A hard day's night for Rangers

Rangers suffered a night of embarrassment at Ibrox last night even though they eventually defeated the journeymen of Lithuania by enough of a margin to see them through in the second leg of this second round European Champions League preliminary tie at Ibrox last night.

For most of the game, Rangers toiled in vain to find a way through a packed defence, which started with 10 men back and was reduced to nine after a first half ordering off and then to eight after a second red card in 64 minutes.

However, it took two strikes from Billy Dodds as the game crept into injury time for Rangers to find the killer touch. Dodds, the bargain buy from Dundee United last season, suddenly discovered the goal touch which had deserted the Scottish champions for so much of the game.

In the first minute of injury time, the little striker took a pass from Jorg Albertz, turned his marker, and then struck a glorious shot beyond the Lithuanian goalkeeper and into the net.

Two more minutes saw a repeat, with Albertz again supplying the pass and Dodds the finish, this time a low shot which deceived the keeper as the striker fell back after placing the ball low into goal.

Rangers were unable to find the creativity required to break down the packed defence - and which they knew beforehand they would find as the men from the Baltic attempted to shut up shop.

In the first half, Allan Johnston had scored after 14 minutes, and that should have given the Ibrox men the impetus required to go on and take control of the tie.

Instead, they allowed Zalgiris Kaunas to equalise when Audrius Zuta scored, and it took a penalty goal from Albertz in 62 minutes to restore that often fragile-looking lead.

Even after the opposition went down to nine men, Rangers found it hard when they should have been able to kill off their opponents.

It took until injury time, and while all coaches tell you that patience is required and goals at the end of a game count just as significantly as any scored early, Advocaat will not be happy with the display.

Yes, he has big name players to come back into his team who did not play last night and now they are sure to be in the next round - an away win is not beyond them against this level of opposition - but the next round takes on a more dangerous aspect after this faltering, fumbling and feckless display.

Far from being 'Simply The Best', it was simply the worst.

Claudio Reyna made a totally unexpected appearance back in Glasgow, from his World Cup qualification matches with the United States, and Advocaat opted to leave out Andrei Kanchelskis, Neil McCann, and Dodds as his team looked to qualify for the third preliminary round of the European Champions League.

By the time the game had moved towards the twelfth minute, the impatient Advocaat had left his seat in the directors' box and moved into the technical area, within two minutes, whether galvanised by his presence or not, Rangers had scored.

A free kick from Reyna found Albertz, who played the ball forward into the crowded penalty area. The ball broke from a defender, and as goalkeeper Marius Poskus came off his line in an attempt to retrieve the situation, Jonatan Johansson reached the ball first, prodded it wide to the left and found Johnston. The Scotland internationalist, making his competitive debut for the Ibrox club, sent a low shot into the empty goal.

Ten minutes later, the unthinkable happened when Zalgiris equalised. They were allowed to continue after a foul throw on the right, and somehow the Rangers defence allowed Audrius Zuta the time and the space to rifle a shot from 20 yards beyond Stefan Klos into the net.

The heavy tackling forecast by Advocaat had been seen briefly, and, after being warned earlier, Vadim Petrenko was cautioned for a foul on Albertz, and, six minutes later was red-carded for another trip on the German, who had been his target for the night.

The loss of Petrenko did not help Rangers as they struggled to find any attacking rhythm, and, indeed, two of their players, Barry Ferguson and Scott Wilson picked up yellow cards for clumsy challenges against players who were clearly troublesome but not accustomed to playing at the same level as the Scottish club.

At the start of the second half, Neil McCann and Dodds appeared in place of Wilson and Johansson, and Barry Ferguson stepped into the sweeper's role as Rangers went for the goals they needed before the return next week.

Rod Wallace headed a cross from Johnston off target before the breakthrough came in 62 minutes. Astonishingly, Poskus, who had seemed so reliable, missed a cross ball from Reyna. When the ball broke away he tried to recover, but hauled down Craig Moore.

The penalty was given, and Albertz sent a low shot past the dispirited keeper to give Rangers the lead again.

If that was not enough to worry the visitors, they had a second player red-carded two minutes after the goal, when Nerijus Barasa was ordered off after the linesman raised his flag to indicate to the referee that the player had been guilty of dissent following the penalty award and the subsequent goal.

Kenny Miller took over from Tony Vidmar in 70 minutes, and, soon after, Reyna struck a shot which Poskus somehow reached to block and Rangers just could not turn their possession into the goals they wanted before flying to the little Baltic country next week.

This was not what the 45,974 crowd had expected and they made their feelings known, but luckily for the Ibrox support Dodds was on hand to make next week's return no more than formality

Rangers - Klos, Ricksen, Moore, Wilson, Vidmar, Reyna, Ferguson, Albertz, Johansson, Wallace, Johnston. Substitutes - Dodds, Kanchelskis, Miller, Brown, McCann, Porrini, Ritchie.

Zalgiris Kaunas - Poskus, Barasa, Petrenko, Regelskis, Kancelskis, Zelmikas, Dedura, Guodeikis, Dezykornodas, Zuca, Ksanadicius. Substitutes - Padinanasks, Galgota, Danilicevas, Puotkalis, Mika, Velicka, Kunedidius.

Referee - E Zammit (Malta).