McInnes' Rangers serve up stodgy 12-course banquet of huff and puff

Of all the dullness on display at Ibrox, Cammy Devlin's five-minute cameo stood apart. A blink-and-you'll-miss-him appearance from a substitute who was supposed to be a leader, a senior man, a guy to nurse Rangers to the endgame with their flimsy 1-0 lead intact.

Devlin's night ended with a deserved red card for a ridiculous and entirely needless lunge that fried the brain.

The midfielder was brought to Rangers to add steel, not to contribute to the mental frailties that dogged them on the run-in last season. He was meant to be part of the solution, not at risk of being part of the problem.

The red could have put Rangers' win in jeopardy, had Jablonec been up to much, which they weren't. They were organised but unthreatening. They were committed but lacked much resembling a goal threat.

They were creative only in their histrionics and their survival tactics. You haven't seen such swooning since the golden age of the Hollywood diva.

Rangers should put them out of the competition next week. Should. There are no guarantees. Derek McInnes is experienced and wily and hard working, but his team is not a smart team, not yet anyhow.

They're not coached to find space, to drag defences out of shape and then hit them hard. They're workmanlike in the main. Honest, but awfully lacking in inspiration.

It was Rangers' job to come up with the creativity to break Jablonec down and what a meal they made of it. A 12-course banquet of huff and puff finally brought to an end by one of the few bouts of coherent football that led to Ryan Naderi's winner.