This was another frustrating evening for Rangers supporters to endure as they watched their side pound the Artmedia goal for 90 minutes without being able to make even one notch on the scoreboard.
In their argument they can point to the outstanding form of goalkeeper Juraj Cobej who made a string of dazzling saves – most notably blocks from Sotirios Kyrgiakos and then Olivier Bernard either side of the break – but just as culpable was the poor finishing from several of Alex McLeish’s men that could yet cost Rangers dear.
With Porto thrusting themselves back into qualification contention with an encouraging win at home to Inter Milan, calculating the various permutations heading into Matchday 4 in a fortnight would cause even a Harvard maths professor to cry off with a migraine.
On the plus side, Rangers remain second in the table level on points with Bratislava who they meet again in Slovakia on November 1.
McLeish can only hope his side’s shooting has improved drastically by then after a night of almost unforgivable profligacy.
After a tense start, Rangers created four decent chances in the opening 20 minutes as they looked to put their opponents on to the back foot as early as possible.
If their build-up play was impressive – Brahim Hemdani and Barry Ferguson in particular combined well on the Frenchman’s long-awaited home debut – then the finishing was sadly not of a similarly high standard as Rangers failed to transpose their early possession into one or more goals.
So often the hero, Dado Prso was the culprit at the first of those opportunities with just 11 minutes showing on the stadium clock.
Peter Lovenkrands’ purposeful and direct run carried him through the heart of the Artmedia defence before slipping the ball in to Prso who saw his shot well blocked by Cobej.
Four minutes later and Prso turned creator, capitalising on a mistake by Jan Durica who had hit a stray clearance right into the Croatian’s pass.
He in turn sent in Federico Nieto – making his first competitive start – but the Argentine was slow to react giving Cobej the time to respond and make another brave block. Ferguson, who had bolted into the box awaiting a centre, thumped the ground in frustration.
The question of which version of this schizophrenic Artmedia team would turn up this evening – the side that thrashed Celtic at home and won in Portugal or the one that was thumped 4-0 in Glasgow by Gordon Strachan’s team – seemed to be pointing to the latter with the Slovakian outfit seemingly unable to control Rangers’ constant forward advances.
A foul by Balazs Borbely on Nieto just outside the Bratislava penalty box provided Rangers with the next of a seemingly endless conveyor belt of opportunities but, with Fernando Ricksen also hovering, Ferguson’s free kick clattered into the defensive wall and away for a corner that came to nothing.
It would prove to be Nieto’s last real involvement of the game. On another Rangers attack shortly after he cracked heads with Ondrej Debnar and although Nieto bravely carried on for a few more minutes he seemed to be struggling and was soon after replaced by Steven Thompson.
With injuries currently already ruling out strikers Nacho Novo, Thomas Buffel and Franny Jeffers, Thompson could have been excused for looking for booby traps or landmines as he took to the field for his first appearance since the last Champions League game in Milan.
Ferguson then passed up another promising opportunity – ignoring the run of Lovenkrands after Hemdani had picked him out with a darting pass – before Artmedia finally emerged as an attacking threat with two decent chances of their own.
Neither greatly troubled Ronald Waterreus in the Rangers goal – Branislav Fodrek was inches away from connecting with Blazej Vascak’s cross before Lukas Hartig speared an effort well wide – but there was enough attacking intent there to serve notice to Rangers that they could eventually pay for their profligacy at the other end.
In between Artmedia’s two chances, Hamed Namouchi somehow thudded an effort from close range into the midriff of the grateful Cobej before the goalkeeper pulled off the save of the night to keep out Kyrgiakos’ powerful header from Bernard’s back post free kick.
It seemed almost inconceivable that Rangers could end the first half without netting at least once but that was indeed to be their fate when in injury-time the impressive Cobej plunged to keep out Julien Rodriguez’s fierce strike before swallowing up Hemdani’s swerving follow-up attempt.
It was turning into one of those frustrating nights for Rangers and it was a similar story after the break with Cobej somehow twisting to keep out Bernard’s 25-yard bash that seemed destined for the top corner.
Moments later and it almost got worse for Rangers but Waterreus – called into action for the first time of the evening – bravely threw himself in front of a goalbound effort from Hartig.
As the sense of frustration echoed around the stadium, Rangers’ game plan was further thwarted when Kyrgiakos went down with what looked like a bang in the knee and, after waving his arms furiously to the bench as if trying to signal to a passing plane, McLeish was forced to withdraw the Greek centre-half and send on Marvin Andrews.
With Rangers starting to toil and run out of ideas, Chris Burke was the next substitute to spring from the bench – replacing the ineffective Namouchi – to try to fashion out a late winner.
The Light Blues seemed to have a decent shout for a penalty when Prso was tumbled in the box with just seven minutes remaining but Spanish ref Arturo Dauden waved aside the claim and then booked the Croatian for what he perceived as a dive.
Prso was raging with that decision but almost made amends in the closing minutes when he controlled Hemdani’s ball on his chest before fizzing in a volley that zipped inches wide.
It proved to be Rangers’ last chance on a night of endless frustration, leaving their hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League dented but not destroyed.
RANGERS (4-4-2): 25 Waterreus; 2 Ricksen, 16 Rodriguez, 14 Kyrgiakos (Andrews 58), 3 Bernard; 31 Namouchi (Burke 74), 7 Hemdani, 6 Ferguson, 26 Lovenkrands; 9 Prso, 23 Nieto (Thompson 37)
Subs not used: Klos, Pierre-Fanfan, Murray, McCormack
Booked: Bernard (75), Prso (83), Burke (90)
ARTMEDIA BRATISLAVA (4-1-4-1): 1 Cobej; 21 Petras, 2 Debnar, 4 Durica, 22 Urbanek; 17 Borbely; 8 Vascak (Obzera 68), 20 Fodrek, 14 Halenar (Tchur 72), 25 Kozak; 16 Hartig (Stano 82)
Subs not used: Kamenar, Mikulic, Konecny, Burak
Booked: Obzera (77), Borbely (84)