Nicky Clark had a couple of chances inside the first five minutes as Rangers made an attacking start to the match, but a header from close range was saved before a looping effort moments later was just high.

The hosts continued to look the more likely in the opening half-hour, with Kris Boyd and Andy Murdoch both keeping Craig McDowall busy in the Alloa goal, while Lee Wallace turned a Boyd delivery just wide.

Alloa's only chance in the first half came moments before half time when Kevin Cawley tried his luck from range, but his curling finish was just wide of the left upright.

Despite Rangers' first-half dominance, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock shortly after the restart as Mark Docherty curled the ball into the box from a free kick, leaving Ben Gordon to nod it in with a sliced header.

The home side pushed for a quick equaliser, with Wallace winning a free kick as he charged down the wing, but Darren McGregor's header from the resulting set piece was saved.

Rangers continued to pile forward though, and finally found the back of the net inside the last 20 minutes when a corner was cleared as far as Clark on the edge of the box, leaving him to catch the Alloa defenders out with a header from distance and squeeze it into the top of the goal.

Buoyed by his goal, Clark was on the charge again moments later as he burst into the box to meet a cross from David Templeton, heading in again to give the hosts the lead for the first time in the match.

It was a short-lived advantage though as Docherty supplied another accurate ball from a free kick, setting up Liam Buchanan to power the ball in from inside the six-yard box.

Jon Daly had a couple of half-chances to steal a win for Rangers late on, but he headed wide twice in just over a minute, while a long-range effort from Tom Walsh also missed the target.

The result leaves Rangers in third, while Alloa move up to eighth, jumping out of the relegation playoff place.