Rangers’ dismal start to the season was further exacerbated by their second Europa League loss in a row, this time to Austrian champions Sturm Graz. Russell Martin’s team secured their first Scottish Premiership victory of the campaign at the seventh attempt with a stoppage-time winner at Livingston on Sunday.
However, any potential momentum that may have arisen from this victory was quickly dashed by Tomi Horvat’s early opener. For the second time, the Rangers were the architects of their own downfall. James Tavernier’s throw-in was inadequate in his own final third; however, it was returned, redirected, and launched beyond a shaky Jack Butland. Nevertheless, the complete away defence was unable to prevent the second goal. The influential Georgia international Otar Kiteishvili was able to score a second goal before the interval by slicing open a sleeping backline with a lasered free-kick. It is unlikely that the situation could have been significantly worse, but Rangers, who suffered a defeat at home to Genk on matchday one, demonstrated a significant improvement after halftime.
, who was frequently the sole shining spot in blue, delivered a lifeline. Youssef Chermiti, Nico Raskin, and John Souttar all came near against a Graz side that lost last week away to Midtjylland, and the Ibrox side was revived by that.
They pushed for their first European point of the campaign. However, it was too late for Martin’s team, which has only achieved five victories in his 16 games as manager across all competitions.
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