The Ibrox men will now go into tomorrow's draw
in Nyon, Switzerland to face one of seven possible
third-placed contenders, namely Feyenoord, Bayer
Leverkusen, Lens, Waregrem, Sporting Braga, Hapoel Tel
Aviv or Fenerbahce.
Rangers' first-ever meeting with FK Partizan
found the Light Blues requiring just a draw to secure
first place in the group, and Manager Paul Le Guen
made five changes from Saturday with Julien Rodriguez,
Gavin Rae, Thomas Buffel, Makhtar N'Diaye
(making his first start) and Filip Sebo replacing
Libor Sionko, Barry Ferguson, Jeremy Clement, Charlie
Adam and Dado Prso.
Conditions were far from ideal, although nothing like
the horrific weather of recent days - and it was
the Serbians who were first to threaten when two
crosses from Nebojsa Marinkovic found Nenad
Mirosavljevic in seven and sixteen minutes
respectively - the first header was too square,
the second went wide.
Rangers soon responded - within sixty seconds
Rae had struck the post following a one-two with Nacho
Novo.
The home side were starting to impose themselves
- and on the half-hour mark Sebo was twice
denied by Partizan goalkeeper Nikolas Asperogenis from
a Novo cross.
Asperogenis again came to the rescue immediately
afterwards, deflecting Buffel's drive over the
crossbar after the ball had broken to the Belgian
following Rae's powerful run.
With the interval approaching the visiting goalkeeper
again kept his side level, blocking Novo's
effort from a Buffel opening.
The deadlock was finally broken in 54 minutes when
Alan Hutton headed home a Novo free-kick.
The Serbians were far from out of it however -
Ivan Tomic testing Allan McGregor with a twenty-yard
shot that the goalkeeper held, then two minutes later
he was equal to a Nebojsa Marinkovic 25-yard
free-kick.
Sionko replaced Novo in 64 minutes, and the Czech
International released Buffel eight minutes later, the
Belgisn's shot being turned wide by Asperogenis.
Youngsters Alan Lowing and William Stanger replaced
Hutton and Buffel in 74 and 79 minutes respectively
- the latter making his competitive debut.
Partizan continued to press for an equaliser -
and Rodriguez kept Rangers ahead in 85 minutes when he
cleared a Mirosavljevic header off the line, then two
minutes later substitute Nehad Marinkovic broke
forward only to see his shot from the edge of the box
held by McGregor.
The win belonged to Rangers however - and with
it the group, although Livorno's 1-0 win in
Auxerre meant that not even a defeat would have denied
Rangers top spot.
Afterwards a contented Le Guen summarised:
“I am delighted with the win. It was important
to keep the momentum going with another clean sheet.
Filip Sebo worked hard without reward - but it
will come.”
Partizan Coach Miodrag Jesic meanwhile congratulated
Rangers on their win:
“We wish Rangers all the best. Conditions were
difficult, but I was pleased with my young players. It
was a very interesting game.”
RANGERS McGregor; Hutton (Lowing 74), Svensson,
Rodriguez, Smith; Rae, Hemdani, Buffel (Stanger 79),
N'Diaye; Novo (Sionko 64), Sebo
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Clement, Prso, Adam
PARTIZAN BELGRADE Asperogenis; Rnic, Djordjevic,
Mihajlov, Lomic; Smiljanic, Tomic, Bosancic (Nenad
Marinkovic 67), Zajic; Nebojsa Marinkovic (Vukelja
68), Mirosavljevic (Gulan 88)
UNUSED SUBS Jahic, Markovski, Lazic, Radovanovic
REFEREE Ruud Bossen (Netherlands)