It was not quite the night of a thousand stars, but there was no shortage of cameo performances for a capacity crowd to savour with special guests in abundance.

As chairman of McLaren's testimonial committee, Gascoigne had done much of the ground work to ensure his first Ibrox showing since his switch to Boro last season was a memorable occasion.

Gascoigne defied tradition by swapping shirts at the break rather than the end and milked the applause from the Rangers fans denied a previous opportunity to offer him a suitable farewell.

But Gazza was by no means out to steal the show and proved as much by saving his ultimate gesture for the 73rd minute when Rangers won a penalty 3-2 down.

Rather than take the kick himself, Gazza led a call to the bench and, after some delay, McLaren strode on to fire low and true past Mark Schwarzer to mark his Rangers finale in style.

Rangers had started with 12 men as McLaren himself kicked off the contest, then made a dignified departure, the knee injury which curtailed his career limiting him to that late reappearance.

Robbie Fowler, shrugging aside any disappointment at an FA misconduct charge for his weekend spat with Graeme Le Saux, opened the scoring with an assured seventh minute finish.

Barry Nicholson's precise cross was headed in via the underside of the bar by Fowler, a self-confessed Gers supporter who slotted into the home line-up as if he had always been there.

Scott Wilson almost captured the friendly mood a little too much by coming within an inch of putting the ball past his own keeper, but it was a night when the scoreline hardly mattered.

Instead worth noting were combinations of play never to be repeated, a stylish Chris Waddle pass for Gascoigne whose shimmy was read by Ray Wilkins winning the tackle to his obvious delight.

There was no shortage of sentiment on view to the point that when Gascoigne levelled for Boro, ahead of his interval switch, the Rangers support applauded.

That goal to make it 1-1 came from the penalty spot after Colin Hendry handled on the goal-line after Stefan Klos had hesitated with a backpass and was put under pressure by Robbie Mustoe.

Amid the party atmosphere, Paraguayan Miguel Dominguez, the 19-year-old keen to secure a switch from Atletico Tembetaro, marked a skilful showing with an individual effort on the hour mark.

Stephane Guivarc'h levelled for Rangers with virtually his first touch, a diving header to meet fellow substitute Jonatan Johansson's cross once Fowler had departed the fray.

A delicate Mikkel Beck chip restored the visitors' advantage before McLaren's emotional spot-kick conversion made it 3-3 but the script was not to read quite as planned.

With just four minutes remaining Beck netted with a close range angled drive, but Rangers' leading scorer Rod Wallace was having none of that making it honours even at 4-4 in the final minute.