SC Furstenfeld 0 Rangers 4

SC Furstenfeld 0 Rangers 4

RANGERS leisurely ushered in the dawn of a new era this evening with a comfortable victory against SC Furstenfeld.

On a stifling hot summer’s night – the needle was rumoured to have topped 34C at one point – Alex McLeish’s men proved too strong for their Austrian Fifth Division opponents.

Nacho Novo – making his debut in Light Blue – was the most impressive player on show, netting a goal in either half and looking sprightly in attack.

His first goal was a fantastic solo effort, collecting the ball wide on the left flank before marauding infield and then arcing a sweet shot beyond the goalkeeper while his second was a header early in the second half from Peter Lovenkrands’ cross.

Gers, with Marvin Andrews the only other debutant while Dado Prso, Alex Rae, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Dragan Mladenovic watched from the sidelines, were rarely troubled by their youthful opponents and had forged into the lead after 20 minutes.

Ross McCormack it was who scored Rangers’ first goal of season 04/05, guiding Chris Burke’s teasing cross past the keeper with a cushioned header before passing up a much simpler chance barely 60 seconds later when he sliced an effort wide of the target.

With Novo’s second strike after 58 minutes ending the match as a contest, Gers eased the pace notably but still netted once more through Lovenkrands after good work from Alan Hutton and Burke.

A sterner test against AS Roma awaits on Tuesday night.

RANGERS: Klos (Smith 46), Ricksen (Hutton 61), Khizanishvili, Andrews, Vanoli (Ross 46), Burke, Hughes (Adam 63), Malcolm, Namouchi (Lovenkrands 46), McCormack, Novo