Philippe Clement praised his Rangers players’ reaction to a challenging first half in Prague, but admitted to frustration at having secured one point rather than three from the trip to the Czech capital.
Sparta had the Scots on toast in the opening period, carving out a series of chances and being denied only by the brilliance of Jack Butland in the Rangers goal.
The Ibrox side were much more cohesive after the break and grew as an attacking force in the closing stages, with the substitute Danilo having a shot tipped onto the crossbar five minutes from time.
On the second anniversary of the death of Walter Smith, Rangers produced a battling display in the image of the club’s legendary former manager. However, Clement was left with mixed emotions ahead of the second part of the Sparta double header back in Glasgow on November 9.
Real Betis top group C after beating Aris Limassol away from home, the Spaniards’ tally of six points from three games being two more than that of Rangers and Sparta.
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“It’s a very important point, they are always really important away from home in Europe. But I am a winner — I want to win always,” Clement said. “I want my players to have the same mentality and I saw it after the game.
“They were disappointed they hadn’t won and that’s the mentality we need for the next few months. In the circumstances we can be happy with the point against a team who plays good football.
“The second half pleased me, the first half totally not. We talked about that during half time, it’s not what I want to see from my team. But the reaction in the second half was really good and we need to build on that. It’s impossible to create a story in ten days.”
With three left backs — Borna Barisic, Dujon Sterling and Ridvan Yilmaz — all unavailable Clement went with a new system of three central defenders and had Abdallah Sima fill in as a locum left wing-back. Ben Davies and John Souttar were both excellent in the rearguard effort.
“We started the second half much better,” Clement acknowledged. “It’s a game that was in the balance in the first half for Sparta, and in the second half for us. If you look at the data, the chances are equal and we had more shots on target.
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“It could have been a win for us, it could have been a win for them had they taken their chances in the first half. But I am happy with the reaction we showed in the second half. It has been a special week, because we lost three left full backs.
“Because of that we had to change our system. Doing that in just two training sessions is very difficult for any team in the world. I am really happy that after showing them images at half-time where the spaces were they were much better in the second half.
“We dominated the chances and at the end you can say we could have won the game. They had two really great saves.
“I was very pleased with Ben. I want everyone available for the team and those who have come in during training and they will get their chances in the next weeks.
“The chances will come if they show themselves because we have a lot of games. When you see the circumstances, I am really happy with Ben, but also Sima who is not used to playing a wing-back role. He did a great job defensively.
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“That’s what I want to see, a team that fights for each other until the end. That’s now two clean sheets in a row and if you do that you will take a lot of points from the season.
“But I don’t want a team that only plays for clean sheets and only defends. I want a team that plays good football and creates chances.”
Rangers’ next assignment is a Premiership game against Heart of Midlothian at Tynecastle on Sunday.
