PSV strike early to see off Rangers

RANGERS crashed out of the Europa League in disappointing style after failing to recover from the loss of an early goal against PSV Eindhoven at Ibrox last night.

The Light Blues’ prospective new owner Craig Whyte — whose reported £33m takeover of the club is set to be confirmed next week – watched from the main stand as Jeremain Lens scored in the 13th minute which was ultimately enough to send the Dutch side in to the quarter-finals on a 1-0 aggregate scoreline.

Rangers struggled to break free from their defensive constrictions after going behind but had an encouraging spell of pressure in the second-half when Maurice Edu missed a great chance, moments before a decent penalty claim was denied when PSV midfielder Atiba Hutchinson looked to have handled the ball on the line.

However, while there could be no doubting their effort a lack of quality told in the end and Rangers must now regroup ahead of Sunday’s Co-operative Insurance Cup final against Celtic at Hampden.

Rangers will have a doubt hanging over Kyle Lafferty going into that game as he was carried off with a nasty-looking injury.

“It was disappointing to lose the goal but we gave them a good game in the second half,” Ranges midfielder Gregg Wylde said afterwards.

RANGERS: Alexander, Foster (Healy 86), Bougherra, Weir (Naismith 46), Papac, Whittaker, Davis, Bartley, Edu, Wylde, Lafferty (Diouf 66).

PSV: Isaksson, Tamata, Marcelo, Bouma, Pieters, Engelaar, Hutchinson, Lens, Toivonen, Dzsudzsak, Berg (Bakkal 66).

Ref: Robert Schorgenhofer (Austria).