A late equaliser from Stevie Crawford prevented Rangers from ending their
double cup-winning season on a victorious note.
The Scotland striker pounced with four minutes to go to cancel out Craig
Moore's first-half opener.
Bright sunshine, pre-match presentations and youngsters making their first
starts in both teams all pointed to this being a typical low-key, end-of-season
affair.
It also marked the farewell from Scotland for Dunfermline captain Ian
Ferguson, the former Rangers stalwart, with the 35-year-old setting off for a
new life in Australia.
Both clubs gave him a memento and both sets of supporters gave him a standing
ovation before kick-off and towards the end when he was withdrawn.
Ferguson had made little impact on the pitch however as the match meandered
its way through the 90 minutes.
There was little to remember in the first half and the opening goal, courtesy
of Moore, was no classic.
Neil McCann's in-swinging corner into a crowded penalty box was good enough to
bamboozle the home defence and the Australian was there to apply a finishing
touch at the far post.
The home side had given a first start to young midfielder Kevin McLeish and he
showed himself to be willing to get involved by firing a couple of long-rangers
just off-target.
His namesake in the Rangers dug-out, Alex, had given starts to three
youngsters - goalkeeper Allan McGregor, striker Tom Brighton and winger Chris
Burke.
McGregor, who regularly warms the bench on first-team duty, pulled off a
quality save to protect his side's lead when Colin Nish, Scotland's most
prolific reserve-team striker, found himself with time and space in the box.
He fired the ball in powerfully but McGregor was perfectly positioned to
deflect it away.
Marco Ruitenbeek in the other goal had been busier and was needed before the
break to stop Lorenzo Amoruso netting direct from a free-kick after Andrius
Skerla had fouled Billy Dodds right on the edge of the area.
The Italian, who once again wore the armband in the absence of Barry Ferguson
and Arthur Numan, struck the ball well but the Dutchman was able to throw
himself into the air to palm it away.
That was to prove Rangers' last meaningful attack for a long while as the home
side dominated after the restart without making much headway.
A flurry of corners came to nothing, although McLeish did finally land a long
ranger on target only to see McGregor get behind it.
The Pars should have equalised around the hour mark when Ferguson demonstrated
why he was once so highly-rated with a defence-splitting pass to put Crawford in
on goal.
The striker is hoping to cement his place in Berti Vogts' Scotland plans -
although he has been omitted from tomorrow's Far East tour - but did himself no
favours by firing across goal and wide.
Rangers replaced Brighton with Michael Mols in an attempt to pep things up at
the other end.
It almost paid instant dividends when McCann set off on a jet-propelled run
down the left flank and planted a cross on the Dutchman's head only to see his
effort fly just wide.
It had been a difficult chance.
Stewart Petrie bundled Burke over on the edge of the area and it looked as
though Amoruso was going to have another crack. Instead it was McCann and he
blazed it over.
At the other end, Crawford tried to make amends for his earlier miss with some
clever footwork to set up a shooting chance. But the angle was tight and his
trajectory all wrong and the ball went flying into the stands as team-mates
berated him for not passing instead.
It was end-to-end stuff at long last and, after Dodds had caused problems in
the box, Maurice Ross fired narrowly over.
Then Mols produced one of his trademark turns in the box to fool his marker
but, with only Ruitenbeek to beat, he spoiled all that good work by poking
wide.
Ruitenbeek had to come smartly off his line to stop Dodds putting Mols through
but although substitute Russell Latapy retrieved the loose ball his attempt to
find an empty net was woefully misdirected.
It had appeared that all the home side's endeavours were going to go
unrewarded - until Crawford struck with four minutes left.
Nish's cushioned header had put him in behind the Rangers defence and this
time the finish was perfect.
Teams:
Dunfermline: Ruitenbeek, McLeish (Blair 87), Petrie, Skerla,
Nicholls (Kilgannon 55), Scott Thomson, Nicholson,
Ferguson (McGarty 81), Mason, Crawford, Nish.
Subs Not Used: Harrower, Sutherland.
Booked: Nish.
Goals: Crawford 86.
Rangers: McGregor, Ross, Vidmar, Moore (Latapy 74), Amoruso,
Malcolm, Nerlinger (Dowie 82), Brighton (Mols 60), Burke,
Dodds, McCann.
Subs Not Used: Smith, Numan.
Goals: Moore 28.
Att: 8,716
Ref: M McCurry (Scotland).
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