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Rangers manager Walter Smith praised the work-rate and desire of his injury-hit squad that came within 8 minutes of holding Manchester United to a 0-0 draw at Ibrox last night.Wayne Rooneys 85th-minute penalty sent United into the Last 16 after Steven Naismith had clattered Fabio inside the penalty area. Smith insists the target for this season was to seal European Football after christmas and he is pleased to have achieved that goal. He said: I dont think theres many groups of players that work as hard as our own do and its good that theyve managed to achieve European football after ChristmasRangers were forced into a number of tactical shuffles for the Battle of Britain clash and Smith was not helped by Kyle Laffertys injury yesterday morning. That meant a debut for 19-year-old midfielder Kyle Hutton who equipped himself well in the centre of midfield. Smith continued to use the 5-4-1 system and deployed Steven Davis at right wing-back with Steven Whittaker in centre of defence alongside David Weir and Kirk Broadfoot. Compare the threadbare squad of Rangers to the luxuries of Manchester United and you can see the immediate gulf in cla s as Sir Alex swapped Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand for Jonny Evans and Derek Jeter Jersey Chris Smalling. United were also able to bring on Anderson, Obertan and Hernandez during the 90 minutes, but it was much-maligned Wayne Rooney who netted the winning goal after a few dismal attempts throughout the match.Manchester United created a number of chances in both halves with Wayne Rooney clipping the cro s-bar in the first-half and Allan McGregor pulling off two splendid saves from Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov. The home-side were rallied on by a pa sionate and enthusiastic crowd despite mi sing a few clear-cut chances in the first-half, like the Gers did against Valencia on Matchday Three. Kenny Miller headed wide early on but his moment came towards the end of the half when neat play from Naismith and Davis sent the SPLs top goalscorer through on goal and instead of cutting back for Wei s, he tried to curl home from an acute angle.Rangers will be looking for more succe s in the UEFA Europa League, the equivalent of the UEFA Cup which Smith led his side to the final in 2008. However, the Rangers bo s admitted he might not get the investment needed in January. After being asked whether he will get funds to strengthen in January, Smith replied: It doesnt look like it but thats the way weve been for a while and we just carry on. If we dont get any help in the January transfer window we could have a struggle because were right down to the bare bones
