McInnes' Rangers scrape 1-0 win over Jablonec at Ibrox on 20 August 2026
Derek McInnes' Rangers beat Jablonec 1-0 at Ibrox on 20 August 2026, Ryan Naderi scoring the decisive goal as the hosts held a one-goal advantage to take to the Czech Republic next week. The match also featured a five-minute cameo from Cammy Devlin that ended with a red card.
The victory was McInnes' second in two games but offered little comfort in terms of performance, with Rangers described as workmanlike and short on invention. Devlin, signed to add steel, was sent off for a late lunge during his brief spell on the pitch, a dismissal that might have endangered the result had Jablonec posed a greater threat. Jablonec were organised and committed but produced few clear chances and were characterised in the report as more theatrical in their defending than dangerous going forward.
The contest was labelled a "12-course banquet of huff and puff" before Ryan Naderi produced one of the few sustained passages of coherent play to deliver the winner. The game yielded a handful of positives for Rangers: a clean sheet, a one-goal first-leg lead to take to Jablonec next week, industrious displays from Djeidi Gassama and James Penrice, assured defending from Olwethu Makhanya and signs of improvement in Naderi. By full-time the crowd was not booing in the way it had been at half-time.
Several Rangers players struggled for movement and options in possession, with Emmanuel Fernandez singled out for a difficult evening; attempts to play forward left him with little support, a risky pass failed to find a target and the crowd reaction was captured as "Angry, angry, angry." Fernandez also gestured with a waved arm to indicate the lack of runners ahead of him. Derek McInnes spent much of the match pacing his technical area, the report adding: "He probably crashed through the 10,000 steps in 15 minutes," and suggested he might require additional coaching input.
Off-field context underlined the broader questions at Ibrox: the consortium led by Andrew Cavenagh has overseen 11 new signings in recent weeks and nearly 30 incoming players since last summer. The club's cumulative transfer outlay was described as having passed £25m, then exceeding £35m last January and now "knocking on the door of £50-£60m on new players," while the stadium contained around 15,000 empty seats.
The report contrasted Rangers' display with Celtic's recent performance, noting Camilo Duran's sustained class and stating Duran cost "somewhere between five and six million." Nico Raskin was an unused substitute with a "wee injury, apparently," and the report denied a link between that and the rumoured interest from Fenerbahce.
Rangers will carry a 1-0 lead into the return leg at Jablonec next week, a result that the report said keeps alive hopes of a European story this season despite the limited quality on display.
