GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - DaMarcus Beasley and Glasgow Rangers got a vital last minute goal to beat Serbian side Red Star Belgrade 1-0 in a Champions League third round qualifying tie at Ibrox.

The 90th minute goal was scored by Spanish striker Nacho Novo, who came on as a substitute for the American in the 67th minute.

Beasley started in his usual left wing slot and endured a frustrating night, though punctuated with a few bright spots. The USMNT veteran, who hours earlier had just learned he had been named in the selection to face Sweden on August 22nd, was unable to get open down the flank as he was marked tightly by the Belgrade defense.

When asked by ASD post game whether the former IMG Academy graduate had been frustrated by the tight marking and tackling by the Belgrade side, Rangers manager Walter Smith had extremely high praise for the 25 year old winger.

"There's nothing wrong with him," he countered. "I've been really pleased by the way he's played for us. It was a difficult night for everybody."

The game was marked by several crunching tackles, which resulted in seven yellow cards shown to seven different Belgrade players. That number does not include several challenges where Swedish referee Martin Hansson gave the benefit of the doubt to the players involved. Tempers flared briefly on two occasions, but never escalated into anything more than words.

It was clear as the game started that, despite playing away from home, Red Star were not afraid to take the ball upfield to sneak a vital away goal. They were able to use their width very well in stages and were able to frustrate Rangers numerous times throughout the match.

Though the overall effort was scrappy, the Serbian side looked to be slightly more inventive moving the ball on the counterattack, but the Rangers defense was solid when the ball came anywhere near their goal, with new signing Carlos Cuellar having another solid effort.

Beasley found it difficult to play a positive role in the game as the Serbian team played deep at the back when the Glasgow side moved the ball into their half. He did manage to break free in the 17th minute, on a through ball from defender Kirk Broadfoot, who was playing in his first Champions League encounter since signing from St. Mirren in the summer.

While the home crowd rose with anticipation on the sight of Beasley speeding down the flank, his subsequent decision to cut inside was met solidly by the Belgrade defense.

The encounter was so tightly fought in the first half that, for long spells, neither side was able to play a decent ball into their opponents' penalty area.

Red Star, at times, had five defenders spread across the back to stop any Rangers advance, and played a high offside line as striker Jean-Claude Darcheville discovered to his dismay twice in the first half.

Just when it would seem that the game would just ground down to a halt in the midfield, Beasley added a bit of a spark in the 34th minute. Collecting on the end of a nice one-two with Darcheville, the Indiana native raced inside towards the top left corner of the penalty area, but again was met by two stout Red Star defenders to snuff out the chance.

Belgrade responded six minutes later with what would be the best chance of the night to that point. An uncharacteristic error from Cuellar allowed Red Star striker Filip Dordevic to make a strong run to the top of the box, but his shot was just over the bar.

The half then ended with some slight pushing and shoving, again highlighting the intensity of the encounter.

Rangers clearly came out with more energy in the second half, spurred on by the crowd of 35,364. And Beasley was much more active, making stronger runs down the flanks to open space in the middle - but the Red Star defense was equal to the task, showing both patience and confidence.

This type of play resulted in counter attacking opportunities using their speed down the left side. Dordevic laid in a nice cross in the 62nd minute - however, the rest of his teammates had failed to join him on that occasion.

After the early Rangers pressure was more than capably handled by the Serbians, manager Smith decided to inject fresh blood into the game with a double substitution; Beasley made way for Novo and Darcheville, who is still slightly hobbled with an Achilles injury, made way for new signing Daniel Cousin.

The game started to open up, with Rangers pressing more and more for a goal, and Belgrade starting to find more open spaces on the counter.

The hard tackling didn't stop, with Red Star receiving four of their seven yellows in the final twenty minutes. Smith would comment after the game that he 'never saw so many yellows without a sending off'.

Novo was making a huge impact on the game, getting behind defenders Dusan Andelkovic and Grezgorz Bronowicki to get the ball into good positions, but it wasn't until the final minute of regulation that he could make good on his efforts.

McGregor sent a long kick down the length of the field as a final desperation attempt. The ball was flicked on by winger Lee McCulloch into the path of Novo, who took one settling touch before sending a low drive below the dive of Red Star Keeper Ivan Randelovic.

Red Star coach Milorad Kosanovic was disappointed that his side conceded the last minute winner and called Rangers 'lucky' in the press conference. "It has spoiled our atmosphere, we didn't deserve it," he told the media throng.

Rangers' manager Smith was pleased with the result, and refuted press questions regarding the "nastiness" of the encounter. "It was a football game," he asserted. "It's physical, and hard tackles are part of the game."

Scoring
RAN - Nacho Novo (Lee McCullough) 90'

RAN - Allan McGregor; Alan Hutton, Carlos Cuellar, David Weir, Kirk Broadfoot, Kevin Thomson, Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch,  Brahim Hemdani, Jean-Claude Darcheville (Daniel Cousin 67'), DaMarcus Beasley (Nacho Novo 67')

RSB - Ivan Randelovic; Dusan Andelkovic, Nenad Milijas, Ognen Korahan, Dorde Tutoric, Gregorz Bronowicki, Joao Lukas, Gueye Ibrahima, Milanko Raskovic, Filip Dordevic (Dejan Milanovic 83'), Segundo Castillo