THERE is no question, after this, that Dean Shiels deserves consideration as a potential answer to some of Rangers' well-established difficulties.

It is equally evident that Bilel Mohsni is the cause of so many of them. The Tunisian defender endured another evening of almost inexplicable errors on the plastic pitch at Falkirk and almost sold the jerseys with his team 2-1 up and a minute remaining on the clock.

A toe-poke from Rory Loy struck him on the hand inside the area with the home side pushing for an equaliser. No doubt about it. Referee Alan Muir either failed to spot it or believed it was unintentional and allowed play to rage on before Ian Black ended the contest with a spectacular curling effort from more than 25 yards in the second minute of stoppage time.

Either way, this was another game to make you wonder why Mohsni seems bombproof when it comes to team selection. Shiels made you wonder why he is consistently left out.

With an own goal from Owain Tudur-Jones having cancelled out an early opener from Loy, it was Shiels, making his first start of the season in place of the injured Nicky Clark, who put Rangers in front at a key moment midway through the second period.

Shiels has the kind of inventive streak which is so often missing from the Ibrox side. How they could have done with something like that as they launched long ball after long ball towards goal at Alloa on Saturday.

With their manager's weekend criticisms over a dreadful lack of tempo in that 1-1 draw at the Indodrill Stadium no doubt ringing in the players' ears, Rangers took no more than 90 seconds of this affair to carve out a terrific chance.

Mohsni sent Shiels straight through with a quite outrageous pass from deep inside his own half. The Northern Irishman went down in the area under pressure from Liam Dick and David McCracken before he could pull the trigger, but referee Muir was not to be fooled by the puppy-dog eyes and waved play on.

Even so, that early statement of intent put Rangers in a position of strength from which they could dominate a side that consistently causes them problems. Unfortunately, Mohsni had other ideas. He is capable of outrageousness at both ends of the park and emerged as a key figure in what was a truly catastrophic goal to lose in the fifth minute of play.

The French-Tunisian, as is his wont, lost possession to Craig Sibbald just outside his own area and allowed the midfielder to set up Blair Alston for an angled shot. This is where Steve Simonsen took centre stage. Alston's low shot was perfectly straightforward to deal with. Instead, the Englishman palmed it into the path of Loy just a matter of yards out and he could hardly miss.

Rangers remain so resolutely unimpressive that you never quite know what is coming when they find their backs to the wall. As it was, their response was rapid and impressive.

Lee Wallace and Shiels linked up to release Steven Smith on the left and his low cross towards Kris Boyd in the area had danger written all over it.

Tudur-Jones had no option but to stick a leg out. Boyd would surely convert otherwise. But the Welshman simply could not turn the ball, travelling at a good clip, past the near post and suffered the agony of watching it bounce high into his own net.

Shiels appeared to be relishing his return to the fray and could well have put his side in front shortly afterwards. Moving on to a pass from Boyd, he saw his first shot saved by Jamie MacDonald and then headed back to his feet by Will Vaulks. Shiels showed good imagination in attempting to flip the ball towards Boyd at the back post, but McCracken read the situation well and cleared the danger.

Black then flashed a shot from distance just wide as Rangers briefly looked like taking control, but Mohsni, ever eager to keep the game competitive, lost the ball again after slipping at the most inopportune time and allowed Luke Leahy to put Joe Shaughnessy through on goal.

The young full-back, on loan from Aberdeen, complained bitterly for a penalty after believing he had been barged by Lee McCulloch. Muir paid no attention. Neither did his team-mate Tom Taiwo, who sent a curling effort from 20 yards just the wrong side of Simonsen's right-hand post.

Alston forced Simonsen into a save early in the second period after Mohsni had given the ball away once more, but the game was threatening to die a death until Shiels made it 2-1 on 65 minutes.

A clearance from MacDonald was headed back towards the Falkirk goal and a flick-on from Nicky Law gave Shiels a sniff of a chance. He outpaced McCracken to get the ball under control in the area and the goalkeeper just could not get enough on his shot to prevent it from nestling in the top corner.

With time running out, Mohsni escaped the referee's attentions after appearing to handle and Black secured victory in the most spectacular fashion when taking a pass from David Templeton and sending the most delightful effort swerving past the despairing dive of MacDonald and high into the net.