Rangers thump Hapoel to advance
Walter Smith keeps Rangers in the hunt for the Uefa Cup
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Thursday, 22, Feb 2007 11:06
Rangers made light of a 2-1 deficit from the first leg as they demolished Hapoel Tel Aviv 4-0 at Ibrox to make sure of their place in the last 16 of the Uefa Cup.
Before the scoring started however, it was the visitors who came the closest to taking the lead as Salim Toama looped a neat chip over Allan McGregor and onto the roof of the net after twenty minutes.
Gers captain Barry Ferguson had already threatened from distance and made no mistake when Nacho Novo pulled the ball back into his path four minutes later to put Rangers narrowly ahead in the tie thanks to the away goals rule.
Eleven minutes later and Kris Boyd nipped through a hole in the visitors' defence before rolling the ball under the advancing Shavit Elimelech to make sure they no longer had to rely on such technicalities.
In an open game the Israeli side came close to levelling the contest with Yossi Abuksis and Toama both testing McGregor.
But Ferguson's second on 73 minutes sewed up the win as the midfielder latched onto a cross from Chris Burke to finish from close-range.
McGregor saw red just a minute later after a tangle with Luciano de Bruno on the edge of the box saw hands raised, but the set-back did nothing to derail Rangers' march to victory.
Croatian striker Dado Prso put a good opening over the top before fellow substitute Charlie Adam wrapped up the win with a goal five minutes into injury time.