The key, of course, is that they have an away goal so a 1-0 win at Ibrox would get the job done.
But Smith knows that his side will need to play better if they are to prolong their involvement in the UEFA Cup.
Overall they didn’t create enough but Smith will hope that with a full house in Glasgow his players can turn things around.
Rangers never really troubled the Hapoel keeper Shavit Elimelch as much as they should have.
The only real chance in the first half came for Nacho Novo after 16 minutes and it was all down to the trickery of Chris Burke.
The little winger, playing on the left side, skipped past full back Dani Bondarv and swung over an inviting cross but Novo headed past the far post, although he was stretching a little.
Davie Weir headed a Burke corner over the bar after 26 minutes but that was about the strength of it as far as opportunities were concerned.
There was decent movement from skipper Barry Ferguson and Alan Hutton on the right side but there was no real end product to Rangers’ play, which clearly frustrated manager Walter Smith.
Still, with the game goal-less he was not that concerned but the feeling was shattered three minutes before half-time.
There was controversy about it in the sense that referee Pedro Garcia’s decision to award a free kick for Davie Weir’s challenge seemed very harsh.
Weir simply challenged Ibezito Ogbano for the ball 25 yards out but Garcia reckoned he pushed him the back.
Salim Toama then proceeded to smash a fantastic left footed free kick over the wall and into top left corner.
Allan McGregor had no real chance, such was the quality of the hit, but that was of no consolation to Rangers.
Fortunately they got back into the game within eights of the second half and it was all they deserved.
Rangers should have had a penalty in 49 minutes when Doani Ram handled the ball in the box when Burke played in a corner from the left. Again they were let down by the Portuguese referee.
However, they did find an equaliser in 53 minutes from set piece situation.
Ferguson was tripped just outside the box by Wellington De Oliveira and the skipper stepped up take the free kick.
His effort deflected off the wall and wrong footed keeper Elimelch and headed towards the right corner of the net but then smacked off the post to the surprise of Nacho Novo who was already celebrating a goal.
Fortunately, the little Spaniard was able to divert the ball into the net with his knee to claim his fourth European goal of the season.
Hapoel, however, came right back at Rangers and might have regained the lead in 68 minutes. Baruch Degu swung over a corner from the left and it dropped for Elyaniv Barda who blasted over the bar from 12 yards.
Then two minutes later Burke was looking for a penalty when he seemed to be clipped by Valeed Badeer after Novo had played him in but it seemed that he simply lost his footing.
The game was very evenly balanced by now but Rangers suffered another blow 14 minutes from time when Hapoel scored a second goal.
Barda made up for his earlier miss when he got away from Ian Murray on the right side and drilled in a low cross which Degu swept into the net from close range.
Smith sent on Libor Sionko and Charlie Adam for Novo and Burke in a bid to salvage something and he came close to getting the draw he wanted.
Adam nearly fooled the keeper with a 30-yard lob which he just managed to tip over bar in 86 minutes,
Then a minute later Karl Svensson headed over the bar from 12 yards after Gavin Rae crossed from the left.
That was probably the moment that could have resulted in something tangible for Rangers but it wasn’t to be.