There was warm applause around Ibrox at the end. No drama. No catcalls. But, my goodness, only the most myopic of Rangers supporters could have failed to see the red flags raised by this almighty struggle of a victory. Particularly with regard to the defence.
Considering League One Alloa could barely get up the pitch in the initial stages, it is quite remarkable that this Premier Sports Cup last-16 tie was only settled right at the death when home substitute Findlay Curtis served up an excellent finish to make it 4-2.
Not as remarkable, though, as the goals the home rearguard in a much-changed side gave away to keep it so competitive. Flamin’ Nora.
To say that Russell Martin’s men continue to look wobbly at the back is a cataclysmic understatement. Right now, you could put them out against 11 training-ground dummies and the chances are they’d still find a way to concede.
One-up through Nedim Bajrami, the concession of an equaliser through a Joe Rothwell own goal midway through the first half was just bonkers. A calamity of errors verging on straight-out slapstick.
After an effort from Manny Fernandez and a James Tavernier penalty had created a false sense of security among the home support, the Scott Taggart goal that made it 3-2 was just so easily conceded.
Fernandez rises highest to head home Rangers’ second goal minutes after Alloa equalised
The Wasps drew level after some pinball in the penalty area eventually saw the ball end up in the Rangers net
More fuel to the argument that defending against set-pieces is a real Achilles heel within this team. It was like taking candy off a baby.
So, yes, Rangers are through. They got the job done in the end, but it wasn’t pretty.
As for anyone forcing their way into the starting XI for Tuesday night’s Champions League play-off first leg with Club Brugge? Hmmm, don’t bet on it.
Nasser Djiga was the only survivor of the midweek visit to Viktoria Plzen, but no one really stood out. Mikey Moore made his debut on the left wing and showed some nice touches in the first half, in particular, before going off.
Rothwell returned to midfield and was okay. Bajrami played a big part in the destination of the game, in the end, but only a brave man would bet on him taking a starting jersey in the big matches.
Thelo Aasgaard also made his first appearance after injury and delivered one strong run that required a save from visiting keeper Liam McFarlane.
With Hamza Igamane not fit enough to begin games, Rangers certainly had better hope Cyriel Dessers is back fit because you cannot possibly continue with Danilo. He was anonymous here, hasn’t scored a goal in competitive action and doesn’t look like scoring one.
As for who plays at left-back, it certainly won’t be Bailey Rice, who had a torrid time out of position. Jayden Meghoma is close to signing on loan from Brentford, but, with Jefte off to Palmeiras and Ridvan Yilmaz tipped for a return to Turkey, more competition in that area of the park will surely be required.
Rangers did have the lion’s share of the ball against Alloa, as you’d expect. There wasn’t enough consistent aggression in their play, though. At times, it felt like they were trying to bore their opponents to death instead of blowing them away.
Moore, in fairness, showed up well from the off. Within 10 minutes, he’d had three goes at goal of varying quality and played a part in setting Bajrami up for the opener.
Home boss Martin was frustrated by what he was seeing at times
Rothwell played a forward pass from midfield, Bajrami nudged it out to Moore on the wing and he fed it back inside to the Albanian. His curling effort from outside the area was destined to hit the net all the way — eventually finishing up there off the underside of the crossbar.
At that point, Alloa had barely been able to get the ball out of their own half. Then, they realised that just launching the ball and putting some remote element of pressure on this Rangers backlot is likely to bear fruit.
On 24 minutes, after Steven Buchanan had tested Liam Kelly, the visitors made it 1-1 thanks to the kind of defending that could only have been made more comical had the Benny Hill theme tune been playing over the tannoy.
Buchanan skinned Rice and made it to the byeline. His low shot cracked off Kelly, rebounded off his leg and fell to Luke Rankin. His shot was then blocked by the arm of Rothwell on its way to goal, but it didn’t matter. There was more chaos to come.
Stefan Scougall scuffed an effort goalward, Max Aarons attempted to boot it clear and succeeded only in whacking it straight off the nut of the grounded Rothwell — seeing it shoot back in the other direction and cross the goal-line.
Madness, really. Thankfully for Martin, Fernandez, making his competitive debut, got Rangers back in front — and prevented the atmosphere from descending into something uncomfortable — before the half-hour.
Oscar Cortes didn’t do much during the game, in keeping with the rest of his Ibrox career. However, he did win a free-kick out on the right and that paved the way for Rothwell to send a quite delicious delivery into the heart of the area.
Fernandez seized his moment well — with an unchallenged header from inside the area beating McFarlane all ends-up.
That’s when it should have become a procession, but it didn’t. Kurtis Roberts tested Kelly with an ambitious effort from about 40 yards after another defensive mix-up and, after being skinned one time too many, Rice came off for Tavernier at the end of the opening 45.
The goal that offered Rangers welcome breathing space after a decent start to the second period finally came via the penalty spot on 67 minutes.
James Tavernier netted from the spot to give the hosts a 3-1 lead in the second half
McFarlane parried a shot from Bajrami into the path of Cortes and it looked like the Colombian would score until Alloa substitute Cameron O’Donnell appeared from nowhere to block.
It was as clear as day the ball had struck his hand, with the only surprise being that it took so long for the VAR check that led to referee Daniel McFarlane going to the pitchside monitor and giving the award.
Tavernier stepped up to smash the penalty low and hard off the inside of keeper McFarlane’s right hand post and that should have been that. Only it wasn’t.
After seeing Conor Sammon caught by Fernandez when clean through on goal after an intercepted pass from Djiga, that old problem of being unable to deal with set-pieces made for an interesting last 10 minutes.
O’Donnell fired in a free-kick from the right, David Devine rose high at the back post and, when his header came off the underside of the crossbar, Taggart was waiting on the goal-line to stick it into the net.
It took Curtis, not long on for Cortes, to settle the nerves seconds from the end of the regulation 90 when taking a pass from Kieran Dowell on the right of the area and placing it first-time into the net off the far post.
A win’s a win for a’ that, but the fact remains that Rangers need to be better than this.
