Alloa 1 Rangers 1

Rangers lost more ground to Hearts in the race for the Scottish Championship crown as they could only draw 1-1 at part-time Alloa.

The teams had not met in a competitive match for 93 years but Wasps defender Jonathan Tiffony put Barry Smith's side into a shock lead with his 35th-minute header.

But Rangers had their blushes spared with David Templeton's close-range leveller with just six minutes remaining.

The result means they now trail their Tynecastle rivals by three points after the Jambos smashed Cowdenbeath 5-1 in Gorgie.

Light Blues boss Ally McCoist had admitted before the match that he had enjoyed one of his best weeks since the club was banished to the lower leagues as his side registered impressive back-to-back wins over Raith and top-flight high-fliers Inverness.

But they were well off the pace against Smith's band of committed workers.

To make matters worse, they lost both Lewis Macleod and Nicky Clark to injury before the first 45 minutes was out.

There was a tentativeness about the Glasgow giants as they kicked off on the Wasps' plastic pitch.

Kris Boyd - who has yet to find the net on league duty - wasted his first chance as he fired over from strike partner Clark's tidy lay-off 12 minutes in, before doing the same with a header moments later when Fraser Aird hung up a cross to the back post.

The hosts were in no mood to lie down to their guests either and came close to scoring midway through the half when Kyle Benedictus nodded wide from Ryan McCord's out-swinging corner.

Keeper Steve Simonsen was nearly left red faced by the most comical of gaffes. The Englishman - deputising for the injured Cammy Bell - messed up a long throw as the ball fumbled from his grasp before kicking the ball straight to Graeme Holmes, who fired over from 30 yards with the stopper still scrambling back into position.

The positivity seemed to be seeping out of Rangers and Alloa rightly sensed the time was right to strike. Left-back Mark Docherty was allowed to advance forward and flight a cross in between Darren McGregor and Lee McCulloch.

Neither of the Gers defenders took command and that allowed Tiffony to dart in and flick a clever home with the help of the back post.

Things went from bad to worse for the hosts - who had already seen Lewis MacLeod limp off early on - when Jon Daly was then forced to replace Clark just before the interval after the striker picked up a shoulder injury.

Boyd passed up another opening when he again headed over 10 minutes into the second period, while Alloa thought they had a second when Steve Simmons came close after connecting well with another McCord corner.

The desperation in Rangers' play grew ever more obvious as they continued to toil against their part-time opponents.

They thought they had an equaliser as McCulloch met Aird's corner but Kevin Cawley was well paced for the home side as he headed off the line.

But McCoist's side switched off as Alloa quickly broke. Tiffony sent Greig Spence galloping through on the visitors' goal but the striker blew a golden chance to double his team's lead when his fired straight at Simonsen.

It was a costly miss as Rangers finally drew level with six minutes left. Arnold Peralta's corner was fired towards John Gibson by McCulloch but, despite the home keeper making a brave block, he could do nothing as Templeton tapped home from the rebound at the back post.

Daly thought he had grabbed a last-ditch winner as he blasted into the net following a long Stevie Smith free-kick, but the offside flag was already up.