Appeal for calm as Rangers fans set off flares at Stirling

SECURITY officials were forced to appeal to Rangers supporters for calm, and considered holding up a friendly at Stirling Albion last night, after an unruly minority of travelling supporters set of flares.

An appeal was made over Stirling's loudspeakers for the Rangers fans to behave as an Ibrox reserve team, made up mainly of Under-19 players, beat Stirling 1-0 in a testimonial match for Albion's former chairman Peter McKenzie, thanks to a late goal from Rhys McCabe.

Stirling officials insisted after the match there was never any danger of the match being abandoned, although they conceded the game was briefly in danger of being stopped for a couple of minutes had the Rangers supporters not responded to the appeals for calm. The match was watched by a crowd of 1,200.

St Mirren showed no adverse reaction to assistant manager Iain Jenkins leaving on Monday evening as Danny Lennon's men defeated Dumbarton 2-0 at Strathclyde Homes Stadium.

Former Scotland internationalist Gary Teale gave the Paisley men an early lead when he lobbed over Jamie Ewings with just four minutes gone and, as they continued to dominate the opening half, midfielder Steven Thomson shot home their second from 20 yards.

The SPL side continued to press forward and they missed several opportunities to increase their lead before half-time. The Sons made more of a game of things in the second half and Graeme Smith was forced into making fine saves on two occasions as the hosts battled in vain to force a goal.

Gretna 2008 hosted Hamilton Accies at Raydale Park and the First Division side ran out winners with a 4-0 scoreline. The Accies moved ahead in 11 minutes thanks to a drive from the edge of the box from recent signing Grant Anderson after a fine pass from Dougie Imrie.

The visitors missed a penalty on 29 minutes but they quickly made amends with Mark McLaughlin heading in from a corner and then Simon Mensing converting a Stephen Hendrie pass before half time.

Youngster Jordan Kirkpatrick netted a fourth after good build up play from Ali Crawford with three minutes left to complete the scoring.

Raith Rovers drew 1-1 with English side Morecambe. John McGlynn's men fell behind with 10 minutes left at Stark's Park however frontman John Baird pitched in with a late leveller. Alloa Athletic and Airdrie shared a similar scoreline at Recreation Park, with Wasps manager Paul Hartley using the game to run his eye over a total of seven trialists, with former Aberdeen youngster Stirling Smith doing his chances no harm by hitting a fine equaliser for the Wasps.

Jimmy Boyle's side took the lead on 62 minutes when Ryan Wallace capitalised on a poor passback from Stevie Masterton to take the ball round Craig McDowall and slot home.

Smith cut in from the left and smashed home a drive from 25 yards to level things nine minutes later.