AEK Athens 1 - 0 Rangers Sat 31/07/10

RANGERS' stay at the Sydney Festival of Football has ended with a defeat after they suffered an unfortunate 1-0 defeat to AEK Athens.

Australian player Nathan Burns was the scorer in the second half - but only after the Light Blues had spurned a number of good chances to go ahead themselves.The Scottish team pulled the strings in this one for large spells of the contest, enjoying plenty of possession and playing some slick football.

But they couldn't turn their possession into goals and although their performance was good, they will have been disappointed not to end their trip Down Under with a win.

Now the 53-times champions will return to Scotland tomorrow for some final tuning against Clyde and Newcastle in the coming days.

After that a Rangers XI will visit Glentoran in Belfast then all eyes will be on Ibrox and the big league kick off against Kilmarnock on August 14.

Walter Smith made two changes to the team that drew 0-0 with Sydney on Wednesday, with one enforced due to a slight knock suffered by Andy Webster.

Fit-again Madjid Bougherra replaced Andy Webster at centre-half, with Allan McGregor also coming back into goals at Neil Alexander's expense.

The state of the park was always likely to be an issue after it was battered by rain during the week. And as he inspected the surface before play got underway, manager Smith clearly looked unhappy with what his team would be performing on.

His side didn't seem too comfortable with it in the early stages either as Athens dictated the opening exchanges.They went close with their first genuine opportunity, a 30-yard free kick which was curled just wide by Nikos Lyberopoulos after a foul by Steven Naismith.

The same player had another go from a similar distance moments later but McGregor got down well to smother it without being troubled too much.

Blanco also had a shot blocked from close range as the Greeks had the best of it initially - but Gers soon came back into the game.

John Fleck was introduced as a replacement for Kyle Lafferty after just 28 minutes, with the Ulsterman suffering an apparent groin injury.

And his arrival sparked a wind of change, with Rangers soon taking control and creating a number of good opportunities.

Kenny Miller had already gone close with a glancing header moments earlier after Steven Whittaker's pinpoint delivery.

That duo combined again to create another opening but the striker failed to connect. If he had, he'd surely have made it 1-0.

Undeterred, the Ibrox outfit continued to come forward and Lee McCulloch was on target from distance but his drive was smothered by keeper Sebastian Saja. McCulloch almost netted once more with a header but was just wide, with Bougherra guilty of the same soon after.

If the Algerian's miss then would have been looked upon as unfortunate, he'd have got less sympathy from his team-mates for missing his next attempt. The chance came his way through a comedy of errors which began with Naismith's long-range shot which barely trundled into the area.

Miller tried to help it goalwards but failed and it fell at Mo Edu's feet instead, but his shot was tame and easily blocked.

The rebound fell to Bougherra and when it seemed he would finally put it in, he succeeded only in scooping over the crossbar from four yards instead.

It was a poor miss and after claims for a penalty when Whittaker was brought down were waved away, Gers went into half-time wondering how they weren't ahead.

Rangers continued to have plenty of the ball after the restart but they still couldn't find a way past Saja.

He was playing well and commanding his box so while Edu was a threat in the air against Blackburn and Sydney, the keeper eliminated any danger of the same happening again.

Miller did manage to nod towards the target but missed it then came close with an improvised scissor kick that Saja had to react to smartly.

The forward had another shot from a clever Fleck free kick blocked before Edu and McCulloch's follow-up attempts were also cut out.It seemed a goal was coming as Gers laid siege to their opponents - yet when the deadlock was broken it was AEK who took the lead. They lifted their tempo only briefly but it was for long enough to allow replacement Burns to connect with Nikolaos Karabelas' cross and head past McGregor.

Athens had chances to extend their lead, with Rafik Djebbour twice through on the Scotland keeper only to be denied on each occasion.

At the other end the Light Blues were perhaps guilty of trying to walk the ball in at times and up against a well-drilled defence, doing that was always going to be difficult.

Full-time heralded a first pre-season defeat for Gers but the purpose of this trip was to hone sharpness and make progress ahead of the competitive campaign.

That has been achieved so while there's no silverware to show for the stay in Sydney, Smith's men are undoubtedly heading in the right direction.

Teams

RANGERS: McGregor; Whittaker, Bougherra, Weir, Broadfoot; McCulloch; Naismith, Davis, Edu, Lafferty (Fleck 28); Miller (Little 75),

Subs: Alexander, McMillan, Wylde, Ness, Perry, 

AEK Athens: Saja, Manolas, Jahic, Leonardo, Makos, Karampelas, Blanco, Scocco, Lyberopolous, Della, Gentzoglu,

Subs: Arampatzis, Kafes,Majstrovic, Djebbour, Argriou, Eder, Burns,

Ref: Matthew Breeze

Man-of-the-match: Davis

Attendance: