Rangers found disgruntlement on an afternoon when they had been anticipating triumph.

The heavy snow in the Borders forced the cancellation of Queen's Park's visit to Annan yesterday morning, meaning that Rangers could not secure the Third Division title had the Hampden amateurs dropped a point, and a sense of frustration quickly became entrenched around the stadium. The fans could not contain their ire, and a banner was unfurled that said: Less Time Tweeting, More Time Training.

The message was aimed at Kyle Hutton in particular, but also the mundane nature of the team as a whole. In the days following Rangers' home defeat to Annan two weeks ago, Hutton tweeted at midday that training was finished and he was heading home to watch a DVD. Incensed Rangers fans sent messages expressing their exasperation. It was an innocent remark, but it struck directly at the sense among Ibrox supporters that the team is not performing to its full potential.

"I'm not a fan of tweeting, I am a fan of training," said Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager. "I would reassure the fans there is no problem in terms of the amount of training and the level of training. That hasn't changed in 20 years. The important thing is getting players ready for a game."

Yet the banner's sentiment was apt. This was a poor Rangers display, stripped of any guile, ambition or intent. The crowd looked to be the lowest at Ibrox this season, which would have been influenced by the harsh weather and the fact that the game was not going to be decisive, but also the growing disillusionment with the team.

This is a side bereft of confidence. Too often, the player in possession did not have many passing options, and the ball tended to be recycled backwards. The pace was ponderous and Stirling Albion were able to defend stoutly by falling in behind the ball. Rangers' two young wide players – Barrie McKay and Fraser Aird – were out of sorts, while Kane Hemmings, the sole striker, missed three good chances. He sent a header over the bar, steered a left-foot shot across the face of the goal and could only flick a near-post effort wide. Lee Wallace also might have done better than chip an effort straight at Sam Filler, the Stirling goalkeeper, but Rangers rarely broke their opponents down.

"In terms of making chances and taking them we are miles short of where we want to be," said McCoist. "The results are not of great concern to me because we just need to get over the line. I'll probably go down in history as the only Rangers manager who has struggled to fill a bench.

"That's where the club is at the moment. We spent Friday morning looking at our youth players, not because they deserved an opportunity but because we needed to fill a jersey. We are in desperate need of bodies."

The occasion was an anti-climax, not least because the home side could not take command or play with enough dynamism to overwhelm Stirling.The visitors did not surrender much space in their own half, and for spells after the interval their play was crisply effective.

They will rue the fact that Aird cleared Jordan White's effort off the line, and that Scott Davidson could not cleanly strike a volley inside the area, but five points from Rangers this season leaves them satisfied with their efforts.

"In the four games against Rangers we've grown in stature, which seems a strange thing to say when we won the first game," said Greig McDonald, the Stirling manager. "We can't complain at getting a point. The players have ability, we're not the hammer throwers that people said we were."