RANGERS DEFIED BY SLOVAK GOALKEEPER

RANGERS DEFIED BY SLOVAK GOALKEEPER Rangers 0 Artmedia Bratislava 0 Attendance 49,018 It was a night where the Light Blues failed to capatilise on a whole host of chances – visiting goalkeeper Juraj Cobej defying the Scottish Champions time and time again. On the only previous occasion when Rangers met a Slovakian team in Europe the Light Blues eliminated Red Star Bratislava in 1959-60 and progressed as far as the semi-finals of the European Champions’ Cup before going under to Eintracht Frankfurt Artmedia of course defeated Celtic en route to the Champions’ League, and have performed with no little pride and skill thus far in the campaign. Manager Alex McLeish made two changes from Tannadice with Hamed Namouchi and Federico Nieto replacing Chris Burke and Francis Jeffers. Inspired by a near-capacity crowd of 49,018 spectators, Rangers were in pursuit of the opening goal from the opening minutes – and Dado Prso should have provided it in eleven minutes when Cobej blocked his shot following a penetrating Peter Lovenkrands run. Three minutes later Prso turned creator, his slip releasing Nieto whose shot was again blocked by Cobej. It was all Rangers – and the best chance of the night fell to Namouchi in 33 minutes when he beat the offside trap to home in on a Prso cross only to see Cobej deflect his effort wide. Four minutes later the Scottish Champions suffered yet another injury blow when Nieto limped off to be replaced by Steven Thompson. Cobej rescued the Slovakian side yet again in 39 minutes when he clawed away Sotirios Kyrgiakos’ header following an Olivier Bernard free-kick. On the very cusp of the interval Brahim Hemdani, impressing greatly on his home debut, tested Cobej with a 25-yard shot following a Fernando Ricksen free-kick. Rangers had totally dominated the first-half, but there was a growing unease inside the Stadium that the home side would come to regret those missed chances, as indeed had been the case against Dundee United. The Ibrox men restarted still very much on the offensive – Prso working his way to the byeline in 50 minutes only to see his cutback to Thomson deflected wide by a defender. Sixty seconds later Cobej produced the save of the night with a superb save from Bernard’s 22-yard left-foot drive. Artmedia produced their one shot on target of the evening in 57 minutes when the ball broke to Lukas Hartig following a Jan Kozak free-kick – but Ronald Waterreus was on hand to block his effort. The Light Blues suffered yet one more injury blow when Kyrgiakos limped off, being substituted by Marvin Andrews. Eight minutes later Namouchi saw his low thirty-yard shot from a Barry Ferguson pass turned wide by Cobej. The Slovakian goalkeeper made perhaps his one mistake of the night midway through the second-half when he spilled Ferguson’s inswinging free-kick which Thompson had lamentably failed to make contact with, but the loose ball was scrambled clear by Ales Urbanek. Chris Burke replaced Namouchi in 74 minutes, as time began to run away from Rangers. The tempo of the game and the effort generated by Rangers took its’ toll in the closing stages – so much so that amidst a plethora of bookings (including one unjust yellow card for Prso in 83 minutes for alleged simulation) the one chance of the final quarter fell to the Croatian centre five minutes later when, taking a long Ricksen pass on his chest, he volleyed just wide from the edge of the box. The final whistle brought forth a crescendo of booing – perhaps unjustified on this occasion – but the bottom line is that with Porto’s’ 2-0 win over Internazionale in Portugal tonight the grim reality for Rangers is that far from achieving second position in the group, there is every likelihood that fourth place is now staring them in the face. Afterwards a frustrated Alex McLeish reflected: “I couldn’t believe the chances we missed. Our tempo was superb in the first-half. The Artmedia goalkeeper was magnificent. The fans were brilliant. We now need to take something from Bratislava, but you can’t rule us out.” Artmedia Coach Vladimir Weiss was much more positive: “I am very happy with the draw, which was thanks to our goalkeeper. Rangers are a very good team, and had many chances. We had just two, but deserved the draw. The crowd was fantastic tonight. Bratislava will be completely different – Rangers will have to win if they are to qualify. Our defence played well tonight. We will give Rangers a warm welcome to Slovakia, and hope for a full house.” RANGERS Waterreus; Ricksen, Kyrgiakos (Andrews 57), Rodriguez, Bernard; Namouchi (Burke 74), Ferguson, Hemdani, Lovenkrands; Prso, Nieto (Thompson 37) UNUSED SUBS Fanfan, Murray, Klos, McCormack ARTMEDIA BRATISLAVA Cobej; Petras, Debnar, Durica, Urbanek; Vascak (Obzera 67), Kozak, Borbely, Fodrek; Halenar (Tchur 72), Hartig (Stano 82) UNUSED SUBS Kamenar, Burak, Mikulic, Konecny REFEREE Arturo Dauden Ibanez (Spain)