They may only have beaten them once in five meetings but Alloa continued to wreak havoc upon Rangers 2014/15 campaign last night Rangers failed to defend a lead at Ibrox for the third time in eight days.

More tales of the unexpected had preceded this encounter and while, for once, it was not Rangers that had generated the intrigue there was, yet again, a nasty twist at the end of the narrative for a home support that has, in the space of three home games in a week, dropped by close to 20 per cent to 28,902 when Liam Buchanan grabbed an equaliser for Alloa just as they looked like being overrun.

Two headed goals in the space of five minutes from Nicky Clark looked to have turned things Rangers' way after they had suffered the shock of conceding the lead to a Ben Gordon goal, however the self-doubt that plagues this team emerged once again and Stuart McCall, their new manager acknowledged that they are making life difficult for themselves but believes they can still salvage their season.

"At the moment this is a hard place to play, but the players know they've put themselves in that position," he observed afterwards.

"It's hugely disappointing, massively frustrating, but if people think the season ends tonight they've got a massive awakening coming.

"I knew this was going to be a massive challenge but I relish it now more than ever."

Longer term he can can draw solace from the return of first choice goal-keeper Cammy Bell after more than seven months out since suffering a dislocated shoulder, while Stuart McCall was true to his word that he intends to look at as many players as possible in making four more changes as Marius Zaliukas, Andrew Murdoch, Kris Boyd, Dean Shiels were recalled following Saturday's draw with Livingston, while Alloa's surprise new recruit Michael Chopra spent most of the night on the bench.

Rangers had started purposefully enough generating early chances for Nicky Clark and Lee McCulloch, while there was further evidence, too, of why Stuart McCall has taken so quickly to Tom Walsh as he made a lively and intelligent contribution.

However the failure to register a first half goal saw the players leave the field to discontented grumbling after a half Rangers had essentially dominated but towards the end of which Alloa's confidence had begun to grow.

These sides have, of course evenly shared a win apiece and two draws as well as 10 goals in their five previous meetings this season, but that they literally mustered nothing between them in that opening period extended the wait for signs of the squad having received as much of a boost from the changes to their board and team management that most supporters had enjoyed.

That became more evident as Buchanan's darting run forced Lee Wallace into the foul that led to the opening goal, a group of players heading towards the near post to meet Mark Docherty's well flighted free kick from the left and Ben Gordon rising sufficiently among them to re-direct it without taking any pace off it, which was enough to divert it past Bell.

Rangers responded and a Darren MacGregor header which drew a fine one-handed reaction save from McDowall was the best of a succession of attempts before they got what felt like an inevitable equaliser.

Following a corner from left, the ball had fallen to Lee McCulloch and his powerful shot was deflected onto the bar but with McDowall prostrate Clark met the rebound and angled it into the open right half of his goal.

Five minutes later Clark was given an even easier task of putting his side ahead when David Templeton, after carrying the ball down the left, shifted the ball onto his right foot before swinging in a cross of such quality that it simply needed to be met solidly.

However a further five minutes on and in pretty much their first attack since they had scored, Alloa once again shocked their hosts when Ryan McCord slipped the ball between two Rangers defenders and into the path of Buchanan who did well from a tight angle on the left to clip it over Bell and into the far corner.

Prior to the match the day's big surprise had been Alloa's recruitment of Chopra, a man once valued at £5 million and given that the former English Premiership striker has had well documented gambling issues that it coincided with the second adjournment of the SFA appeal hearing over the length of the ban given to Rangers goal-keeper Steve Simonsen's breaches of betting rules offered an additional trace of irony.

Just how much of a punt Alloa have taken in offering a chance to a player who spent last year at Blackpool and most of this with Indian Super League side Berala Blasters without scoring a goal in 29 appearances could hardly be judged on the basis of the minute he spent on the pitch deep in injury time.

By contrast the scale of the challenge facing Stuart McCall, the new Rangers manager, has only become all the more evident.

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