We had started the game so well, with wee Allan Johnston opening the scoring for us after just eleven minutes, to the delight of the Bears. Claudio Reyna released a free-kick to Albertz who let fly with one of his vicious trademark shots from the edge of the box.
However, the big German’s effort was blocked but Jonatan Johansson pounced on it and scrambled the ball clear to Magic, who slotted home.
On paper it should have been the first of many but we found it hard to get a rhythm and struggled a little. The shock of the evening came when they equalized after 26 minutes when Audris Zuta fired the ball home.
I think everyone in the stadium was stunned at that point. Frustration seemed to get in and we found it hard to find continuity in our play.
Zalgiris are a physical side but to be honest they weren’t as bad as I thought they would be. Try telling that to Jorg Albertz! The big man took some really hefty tackles and eventually the inevitable happened as their no.19, Vadim Petrenko was sent off for another hard challenge on Jorg.
As I said, at half-time the gaffer was less than amused. He took off Scott Wilson and Jonatan Johansson for Billy Dodds and Neil McCann before switching yours truly to center-half.
I enjoyed learning to play in a new position and thought I did okay. Obviously my natural position is midfield but I will play anywhere the gaffer tells me to. The only thing that matters to me is getting a game for Rangers Football Club. However, I was lucky to have someone with the experience of Big Oz alongside me.
Craig talked me through the game and when you have a player like him beside me, I couldn’t really go wrong. It was a bit different seeing the game from this position but it was a good experience and I would like to think I did quite well.
Unfortunately despite the half-time substitutions we continued to struggle and they made life very difficult for us by playing every man behind the ball. We kept pushing forward and in the 62nd minute Albertz restored our lead from the penalty spot after one of their players handled the ball in the box.
Then Zalgiris went down to nine men as Nerijus Barasa was ordered off and we really believed at that point the floodgates would open. But still we struggled and with a couple of minutes to go we were still only one goal up and I was really worried about taking a single goal lead to Lithuania. But wee Doddsy saved the day by scoring twice in the dying minutes of the game to give us a 4-1 victory.
I was so relieved that we got those extra goals. It makes life that little bit easier for the away leg and we should go through to the next round. I am not sure why we didn’t play well, sometimes you just can’t explain it. But the gaffer will make sure we never let it happen again.
In Europe, there is no room for slip -ups. I was surprised at how full Ibrox was when we ran out of the tunnel and I can’t tell you how good it makes a player feel to see the stadium full of fans.