by Neil Smith

SECOND-HALF goals from Davie Weir and Nacho Novo gave Rangers a crucial 2-0 victory over FK Zeta in the first-leg of their second round Champions League qualifier at Ibrox tonight.

In what was a hard-fought, and often frustrating 90 minutes, right-back Alan Hutton received a red-card with his side one-up and the Montenegrin side showed on several occasions just why they beat Kaunus 5-4 on aggregate in the previous round.

Walter Smith named a strong side as the Light Blues attempted to secure a positive result to take to on their travels next week.

The manager elected to field the same line-up that started against Chelsea with goalscorers Filip Sebo and Nacho Novo on the bench and Boyd and Darcheville given the nod.

Zeta's young squad looked awe-struck as they strolled out on to the turf and Rangers almost caught them sleeping after only 10 seconds when Boyd latched on to a Hutton pass but his left-foot effort smashed off the post when he should have hit the net.

The striker then came close again in the second minute when he cleverly redirected a powerful Charlie Adam cross inches wide of the target.

Rangers were flying in the initial stages and  Darcheville would have been disappointed that he couldn't connect properly with a Hutton cross from the right.

Zeta's young stars were struggling to cope in the early stages but the Montenegrin outfit had their first chance to test Allan McGregor on 16 minutes when right-back Milan Vuckovic played a stunning 50-yard diagonal pass to Bojan Ivanovic on the left-wing.

He cut inside his marker Hutton but his effort from 20-yards was skewed wide without troubling the club's No. 1.

Rangers continued to attack with purpose after this minor scare but the home support were getting a little frustrated at their side's inability to really test Zeta's goalie Sasa Ivanovic.

And McCulloch was guilty of showing a little bit of frustration on 26 minutes with a late challenge on pacey midfielder Slaven Stjepanovic.

Zeta's defence continued to fight with purpose and their back four looked determined to stop Gers' strikers from getting any clearcut chances.

This tactic looked as though it was going to pay dividends when they were awarded a free kick 20 yards from goal and Bojan Ivanovic's swerving free-kick went inches wide with McGregor planted to the spot.

Smith made one change to his team at half-time with Nacho Novo replacing Charlie Adam and Lee McCulloch moving to the left-wing, the manager clearly hoping the Spaniard could use his speed to upset the Zeta left-back and provide telling crosses into the box.

And after only three minutes of the restart Rangers should have taken the lead.

Novo crossed from the right and when keeper Ivanovic cleared the ball it fell to Ferguson 25 yards from goal.

Ivanovic again failed to hold the ball and Boyd somehow managed to put his effort over the bar from five yards with an empty net in front of him.

This summed Rangers' evening up until this stage but their luck was to change on 54 minutes when they finally opened the scoring, much to the relief of the Gers fans.

Novo crossed from the right after playing a short corner with Ferguson.

The ball was cleared but Davie Weir lofted it back into the box and when the keeper flapped under pressure from Darcheville it ended up rolling into the empty net.

The goal was given to Weir but the Frenchman played a major part in putting the Zeta keeper under immense pressure.

Rangers went in search of a second but were dealt a major blow when Hutton, one of the best players on the night, was booked twice in the space of two minutes prior to the hour mark.

The right-back was initially shown a yellow card for complaining about the referee's decision to award a free-kick for his tackle on Zarko Korac 20-yards from goal and he saw red moments later for breaking from the wall to block a free-kick from Zeta captain Janko Tumbasovic.

Kirk Broadfoot  replaced Boyd as a result but the sending off gave the visitors hope of getting a crucial away goal and they clearly had the confidence to achieve this objective if Rangers' concentration slipped.

However, on 72 minutes Gers doubled their advantage and again the keeper Ivanovic failed to cover himself in glory.

Ferguson played a high free-kick into the danger area and the keeper again came rushing from his line.

Darcheville beat him to the ball in the air and Novo somehow held off a defender before scrambling it into the net.

Both goals may have been ugly to say the least but Walter Smith and his players would not have been caring.

The result has given the Light Blues a great chance of progressing to the third qualifying round but the sending off to Hutton and further bookings for McCulloch and Cuellar means that some of the Gers players will need to be cautious in Montenegro.

Man of the Match - Barry Ferguson controlled play and showed great composure throughout.