Rangers left with tricky trip after Kaunas draw

The Glasgow Rangers and captain David Weir, seen here in 2007, face a nervy return leg in Lithuania after a goalless draw against FBK Kaunas at Ibrox here Wednesday in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

Rangers face a nervy return leg in Lithuania after a goalless draw against FBK Kaunas at Ibrox here Wednesday in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

The only positive for the Scottish side was the lack of an away goal for the Lithuanian champions.

Last season's UEFA Cup finalists had the best of the game's chances but could not find a way past Kaunas keeper Marian Kello, who looked nervous throughout the match.

Rangers manager Walter Smith paid credit to Kaunas's defensive display, saying afterwards: "I felt we started the game quite slowly. But give credit to Kaunas, they defended well throughout the evening.

"They set their stall out to defend well and they did so. On the break they were always capable of getting an opportunity.

"I thought the 15 minutes before half-time was our best spell in the game. We imposed ourselves on the game and played at a better tempo and had a couple of clear-cut chances and maybe one or two half-chances we could have done better with.

"But in a more difficult second-half with Kaunas they did well in and around the penalty area restricting us to few chances."

He added: "With the importance of the fixture I thought we might have started a bit brighter than we did but that is something we can improve on."

Kaunas had started the match brightly with Brazilian Rafael Ledesma shooting over the bar in the eighth minute from 30 yards out.

The home side looked subdued at this point and it was Kenny Miller who had their first real chance of the half in the 20th minute.

The striker, in his first match of his second Rangers spell, chested a Charlie Adam cross and then lifted it over the advancing Kello, but his shot was cleared off the line for a corner.

Ledesma had the first shot on target for the Lithuanians in the 34th minute but it was easily saved by Rangers keeper Allan McGregor.

Jean-Claude Darcheville should have opened the scoring in the 41st minute when a perfectly weighted ball from Miller played him in with only the keeper to beat. The striker rounded Kello but his weak shot was cleared off the line by former Hearts defender Tomas Kancelskis.

Rangers finished the half brightly and Miller was involved again when he headed a cross ball into the path of Adam whose shot was well wide.

Spanish forward Nacho Novo replaced veteran Christian Dailly at half-time and this introduced some urgency to the Rangers attack.

Good link-up play between Novo and Miller saw the Scotland striker float a cross into the box with but Darcheville and Lee McCulloch couldn't connect.

The home side dominated possession at this stage and Kello was quick to react to punch out an Adam corner, which looked to be swerving in.

McCulloch picked up the game's first yellow card after 55 minutes with a late challenge on Vytautas Luksa as he was breaking on the left-hand side.

Shortly afterwards Miller had a great chance to put Rangers into the lead when he was slipped in by a Steven Whittaker pass but his shot was turned away for a corner.

After initially facing a chorus of jeers from a small minority of Rangers fans Miller, who had a spell with arch-rivals Celtic, was given a standing ovation for his tireless display when he was replaced by Andrius Velicka after 73 minutes.

Kaunas offered little in the second-half but Rangers could not break the deadlock and now travel to Lithuania on Tuesday for the return leg all square.