Vikroria Plzen 2 – 1 Rangers (Rangers win 4-2 on aggregate)

Durosinmi (41′), Markovic (83′)            Cameron (60′)

Rangers are just one step away from the Champions League but they certainly made hard work of it as Viktoria Plzen secured a 2-1 home win, which wasn’t enough for them in the end.

It was a complete contrast to last week’s swashbuckling 3-0 home win over the Czech side, but they got the job done.  That’s really about the only positive to take from it, in all honesty.

Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Dundee was not the ideal preparation as Russell Martin recalled captain James Tavernier and Nico Raskin in midfield, with Max Aarons and Joe Rothwell stepping out.

There was a slight injury scare as Cyriel Dessers needed treatment on a wrist injury, but was fine to continue.

More importantly, despite perhaps bracing themselves for an onslaught from Plzen, you would have imagined keen to close the gap, it really didn’t materialise.

The pace of the game was ponderous at times as the Czech side seemed to lack urgency in spite of their predicament and Rangers didn’t need to do anything silly.

Lukáš Červ tested Gers keeper Jack Butland with a fierce effort to remind the Ibrox men they weren’t going away yet.  A penalty claim from Dessers shortly after fell on deaf ears.

Prince Adu got the better of Tavernier at one point and it was another scary moment as the ball went wide.

Plzen took the lead four minutes before the break with Jefte tangling himself up as he tried to keep up with Amar Memic.

He nicely teed up Rafiu Durosinmi who buried his chance and the aggregate was reduced to two.  Rangers were rocked and returned to the dressing room at half time needing a breather.

Memic went close five minutes after the restart as Plzen smelled blood in the water while Prince Adu’s header needed Butland to deal with it.

Dessers went off injured with a possible knee problem, where he was replaced by Danilo, but Rangers’ more pressing concerns were at the other end as the home side pushed them.

They alleviated those fears when Lyall Cameron opened his Gers account, poking home Danilo’s attempt and the three-goal cushion was restored.

In a poor performance, it was a little bit of something that the Ibrox men needed and seemed to take the wind out of Plzen’s sails after their valiant attempts to try and claw the momentum back.

Prince Adu forced another great save from Butland as the Czech outfit continued to knock on the door, with the Englishman on hand shortly after to deal with Milan Havel’s header.

Despite his heroics, Butland could do nothing about Svetozar Markovic’s header to bring Plzen to within two again with seven minutes to go.  Suddenly, Rangers were starting to feel nervous again.

They got over the line eventually, but they sure made hard work of it.

Play like that against Club Brugge and they can forget about a run out with the big boys.  Martin has much to do before he can even entertain that possibility.