Rangers reach their away goal

Uefa Cup Round of 32 second leg : Nacho Novo's late strike earned Rangers a place in the last 16 of the Uefa Cup thanks to a dramatic away goals victory over Greek side Panathinaikos, as the second leg clash in Athens ended in a 1-1 draw.

Novo, guilty of wasteful finishing in last week's goalless stalemate at Ibrox, made amends by pouncing on a loose ball nine minutes from full-time to fire a precious away goal past Panathinaikos goalkeeper Mario Galinovic.

Ioannis Goumas had earlier given Panathinaikos the lead with the first goal in the tie in spectacular fashion with a thunderous 25-yard strike - and Rangers were far from impressive in what was a lethargic first-half display from the SPL side.

Walter Smith's team, however, weathered that storm and Novo scored to put them through.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times