RANGERS have struggled to overcome First Division opposition recently and manager Walter Smith admits he was far from surprised last night's Co-operative Insurance Cup clash with Partick proved another tricky tie.
Rangers eventually booked their place in the draw for the last eight but only after being pushed all the way by the Firhill side.
Kris Boyd's excellent opener was cancelled out by Stephen McKeown as the game went into extra time before Pedro Mende
s claimed the decisive goal in style with 115 minutes on the clock.
If Thistle were confident heading into the match, they had every reason to be. They left Ibrox with a 1-1 draw in the Scottish Cup last season before suffering a 2-0 defeat in the replay.
Rangers then faced difficult encounters against Partick's fellow First Division sides St Johnstone and Queen of the South in order to claim the silverware in May.
"Of course they raise their game," said Smith of lower league opposition. "That's what happens, and that's what you are always up against. I thought they played to a decent level in the second half and it was a good cup tie overall.
"If you look at the results in the League Cup, they are always difficult matches for SPL sides to come away from home and get a result in.
"It looked as though it was going to go to penalties and thankfully it didn't. We got a couple of tough games from Partick last season so we knew it was going to be like that. When you make the number of opportunities we did in the first half and only score one goal, you know you are going to have a bit of a problem.
"We are delighted to get through and Partick Thistle deserve a great deal of credit for making it a really good cup tie."
Kenny Miller missed out with a slight calf strain.
The full article contains 329 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
