Rangers 4 Cowdenbeath 1

Pic: Jeff Holmes

Bilel Mohsni was left breathing a sigh of relief as his horror mistake did not end up costing Rangers after Stuart McCall's team rallied to a 4-1 Scottish Championship win over Cowdenbeath at Ibrox. The defender was culpable for Kudus Oyenuga's 77th-minute equaliser after Nicky Clark had given the hosts the lead just after half-time. But he was rescued by Darren McGregor when the full-back rifled the Light Blues back in front with six minutes to go before substitute Haris Vuckic put a gloss on the scoreline with his late double. Mohsni did not hang about at the full-time whistle and looked a relieved man as he darted down the tunnel. The victory was Gers' first at home since they beat Dumbarton on January 3 and moved them to within a couple of points of second-placed Hibernian with a game in hand. While newly-crowned Championship winners Hearts were celebrating their return to the top-flight at Tynecastle, the Ibrox side were desperate to ensure Cowdenbeath did not spoil their own hopes of staging a play-off promotion party. McCall used a back three to great success against Hibernian last week as he registered his opening win as boss. But Marius Zaliukas's involvement with Lithuania as they lost to England at Wembley on Friday night meant Gers went back to a 4-4-2, with winger David Templeton given his first start since January 10. The former Hearts attacker's middle name is Cooper in tribute to the late Gers winger Davie and the Ibrox support unveiled a banner display before kick-off marking the 20th anniversary of his death. International action also caused disruption to Cowden's preparations - although in their case it was boss Jimmy Nicholl who missed out after joining up with Northern Ireland to assist Michael O'Neill's side ahead of Sunday's European Championship qualifier with Finland. Rangers looked sluggish in the opening stages but did have three decent attempts at taking the lead after 13 minutes. The first two saw Fifers keeper Robbie Thomson produce fine saves as he tipped over headers by Lee McCulloch and Mohsni from Nicky Law corners before the Tunisian nodded wide with another effort. Law thought he had beat the stopper soon after a his cute turn found him some space in the box, but his curling effort bounced off the post and straight into Thomson's grateful grasp. Traffic was only going in one direction at this point but the visitors were standing strong. Kenny Miller had two shots at beating Thomson but dragged his second wide, while Dean Shiels fired across the face of goal. Rangers looked to Templeton to provide them with a spark but at times he looked like a player who had not started a match in three months. When he did hook it up, though, it was impressive. His dancing feet took him past three opponents but Shiels could only fire straight at Thomson from his assist. And he played a part too as Cowdenbeath's resistance was finally broken four minutes into the second half with a perfectly-weighted pass for Lee Wallace. The full-back's low shot was parried by Thomson but Clark beat Nat Wedderburn to the rebound as he slid home from close range. But Rangers failed to build on their lead as they allowed the tempo to drop off. Clark and Miller both blew decent chances and it proved costly as Mohsni's gaffe handed the visitors a lifeline. The former Southend defender was put under pressure by Oyenuga and rushed his pass out of defence and watched with horror as it fell straight for Colin Marshall. His cushioned pass was perfect for Oyenuga to run onto and the ex-Spurs youth kept his cool as he beat Cammy Bell. But Mohsni's blushes were spared six minutes from time as McGregor rifled home a stunning winner. Teenage substitute Ryan Hardie rolled a square ball to the full-back whose 25 yard strike was powerful enough to beat Thomson. Vuckic gave the result a varnish it barely deserved, though, when he stroked home the third after combining with Wallace inside the box. The Newcastle loanee then rolled home his fifth goal in Rangers colours after cutting inside to his left foot to shoot in stoppage time.