European play-offs: Rangers edge Jablonec at Ibrox as Brighton held in Tromsø
On Thursday in the European play-offs at Ibrox, Ryan Naderi’s second-half strike secured Rangers a 1-0 first-leg win over Jablonec; Brighton were held 0-0 by Tromsø in Norway and Hearts finished 2-2 with Rapid Vienna.
Rangers showed signs of regression from Sunday’s 5-1 win under new manager Derek McInnes — his first victory at the fifth time of asking — as a goalless first half at Ibrox drew boos at the interval. The Govan side improved after the break, but were reduced to 10 men when substitute Cammy Devlin was sent off in the 78th minute for a high tackle on Jiri Slama, forcing Rangers to see out the remainder of the match a player short.
Brighton created several good openings in Tromsø but could not breach keeper Jakob Haugaard, a performance summed up by manager Fabian Hürzeler: "It’s not the result we hoped for." Ibrahim Osman, making his Brighton debut after three loan spells, looked lively in the first half, and Tromsø almost grabbed a late winner when Isak Vadebu dragged a shot wide; the tie heads to the second leg at the Amex Stadium all square as the Seagulls prepare to open their domestic campaign against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Hearts’ 2-2 draw with Rapid Vienna featured a late impact from substitute James Wilson, who "drilled in an unstoppable drive from 30 yards just moments after coming on" to put the hosts ahead, prompting manager Wouter Vrancken to say: "He’s a young lad so for sure it will be extra special. Let’s hope he can make the next steps." Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao had opened the scoring with a first-half header before Josh McPade levelled, and Rapid forced a late equaliser through Nikolaus Wumbrand to leave the tie on a knife edge ahead of next week’s return leg.
Hibernian drew 0-0 in Belgium with Gent, a result coach David Gray described as "a massive performance and a massive result," after Owen Elding had a 15th-minute penalty saved by Davy Roef. Motherwell opened emphatically at home to Freiburg when Regan Charles-Cook finished Emmanuel Longelo’s cutback after 73 seconds, but Matthias Ginter equalised with a header on 27 minutes and added a penalty following Martin Moormann’s straight red card on 65 minutes after a VAR review; substitute Keisuke Goto then nodded in a stoppage-time third, leaving Motherwell with a 3-1 deficit to overturn in Germany next Thursday.
Larne moved closer to the league phase with a 2-0 win at 10-man Lincoln Red Imps after Yussef Flalhi was sent off on 29 minutes; Paul O’Neill scored with five minutes remaining and Kevin O’Hara added a stoppage-time breakaway goal, giving Gary Haveron’s side a cushion ahead of the second leg at Inver Park. Shamrock Rovers were held 1-1 at Tallaght Stadium by KuPS after Enda Stevens put the Irish side ahead on 49 minutes only for Piotr Parzyszek to equalise on 85. In the Europa League, Mohamed Salah played all 90 minutes of his home debut as Trabzonspor hosted Ferencvaros, but the visitors won 1-0 and Trabzonspor had Chibuike Nwaiwu sent off in added time.
Return legs come next week: Brighton will host Tromsø at the Amex Stadium, Hearts’ tie proceeds to a return leg next week, Motherwell travel to Germany next Thursday, and Larne’s second leg is scheduled at Inver Park.