Philippe Clement watched his side salvage a draw in the dying stages of the game thanks to the Nigeria international.
Cyriel Dessers was the last gasp Rangers Champions League hero as he scored in injury time to salvage a 1-1 draw against Dynamo Kyiv in Poland.
The much-maligned striker had the final say in the Lublin Arena to put the Light Blues in Pole position for the play-offs – and the £5 million cheque from Uefa that comes with it – in Lublin and a shot at reaching the lucrative group stage.
Philippe Clement’s were worth of the draw after conceding a goal to former West Ham United man Andriy Yarmolenko who capitalised on some sloppy defending to fire Kyiv in front late in the first half. But Rangers did create chances – including eventual scorer Dessers – and got the goal they desperately wanted with the last kick of the ball. Clement’s starting XI didn’t exactly inspire confidence with new signings Robin Propper and Vaclav Cerny – on the in the second half to create the equaliser – left on the bench but the visitors started in a positive manner and Tom Lawrence stung the palms of Heorhiy Bushchan with Cyriel Dessers firing at the Kyiv keeper from the rebound.
But there was relief midway through the first half when the ‘home’ side had the ball in the back of the net – only for the offside flag to cut their celebrations short. Jack Butland did well to beat away a long range effort and Vladyslav Vanat was on hand to knock him the rebound from close range, but he was in an offside position.Ross McCausland’s name on the team sheet raised eyebrows but he was the width of the post away from breaking the deadlock with a brilliant bit of play, cutting in from the right and he curled an effort which cracked the post. Butland did well at the other end to push away a stinging Oleksandr Pikhalyonok drive.
But Rangers suffered a blow eight minutes from half-time and it was self inflicted with Ridvan Yilmaz caught in possession and Kyiv worked it down the right and Vanat fizzed the ball across goal for Yarmolenko to tap home.
Dessers has last laugh
He isn’t short of critics but Dessers scored what could prove to be a priceless goal. Manager Philippe Clement and his Nigeria team-mate Leon Balogun defended him on the eve of the game, and Dessers was the goal hero. Given Dynamo Kyiv’s thumping 9-2 aggregate win over Partizan Belgrade – including hitting six in Lublin – to set up a tie with Rangers, there were fears that this game could have turned ugly after the Ibrox side’s unconvincing performance against Hearts in their Scottish Premiership opener. Fans’ fears were heightened when they looked at the starting XI so to go back to Glasgow with a draw is a scoreline they would have taken.
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