Rangers lose fiery friendly
LISA GRAY
IN TORONTO
RANGERS ended their pre- season trip to Canada with a 1-0 defeat by Dinamo Zagreb after the Croatians grabbed a late winner in a bad-tempered game.
A crowd of 18,159 watched the friendly at the Rogers Centre in Toronto but only the Zagreb fans had something to cheer about when Teo Kardum netted the only goal of the game with nine minutes to go.
Despite the result, Rangers manager Alex McLeish insists he was pleased with the way his players adapted to a European style of play.
With just one qualifier to overcome in order to book their place in the Champions League this season, McLeish knows the fans are hopeful that this can be the year the Ibrox club will make a decent impact in Europe.
McLeish said: "It was played at a tactical European pace and we had to get through the middle. We wanted to make sure the players got touches and were sure of their touch and also their passing accuracy. By and large they did better than I expected."
McLeish's only gripe about the game was the plastic pitch - similar to that which Scottish Premier League opponents Dunfermline play on at East End Park. He said: "It's not a pitch we would like to play on every week, put it that way."
New signings Brahim Hemdani and Ian Murray both played, but striker Dado Prso was missing after picking up a slight strain, meaning he missed the opportunity to take on his fellow Croatians.
Murray should have opened the scoring after he pounced on a poor pass-back by Dino Drpic and found himself with only the goalkeeper to beat, but the former Hibs captain fired wide.
It was a game which threatened to boil over at times and Thomas Buffel, Chris Burke, Bob Malcolm and Alex Rae were all booked by the Canadian referee as the match ended on a bad-tempered note.
