Millar has last word for Falkirk to dash McCoist's cup hopes
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Your support makes all the difference.Rangers, the holders, were dumped out of the Scottish Communities League Cup in the most dramatic manner at Falkirk last night. Mark Millar scored the winner with the last action of the game, a 25-yard free-kick which somehow squirmed in via the goalkeeper's hand and the underside of the bar, to send the First Division side into the quarter-finals with a 3-2 victory. But that did not tell the whole story of an amazing second 45 minutes.
Falkirk led 2-0 after 73 minutes after two second-half headers from Moroccan goal machine Farid El Alagui, his ninth and 10th of the season, put the Bairns within reach of a huge upset.
Rangers finally came to life in the last quarter of an hour and laid siege to the Falkirk goal, Dorin Golan getting a goal back in the 83rd minute. Nikica Jelavic seemed to have come to Rangers' rescue when he drove home with three minutes remaining, but Falkirk broke away in the last moments to win the free-kick that stunned the Rangers manager, Ally McCoist, just three days after celebrating a win over Celtic in the first Old Firm derby of the season.
"I'm bitterly, bitterly disappointed at the way we played for an hour," McCoist admitted. "We had to play at a high tempo like we did previously and we didn't do it."
Meanwhile, an early Gary Cooper strike and an unfortunate second-half own goal by Scott Boyd gave Celtic a 2-0 win at Ross County.
In the Carling Cup, Phil Neville was Everton's match-winner on his return to the starting line-up as his extra-time goal secured a 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion at Goodison Park.
Neville, recalled after two matches as an unused substitute, curled home a left-footed shot from outside the area in the 103rd minute. That Everton had got that far was down to Marouane Fellaini's volley a minute from the end of normal time to equalise Chris Brunt's second-half penalty. Everton's assistant manager Steve Round called Neville's goal "a wonder-strike".
Elsewhere, Cardiff beat Leicester 7-6 on penalties after a 2-2 draw, Paul Quinn scoring the decisive spot-kick, while Southampton won 2-1 at home to League One Preston, Adam Lallana coming off the bench to almost immeadiately hit their winner.
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