Rangers 0-1 Falkirk
Rangers won the inaugural League Cup the previous season and would very soon go on to complete the first domestic treble of League, Scottish Cup and League Cup. However, the second season of the new competition in season 1947-48 saw Rangers fall at the penultimate hurdle. The Light Blues lost to a single goal from the Bairns in front of 44,000 at Hampden Park.
Falkirk progressed to the final where they met East Fife, managed by former Rangers player and later-to-be manager Scot Symon. It was the Fifers that lifted the Cup with a comfortable 4-1 in a replay following a goalless draw.
11 October 1947
Team: Brown, Young, Shaw, McColl, Woodburn, Cox, Rutherford, Gillick, Thornton, Findlay, Duncanson.
Falkirk 0-5 Rangers
Rangers 4-3 Falkirk
The next meeting of the clubs came in 1955 when the League Cup group stage saw two games within a few days of each other. In both games, Johnny Hubbard scored twice, with Alex Scott and Max Murray also netting; Murray's goals coming in his first two games for the club after signing from Queen's Park. Hunter McMillan, cousin of 1960s Rangers legend Ian, scored the Gers' fifth in the away tie.
13 & 17 August 1955
Team: Niven, Caldow, Little, McColl, Young, Prentice, Scott, Simpson, Murray, McMillan, Hubbard.
Rangers 3-1 Falkirk
Falkirk 1-5 Rangers
Jock Wallace's second season in charge opened with a tie against the Bairns at Ibrox in August 1973. Two goals form debutante Ally Scott and a third from Alfie Conn sealed a 3-1 win. Two wins over Arbroath and an away win and home defeat against Celtic later, Rangers comfortably dispatched of Falkirk at Brockville, scoring five goals. Alfie Conn scored a double - his fifth and sixth of the League Cup campaign - with Alex O'Hara, Tommy McLean and Tam Forsyth making it five.
11 August 1973
Team: McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Greig, Johnstone, McDonald, McLean, Forsyth, Scott, Parlane, Mason.
Subs: Conn.
29 August 1973
Team: Kennedy, Jardine, Mathieson, Donaldson, Johnstone, McDonald, McLean, Forsyth, O'Hara, Scott, Smith.
Subs: Hamilton, Conn.
Rangers 1-0 Falkirk
Trying times for Rangers fans during Jock Wallace's second spell in charge saw the League Cup as one of the few things to cheer. The 1984/85 competition saw Rangers retain the Cup, beating Dundee United in the Hampden final. The first game of the campaign was a home tie against Falkirk played in front of just over 10,000 fans, with a solitary McPherson goal being enough to see the Gers through to the third round.
22 August 1984
Team: Walker, McKinnon, McClelland, Redford, Fraser, Paterson, McPherson, Russell, Ferguson, McCoist, Cooper.
Subs: Clark, Burns.
Rangers 1-2 Falkirk
Despite cruising comfortably to the League title and seven-in-a-row in 1994/95, Rangers crashed out of three cup competitions early on. A cringeworthy 3-0 aggregate loss to AEK Athens meant European football was over before the end of August and Hearts would later triumph in the Scottish Cup 4th round in February.
The League Cup initially saw Rangers easily put aside Arbroath thanks to a Duncan Ferguson hattrick but a Laudrup goal at Ibrox wasn't enough, and the Bairns won 2-1. As many will remember, the League Cup was lifted at Ibrox later in the season when Raith Rovers triumphed on penalties over a McStay-lead Celtic side.
31 August 1994
Team: Goram, Robertson, Gough, McPherson, McCall, Durrant, Moore, I. Ferguson, Durie, Laudrup, Hateley.
Subs: D. Ferguson.
Rangers 4-1 Falkirk
The most recent League Cup meeting between the Rangers and Falkirk was in Walter Smith's last season in charge during the 1990s. Despite Kevin James opening the scoring during the first half, a McCoist hat-trick, sealed with a penalty at the death, and a Stale Stensaas second-half goal ensured progress. Defeat in the next round to Dundee United would see Rangers eventually finish trophyless for the first season in over a decade.
19 August 1997
Team: Goram, Cleland, Stensaas, Porrini, Vidmar, Moore, Miller, Durie, I. Ferguson, Negri, McCoist.
Subs: Gattuso, van Vossen.
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