with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Falkirk this
afternoon, the club's first win at the Falkirk
Stadium.
However it was a far from impressive display by the
Scottish Champions on a difficult pitch, who will have
to improve by an infinite degree to have any chance in
Spain on Tuesday.
It has been all of 35 years since Rangers last lost a
League fixture to Falkirk, yet the Ibrox men had
failed to overcome their opponents in two meetings
this season, even though they have yet to win an SPL
fixture at their own ground.
Manager Alex McLeish made three changes from
Villarreal with Oliver Bernard, Nacho Novo and Kris
Boyd replacing Chris Burke, Hamed Namouchi and Peter
Lovenkrands.
The game was slow to get started, with the first
effort worthy of note being that by Novo in 23
minutes, his wide-angled drive being held by home
goalkeeper Alan Ferguson.
Eight minutes later Dado Prso's header from a Steven
Smith free-kick struck the post with the 'Bairns'
defence floundering.
A truly woeful first-half ended goalless, and Alex
McLeish was obliged to introduce Burke in place of
Bernard.
Rangers might have broken the deadlock three minutes
into the second-half when Novo fired over from a Prso
knock-down.
The opening goal finally arrived in 57 minutes - Boyd
heading home a Barry Ferguson free-kick.
Sixty seconds later the 'Bairns' almost struck back
when Daniel McBreen saw his left-foot shot parried by
Ronald Waterreus, Steven Smith clearing the danger.
The scores were levelled in 65 minutes when Patrick
Cregg, outstanding in midfield, released former Ranger
Russell Latapy following a Julien Rodriguez error -
the Trinidad and Tobago midfielder holding off the
challenge of Brahim Hemdani to slot the ball home.
Clegg could consider himself fortunate that his
gestures to the Rangers' fans behind the goal went
unnoticed by Referee Charlie Richmond.
Sixty seconds later Boyd had the ball in the net only
for the goal to be chalked off for an infringement.
Just when it appeared that yet another draw was about
to hit Rangers' hopes of qualifying for Europe, the
Light Blues finally got a break in 69 minutes when
Prso created space on the left - his cutback being
sliced into his own net by Marc Twaddle with Boyd
about to pounce.
Novo almost secured the win in 82 minutes when he
seized on a long ball from Waterreus only to see his
goalbound shot blocked by the outstanding Alan
Ferguson.
Falkirk never gave up - and Latapy was too close for
comfort four minutes later with a thirty-yard
free-kick that flashed wide.
The points were secure however, leaving Rangers in
third place narrowly ahead of both Hibernian and
Kilmarnock - and afterwards McLeish summarised:
"It was a tough game. We had to make enforced changes
with Thomas Buffel and Hamed Namouchi injured, Ian
Murray and Chris Burke suffering from flu. The three
new men worked hard. We conceded a bad goal through
loss of concentration."
FALKIRK Ferguson; Milne, Lawrie, Ross, Twaddle;
Thomson, Latapy, Cregg, Craig (Moutinho 84); Gow,
McBreen
UNUSED SUBS Howard, Scally, Lima, Theobald, Barr,
Tiago
RANGERS Waterreus; Hutton, Kyrgiakos, Rodriguez,
Bernard (Burke 45); Novo (Lovenkrands 83), Ferguson,
Hemdani, Smith; Prso, Boyd
UNUSED SUBS Klos, Ricksen, Andrews, G. Rae, Ashikodi
REFEREE Charlie Richmond
Attendance 6,343