By John Turnbull at Forthbank Stadium
University of Stirling made it four wins in a row on Saturday with a 4-0 win as the students stunned Rangers B at Forthbank.
First-half goals from Scott McArthur and Conor Doan handed the Uni a comfortable lead heading into the break.
Rangers looked most like scoring first in the second half but Jamie Penker extended Stirling’s lead after excellent work from James Stokes, before Euan McGill grabbed a late fourth.
Head coach Chris Geddes said: “I’m over the moon, and the boys are delighted. It was a tough game, the scoreline will say it wasn’t but everyone here knew it was tough.
“We had to keep our shape and throw ourselves in front of things at times and Ben made some really good saves, but we were clinical and that killed the game. It’s a great win for us, I don’t know how many teams have taken four off the Old Firm teams this year.
“When you play these teams, you need all of your individual players to play well, and we did that. We got a complete performance and that contributed to getting four goals and a clean sheet.
“We’ve got five or six games left now and they’re all against teams we feel we can get something against. It’s great to beat a team like Rangers 4-0, moving into a cup final on Wednesday, so I’m delighted.”
The Old Firm side was expected to enjoy plenty of possession and they did so, but without troubling Stirling in the opening exchanges.
The Uni looked as comfortable defending as the forwards did at the other end and, after 20 minutes, Stirling took the lead.
Jason Jarvis was productive all afternoon and the midfielder found Scott McArthur on the right, who cut into the box past two defenders and slotted past Cervantes in the Rangers goal.
Conor Doan was the next midfielder to get on the scoresheet. A pinpoint corner from Jarvis caused the Gers defence problems and Doan was on hand to tuck away the loose ball.
Stirling were forced into defending well in the second half as the visitors came out firing. Ben Fry was called upon twice with two great saves before Penker compiled more misery on the young Gers.
The striker was in the right place at the right time to tap home on 50 minutes after excellent work from James Stokes.
And with a minute left Euan McGill capped a fine team performance, as the ball broke to the substitute on the edge of the box before coolly finding the far corner.
UoS: Fry, McGale, Burrows, Taylor, Lavery, Berry, Doan (De Zoeten 59’ (McGill 86’)), McArthur, Jarvis (Davidson 80’), Stokes, Penker (McKinlay 59’)
Rangers B: Cervantes, Devine, Fraser, Yfeko, McClelland, Miller, Lyall (McKinnon 59’), Ritchie-Hosler, Weston, McCann, McCausland (Dunlop 85’)