Smith said Rangers were punished for sloppy defending

Rangers manager Walter Smith says that the 4-1 Champions League defeat by Unirea Urziceni marks one of the lowest points of his career at Ibrox.

"We lost 4-0 to Juventus, but they went on to be European champions that year," he said. "It is a big bit of a low point at the moment.

"We lost three goals that we should not be losing at any level of football. That was the most disappointing factor.

"After getting off to a good start, we did not impose ourselves on the game."

Many Rangers supporters had left Ibrox before the end of a defeat - an identical outcome to their last match at home to Sevilla - that leaves Rangers bottom of Group G.

"If anyone has a frustration, I can understand why," said Smith.

"We can't hide our disappointment and I don't think anybody at the club can."

We've got to try to win the next game - it's as simple as that Rangers captain David Weir

Smith thought some internal examination at their own performance had to come first before thinking about whether Rangers could still qualify from their group.

"It's very difficult after a result like that, added to the Sevilla result, to look at the group," he said.

"We have to look at ourselves. We managed to get a good result in Stuttgart but have not managed to build on that."

Smith was mystified as to why his side failed to build on an early own goal in their favour against a Unirea side who went on to record their first-ever win in European football.

"After our goal, we looked a little nervous strangely enough," he said.

"They were the team that settled quickest but scored with their first real threat on goal.

"At the start of the second half, we're looking at losing three goals from set-plays and that's not good enough at this level."

Rangers captain David Weir was still hopeful that the Scottish champions could reverse the scoreline in Romania on 4 November.

"We're obviously very disappointed with the way it's gone," said the defender.

MY SPORT: DEBATE Give your reaction to Rangers' defeat

"We've got to try to win the next game - it's as simple as that - and see where that takes us."

Striker Kenny Miller said Rangers were punished for a poor performance at Ibrox.

"I think a result like that was waiting to happen for us,"

"There is no doubt we do have the players who can play better than that but, up until now, we have not been firing.

"We have been kind of sneaking results rather than going and winning games. There is obviously a lot of hard work to be done."

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