following tonight's superb win over Werder Bremen at
Ibrox, a result that leaves the Scots in prime
position to qualify for the quarter-finals of the UEFA
Cup.
The tie is far from over, but few friends of Rangers
would not have settled for such a lead prior to
kick-off tonight against a side currently lying second
in the Bundesliga. Indeed the margin of victory could
have been even greater by the close of play.
Ibrox Captain Barry Ferguson was presented with a
silver salver prior to kick-off by Rangers legend (and
former captain) John Greig for his achievement in
setting a new Scottish club European appearance record
- this being his 77th such game for the club,
overtaking the previous record held by David Narey of
Dundee United. Greig of course formerly held the
Rangers record with 64 appearances.
Manager Walter Smith made three changes from Saturday
with Sasa Papac, Brahim Hemdani and Daniel Cousin
replacing Steven Whittaker, Chris Burke and Kris Boyd.
There was a healthy travelling support from Bremen as
Rangers almost made a whirlwind start inside sixty
seconds when Charlie Adam's twenty-yard drive from
Cousin's knockback was fisted away by visiting
goalkeeper Tim Weise.
Werder had the majority of posession in these early
stages - but not until the 21st minute did they
threaten when Markus Rosenberg's 25-yard left-foot
shot was turned wide by Allan McGregor.
Rangers were the more direct however - and Adam twice
more threatened, firstly in 24 minutes when his
twenty-yard wide-angled free-kick was beaten away by
Wiese, then nine minutes later another free-kick, this
time from 35 yards distance, skimmed the crossbar.
Naldo tested McGregor in 43 minutes with a header from
a Diego corner, but the opening goal when it arrived
sixty seconds later came at the other end when
Cousin's speculative thirty-yard shot was misjudged by
Weise, who in attempting to touch the ball over the
bar only succeeded in turning it into the net.
Rangers astonishingly went 2-0 up two minutes after
the restart when Steve Davis released Cousin whose
shot was parried by Weise, Davis following up to prod
the ball home.
The Light Blues were now within sight of a
first-class result, and Davis came close to making it
even better on the hour when he headed over from a
Ferguson cross.
Luxembourg Referee Alain Hamer, who took charge of
Rangers' away game against Villarreal in March 2006,
went into this game with the reputation of being
card-happy, but in fact he did not produce his first
yellow card until midway through the second-half,
Naldo being the culprit for a foul on Kirk Broadfoot.
Two minutes later Barry Ferguson's shot from the edge
of the box from an Adam pass was deflected wide.
Bremen should have been reduced to ten men in seventy
minutes when Naldo kneed Ferguson in the back, only
for the referee to basically bottle it, whilst
awarding a free-kick.
Two minutes later Cousin was felled off the ball - yet
again the referee saw nothing amiss.
Cousin failed to recover from that incident, and was
replaced by Lee McCulloch in 74 minutes.
Sixty seconds later Rosenberg's snap-shot was held by
McGregor as Werder searched for the away goal that
would transform the tie.
McCulloch should have put the outcome beyond doubt in
86 minutes when he broke through on an Adam cross,
pushing the ball beyond Weise and towards the
goal-line only to be thwarted by a superb last-ditch
tackle by Naldo (who should not even have been on the
park at this stage) - the Ranger perhaps being guilty
of losing concentration.
Neverthess a 2-0 win was a superb result, and
afterwards Walter Smith looked back:
"I was delighted with the result. Werder had lots of
possession early on, but the first goal was crucial.
This was a massive result for us - a clean-sheet was
an important factor. Werder had very few clear-cut
chances. There's lots of work still to be done next
week."
RANGERS McGregor; Broadfoot, Weir, Cuellar, Papac;
Davis, Ferguson, Dailly, Hemdani, Adam; Cousin
(McCulloch 74)
UNUSED SUBS Alexander, Thomson, Boyd, Novo, Burke,
Whittaker
WERDER BREMEN Wiese; Clemens, Naldo, Mertesacker,
Pasanen (Boenisch 63); Vranjes (Almeida 59), Baumann,
Diego, Jensen; Rosenberg, Hunt
UNUSED SUBS Vander, Ozil, Owomoyela, Borowski, Harnik
REFEREE Alain Hamer (Luxembourg)
Attendance 45,959