Ryan Naderi scored the only goal of the game to give Rangers a 1-0 advantage in the tie against JablonecImage source, SNS
Image caption,

Ryan Naderi scored the only goal of the game to give Rangers a 1-0 advantage in the tie against Jablonec

At a glance

  • Naderi breaks deadlock with close-range finish in second half

  • Devlin shown straight red card for high challenge on Slama

  • Rangers take one-goal advantage to Czech Republic next week

ByCharlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland

Ryan Naderi rescued Rangers from another disappointing European night as his second-half goal helped Derek McInnes' side to victory in the first leg of their Conference League play-off against Jablonec.

The win is the second of McInnes' tenure after their 5-1 League Cup triumph over St Mirren at the weekend.

It was an underwhelming first half for the hosts, their best chance coming from Vanja Dragojevic, who hit the post from the edge of the box after Naderi's lay-off.

Beyond that, they didn't do much to trouble Jan Hanus in the visiting goal for the opening 45 minutes.

Naderi broke the deadlock early in the second half, though. Dan Neil clipped the ball towards the back post where winger Daisuke Yokota managed to head it back across goal, where the striker was waiting to smash the ball into the roof of the net.

McInnes' side could have had a second minutes later when Djeidi Gassama, one-on-one with the Jablonec goalkeeper, fired over from six yards out.

The visitors grew into the game after the goal without really troubling Rangers goalkeeper Ivor Pandur.

Despite being a goal up, Rangers found themselves a man down when substitute Cammy Devlin was shown a straight red card less than 10 minutes after coming on for his challenge on Jriri Slama.

Jablonec enjoyed a decent spell against the 10 men and felt they should have had a penalty for Olwethu Makhanya's challenge on Richard Sedlacek, but the offside flag spared the hosts any further investigation.

The visitors could not manage to make the numerical advantage count in the closing stages and Rangers will now take a narrow advantage into next week's game in the Czech Republic as they look for a place in the Conference League proper.

Analysis: Job done despite lacklustre performance

After the boos rung out around Ibrox on the half-time whistle, McInnes will no doubt have been delighted by the victory, and the cheers, that came with the full-time whistle in Govan.

Rangers huffed and puffed for the first half as they failed to really test Jablonec goalkeeper Hanus, besides that one opportunity from Dragojevic that he, and the majority of Ibrox, thought had crossed the line and gone in.

But while they didn't really trouble the visitors, they were not really troubled themselves either.

Rangers had the majority of possession, shots (13 compared to Jablonec's five), and touches in the opposition box, although keeper Pandur had to make more saves than his counterpart in the visiting goal - four compared to two.

The goal was good and Rangers probably could have had more without really dominating, evidenced by their 13 shots, and that is something that McInnes will be hoping does not come back to haunt them in the Czech Republic next week.

What they said

Figure caption,

McInnes on narrow victory in Conference League play-off

Rangers head coach Derek McInnes: "I was disappointed with a lot of the first half, we didn't have any real impetus or concerted pressure.

"We needed to bring a bit more intelligence but also be a bit more enthusiastic with some of our tempo. I thought we were far better in the second half, we connected the game better and gave us a far better chance of causing them problems. I don't think they caused us too many problems in terms of goalmouth chances."

What's next?

Rangers travel to Jablonec next Thursday, 27 August for the second leg of the Conference League play-off (17:00 BST) before a trip to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday 30 August (12:00).

Player of the match

Number: 13 R. Sedláček
Average rating 6.82
Number: 29 J. Penrice
Average Rating: 5.01
Number: 1 I. Pandur
Average Rating: 4.88
Number: 20 R. Naderi
Average Rating: 4.79
Number: 24 O. Makhanya
Average Rating: 4.66
Number: 17 D. Yokota
Average Rating: 4.54
Number: 22 V. Dragojević
Average Rating: 4.54
Number: 23 D. Gassama
Average Rating: 4.38
Number: 21 D. Sterling
Average Rating: 4.34
Number: 42 T. Chukwuani
Average Rating: 4.24
Number: 6 D. Neil
Average Rating: 4.17
Number: 52 F. Curtis
Average Rating: 4.09
Number: 37 E. Fernandez
Average Rating: 3.80
Number: 8 C. Barron
Average Rating: 3.76
Number: 18 K. Nedeljković
Average Rating: 3.46
Number: 7 L. Shankland
Average Rating: 3.10
Number: 14 C. Devlin
Average Rating: 2.51

After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.

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