Last Tuesday they beat Stenhousemuir 4-3 at Ochilview, on Saturday they drew 1-1 with Raith Rovers, and on Monday they lost 0-5 when they took on a Sunderland XI at Shielfield.

Rangers will now play their final pre-season friendly tomorrow (Friday) when they take on St Johnstone at Shielfield.

After Saturday's game Rangers' manager Jimmy Crease confirmed the signing of striker Darren Gribben, who returns for a second spell with the club.

Gribben spent last year playing Junior football with Boness, where he was a regular scorer, and Crease says that if he can continue in that vein he should prove a useful acquisition.

"We know what we are getting with Darren," he said. "He has his frailties, but he is a proven goalscorer.

"When he was last with us he almost finished the top scorer in the league, and for a team who finished second bottom that was quite an achievement."

Unfortunately, Berwick will be without Stuart Callaghan for the start of the season as he has sustained a broken bone in his ankle.

Call, who was last season's skipper, picked up the knock during the game against Raith and Crease said he had sustained 'a small fracture.'
"It's a blow," said Crease, "because he will be out for several weeks and will definitely miss the start of the competitive season.

"On top of that we have two players suspended for the Alba Cup, so it's not the ideal way to start out."

Gribben's arrival takes the Berwick squad for the new season to 18 and Crease says that he hopes to add one more before kick-off.

"We have several irons in the fire," he said, "and hopefully we can get another player on board, which would keep us in budget, but we will just have to wait and see how things develop."

On Monday Rangers were outplayed by a young Sunderland side who made their intentions known from the start with Oumara Toukara firing narrowly wide after just two minutes.

The visitors took the lead after nine minutes when Dan Madden side-footed the ball in off the back post when Rangers failed to clear from a free kick.

And after 13 minutes it was 0-2 when another free kick, this time from a central position, was rammed home by Jordan Cook.

For their part, Berwick created several half chances during the course of the game, with Gribben (twice), Paul Currie, Fraser McLaren and trialist Ryan Holms all firing in strikes.

However, these were mostly from outside the box and posed little threat for the Sunderland keeper.

In the second half both sides made several changes but when Toukara cut in from the right and shot low into the net after 58 minutes there was only ever going to be one outcome.

David Healey added a fourth after 80 minutes, with substitute Adam Reed netting the fifth just a minute from the end.

Afterwards. Crease said: "After Saturday's performance I was disappointed with the way we played tonight, because we didn't pass the ball well at all."

* BERWICK drew 1-1 with Raith Rovers in their opening home friendly at Shielfield on Saturday.

The visitors took the lead after only seven minutes when O'Carroll blocked a Mark Peat clearance in the Berwick goalmouth. The ball spun across the box and looked to be going wide, but Baird got to it first and turned it in past the despairing keeper.

After quarter of an hour Peat was forced into making a fingertip save from O'Carroll, and minutes later Raith thought they had extended their lead to 2-0 when Walker netted straight from a corner, but the referee adjudged that Peat had been fouled.

After half an hour Kevin Gordon forced Rovers' keeper McGurn to push away a shot and Rangers finally got themselves back on level terms before half-time when a corner dropped in the six yard box, it wasn't cleared properly and Paul Currie drove the ball into the roof of the net.

Both teams made changes after the break. Raith had the better of the early exchanges and made several threatening breaks up the Rangers' left.

But Berwick finished the stronger and forced several chances themselves. They had one effort cleared off the line before a last-gasp tackle in the final minute denied what might have been a late winner.

* NEW Berwick striker Craig O'Reilly was on target last Tuesday as Berwick beat Stenhousemuir 4-3 at Ochilview.

Another new signing, Rangers' old boy Kevin Gordon, bagged two, whilst skipper Stuart Callaghan also netted.

The Bordererss turned in a fine first half performance and led 4-0 at the break, but they changed things around in the second half, as did Stenny, who pulled three goals back.