Rangers were left reeling as they crashed out of the UEFA Conference League play-offs with a 4-3 penalty shoot-out defeat to Jablonec in the Stadion Strelnice.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg at Ibrox last week, Derek McInnes’s side turned in a turgid performance in the Czech Republic which lacked creativity and invention, and it proved costly.
A half-time reboot, with skipper Lawrence Shankland, Connor Barron and Findlay Curtis coming on and a different shape, did little to improve their play and Jablonec midfielder Vakhtang Tchanturishvili deservedly levelled the tie in the 73rd minute with a drive which took the game to 1-1 on aggregate and extra-time.
There were no more goals which brought penalties, and although Gers keeper Ivor Pandur saved from Filip Zorvan, Rangers attacker Findlay Curtis fired his spot-kick over the bar and James Penrice was thwarted by Jablonec keeper Jan Hanus, leaving Jan Chramosta to fire in the decisive kick.
The defeat is a huge blow to the Govan side, who were knocked out of the Europa League qualifiers by Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok and whose massive rebuild under McInnes is struggling to get off the ground.
