was crisp and in the bottom corner. The second half began with a brief Alloa resurgence and the loss of Anestis Argyriou to an ankle injury. But the floodgates opened in the last 20 minutes. Some clever play from Shiels in the box led to McCulloch slotting in his 16th of the season – rather than the Northern Irishman recording his hat-trick – then the former Kilmarnock player provided another assist for Robbie Crawford, as the teenager's second of the season arriving courtesy of an assured touch and an unerring low finish.

But if anyone really epitomised the ruthless streak McCoist was talking about, it was Barrie McKay, who arrived on the hour mark for Aird. Although he saw one close-range effort cleared by the backtracking Doyle, he lit up the last half hour of this match. He fired Rangers' sixth into Bain's top corner from 25 yards, and added a seventh – which arch-finisher McCoist thought was even better – with an assured finish after breaching the Alloa rearguard at pace.

Shock and awe