Gers in danger after Ibrox stalemate

Miller: Watches shot sail wide

Walter Smith's men now face a tense 90 minutes next Tuesday when they travel to Lithuania knowing they have to find the net to take another step closer to joining rivals Celtic in the lucrative group stages.

Last season saw Rangers face an epic run of 19 European matches - but they are in real danger of crashing out of continental competition at the first hurdle this time around unless they show a marked improvement in the second leg.

It seemed as though almost no time at all had passed between last season's UEFA Cup final and the start of this new European campaign - but there were significant changes at Ibrox.

There was a debut for Kenny Miller who, by a strange quirk of fate, also made his original bow for Rangers against Kaunas at the same stage of the Champions League eight years ago.

Fellow new recruits Andrius Velicka and Kyle Lafferty had to settle for places on the bench, with Jean-Claude Darcheville partnering Miller up front.

The absence of injured skipper Barry Ferguson in the middle of the park was clearly felt, while Carlos Cuellar was also missed in the heart of the defence. Rangers will be hoping the centre-half recovers from a calf strain ahead of the return leg in Lithuania.

Kaunas had rated star man Rafael Ledesma's chances of taking part as no more than 50-50 but he started the game and carved out the visitors' first real chance, an opportunistic strike from midfield that did little to trouble Allan McGregor in the Rangers goal.

Linas Pilibaitis looked slightly more dangerous for the Lithuanians when he darted in from the right, before unleashing a left-foot shot from 20 yards which dipped just over the crossbar.

Miller's name was once again jeered by the Rangers support when the teams were read out by the PA announcer before the game but, whether their opinion of the former Celtic man would have instantly changed had he converted one of the best chances of the first half would have been interesting to note.

The striker pounced on a Charlie Adam cross and attempted to flick into the gaping goal with goalkeeper Marian Kello beaten, only to watch in disbelief as Tomas Kancelskis hooked off the line.

Lee McCulloch then squandered another couple of chances for the home side as the crowd began to grow nervous, before Kancelskis came to the rescue of Kaunas again.

This time Miller was the provider, slipping a lovely ball through to Darcheville to release the Frenchman through on goal. But his finish was poor and lacked power and Kancelskis was able to stick a leg out and divert the effort out of play.

Vladimir Romanov - the Hearts majority shareholder, whose bank sponsors Kaunas - would have been satisfied with a goalless first half as he surveyed the action from the stand, while Rangers swapped Christian Dailly for Nacho Novo at the break in attempt to grab the tie by the scruff of the neck.

Again, it was Miller who could have been the hero. He looked busy setting up a couple of half-chances before pouncing on a Steven Whittaker ball through the middle and drawing a decent save from Kello with a well-struck effort.

A blank scoreline with 65 minutes gone led to another change from Rangers and, this time, it was the tiring Darcheville who was sacrificed for the introduction of Kris Boyd.

Good play from Miller on the left flank set up McCulloch for a shot that whistled past the goalkeeper's right-hand post, before any hope Miller had of a goal of his own disappeared when he was replaced by former Kaunas and Hearts striker Velicka.

Rangers continued to huff and puff and, with time almost up, David Weir saw a close-range effort cleared off the line by substitute Nukri Manchkhava - with the Ibrox side knowing they now have it all to do in Kaunas.