Unirea Urziceni 1-1 Rangers: Late Goal Denies 'Gers Revenge

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Rangers were just two minutes away from exacting revenge over Unirea Urziceni, but were denied their first Champions League win.

Lee McCulloch had thumped in a 25 yard cracker, but Daniel Marius Onofras broke Walter Smith’s heart with an equally delightful effort at the end.

Rangers as expected went with a cautious 4-5-1 formation, with Kenny Miller handed the lone role up front.  Teenager Danny Wilson made his first start in defense.

Unirea were able to welcome back goalkeeper Giedruis Arlauskis who had missed the first game between these two at Ibrox, but Bruno Ferdandez missed out with a hamstring injury.

It was a scrappy opening, with very little being created in the opening minutes, and the visitors seemed happy to play long balls towards Miller.

Apostol’s high feet on Thomson gave Rangers their first real opportunity in the 12th minute, and the swirling left foot drive almost caught out Arlauskis who fumbled the ball before hastily clearing.

Unirea were struggling to play with any fluency, however a half-chance came their way on 15 minutes, with Varga trying an audacious volley that spun wide.

Arlauskis wasn’t looking too comfortable, and he was scrambling across the goal to get to a header from Naismith that looked to be going wide anyway.  His puzzling attempt almost spilled the ball back into the path of an on running red shirt, the color of choice for Rangers for this evening.

Rangers were in luck in 23 minutes when Bilasco should really have done better with a near post header, heading down the way rather than across the goal.  The best he could muster from his efforts was a corner which the ‘Gers had little trouble clearing.

Unirea simply did not look the same team that managed to put four past Rangers two weeks previous, and Walter Smith’s side began to grow in confidence as the half wore on.  Steven Naismith found space in the box in the 26th minute, and his bullet header forced Arlauskis into a near post save.

Kyle Lafferty though conceded a free-kick moments later, becoming the first player of the night to go into the book, and the resulting free-kick was driven low by Maftei.  The unsighted McGregor saw the ball late and did well to push it wide.

Kenny Miller was the next to test the home ‘keeper, driving forward through the middle, dodging past the challenges of both Maftei and Galamaz, but Arlauskis was equal to his low left footed drive.

Just two minutes later and this time it was McGregor’s turn to show off in goals, tipping a goal-bound Frunza shot wide after he found a yard of space on the edge of the box.

A goal looked to be coming, with both sides believing it would be to them, as the game continued to open up.  On 34 minutes a sweet move by the Romanians down the left gave Varga the opportunity to strike but he badly screwed his shot wide to the relief of Walter Smith’s men.

Rangers had obviously taken a scare, and their approach to goal appeared to slow down as they went more cautious, seemingly happy to limit Unirea to long range efforts.    That all changed as the half approached its finale; McCulloch feeding Miller who looked to play the one-two with Lafferty.  The Northern Irishman elected to shoot for goal and his shot whistled past the post.

Worryingly for Rangers, the interval was marred by disturbing crowd scenes which may come to haunt the Scottish Champions in the forthcoming week, with the club hanging on a final warning from UEFA.

The second half began very much like the first, with both sides taking their time to settle. Unirea struck a few long range efforts towards Allan McGregor’s goal but none of them were much to worry about.

After the end to end stuff of the first period, half-time appeared to have ruined the flow of the game, with neither side gaining much of an advantage. However on the hour mark Unirea began to form some decent patterns of play, and a cute one touch passing move almost created space inside the ‘Gers area before Whittaker was able to thump the ball clear.

A minute later and Rangers were gifted their best chance of the game.  Miller played a one-two with Davis, and as the home defense sat still Miller was allowed to break clear inside the six yard box, but he timidly passed into the grateful hands of Arlauskis instead of burying it.

There was a tendency to nod off as the game drifted peacefully by, however the traveling support were hoping their defenders would at least be alert.  However they seemed to fall asleep on 28 minutes as Onofras was allowed to drift into the box unmarked and plant a header towards goal which McGregor had to be alert for.

McGregor was to the rescue on 30 minutes when again the Rangers defense was caught napping; Bordeanu bursting clear on the left to meet a long ball.  He took too long to get his shot away though, and when he eventually did the Gers ‘keeper skilfully got down to palm it away with his left hand.

Suddenly the home side were inspired, and a crisp volley from was straight down the throat of McGregor, as Unirea looked to up the ante, however out of nothing Rangers snatched the lead.

Lee McCulloch cracked a laser from outside the area with the left foot, straight into the top corner of the goal, and with ten minutes left Rangers had the lead.

Both managers hastily re-arranged things.  Varga and Gomes both left the field to be replaced by Semedo and Paduretu, while Walter Smith sent on Nacho Novo in place of Kenny Miller.

Paduretu almost made a name for himself straight away, but his shot was blocked by Kevin Thomson. 

Rangers needed to hold onto the lead for ten minutes for a priceless Champions League win, however with just two minutes left Unirea were level.  Onofras took charge of the ball from a simple lay off, and unleashed an unstoppable shot to the right of McGregor.

Rangers forced a series of corners as they tried to reclaim the lead. Papac wasn’t too far away from putting the visitors back in front in the final minute but couldn’t get his shot on target, and both sides had to settle for a share of the spoils.

Andrew Southwick, Goal.com