Could Rangers Have Made That Any More Difficult For Themselves

Earlier this afternoon Rangers took to a plastic pitch to face FC Ufa for a final time.

We went into the Europa League Qualifying Play-Offs second leg tie with a 1-0 advantage courtesy of an Ibrox goal from Connor Goldson and Group Stage qualification was in our hands.

We couldn’t have started better as Ovie Ejaria found the net nine minutes into the first half and although nobody was daft enough to think it would then be easy, things went drastically wrong just after the half-hour mark as they found an equaliser.

Alfredo Morelos saw another rush of blood and found himself sent off six minutes after their goal after receiving two yellow cards within the space of seconds and then it was about holding on. That challenge became more difficult as Jon Flanagan also saw himself sent from the pitch in the 66th minute and then it really was batten down the hatches and ride out the storm.

With the score set at 2-1 in our favour with the away goal, the final ten minutes were tense.

Even more so when they had a goal disallowed two minutes into stoppage time for some reason, but we held on for a further two minutes until the referee blew the whistle.

God, we made hard work of that but a sterling rearguard action and a very organised performance by the nine lads who remained on the pitch see us through.