Michael Beale got Rangers out of clusterf*** but strikers must get going to swerve a crisis - Keith Jackson's big match verdict

There's a word for situations like the mess Rangers found themselves in at half-time in Geneva last night. It begins with ‘cluster’ and ends in ‘yeuch’. Or something like that.

So, considering the sheer magnitude of the moment, manager Michael Beale must be given some credit this morning for keeping a clear head among mounting chaos just when it mattered most of all. His new-look team remains very much a work in progress and the success or otherwise of overseeing an entire summer overhaul of the club’s attacking unit is still to be determined.

Put it this way, when Beale shelled out a small fortune to beef up his firepower, he probably wasn’t envisaging having to rely on James Tavernier bailing them out from right-back all over again. And yet, although familiarity may breed contempt where his skipper is concerned, Tavernier proved once again he remains an invaluable talisman whenever Rangers go on their travels. Over two legs of this needlessly stressful affair, Tavernier scored two of Rangers’ three goals. And his headed equaliser, five minutes into the second half, was probably the first time Beale felt like the situation was back under control.

It should really have been done and dusted against 10 men at Ibrox last week. But Beale’s side began to malfunction when it ought to have been motoring on home soil – which added such a heavy sense of jeopardy to this latest road trip. And yet, even though things became even more fraught when the Swiss side levelled it up with the first goal of last night’s second leg, Beale kept his composure and made the changes his team required to return safely back home, with Champions League ambitions intact.

Following a mixed bag of an opening week, Beale had some serious