My boys deserve to finish off Fiorentina, insists proud Rangers boss Smith

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And he conjured up the spirit of Lyon, Stuttgart, Athens and Lisbon as he urged his battle-hardened troops to clinch a spot at the City of Manchester Stadium on May 14.

Last night's hard- fought 0- 0 draw with Fiorentina at Ibrox leaves Smith's quadruple-chasing side pursuing a priceless away goal in Tuscany next Thursday.

Smith believes that the achievements of this season - hitting the net in away games against Lyon, Stuttgart, Panathinaikos and Sporting - prove Rangers' burgeoning European pedigree and provide real reason for hope ahead of the return leg.

The former Scotland boss said: "In terms of effort, our boys deserve to go through. I have no doubt about that.

"They've been fantastic with the way they've worked in the games. If we can get through, it would be fantastic. We have a real chance of reaching the Final and, hopefully, we can grab it next week.

"We can take confidence from what we've already done this season. If you look at the Champions League and UEFA Cup, we've scored against Stuttgart, Lyon, Lisbon and Panathinaikos.

"No team would relish going to any of these places but we've managed to score there. So we've gained a confidence in the away games - and we take that with us to Florence.

"In the second leg, the home side will always fancy themselves to win. But that has been the case in all of the knock-out ties we've played this season. We know we can get the goals required to go through.

"If you look at the games in Europe, especially when we've been drawn at home first, I feel it's a factor if you don't concede the away goal. You are always in with a chance after that.

"We're a difficult team to play against, certainly difficult to score against. With away goals counting double, there is always a bit of edginess in the home side in the second leg."

Assistant manager Ally McCoist was also pleased with last night's result.

He said: "The most important thing was keeping a clean sheet - and I know that sounds strange coming from a former centre-forward. 'But we have players who can nick something away from home so we have to be happy with the result."

Rangers have progressed through two Champions League qualifiers and three knock-out rounds in the UEFA Cup after playing the home leg first. Keeping a clean sheet last night was always going to be crucial, especially with Barry Ferguson and Kevin Thomson missing through suspension.

Smith said: "It was a tight game, with few clear-cut opportunities. Fiorentina showed quality in possession that we struggled to match at times. But credit to our players. We had to work extremely hard. I would have liked us to be a bit more controlled in possession, so we could pose more of a threat.

"But we achieved what we wanted, restricting Fiorentina's very good attacking players to just a few opportunities. Hopefully, we can do the same in Italy. The crowd played a huge part tonight - they stuck with the team.

"Our side may lack a lot of things but the supporters appreciate that they play for the jersey, that they work hard to cover any deficiencies."

Smith praised defender David Weir, who is just two weeks short of his 38th birthday, but has played 56 games this season. "It will be a busy two weeks before David reaches his birthday," laughed Smith. "I never expected in my wildest dreams he would play this number of games.

"All credit for that goes to David. He is a fantastic professional and a good guy, to boot. When his birthday comes, he will maybe deserve a wee rest."

Informed of Rangers' record in carving out away-day results, Fiorentina boss Cesare Prandelli said: "There is always a first time. We ran up against a wall tonight. We will be looking for a result next Thursday but the tie could go all the way to penalties.

"There wasn't much space and we tried shots from distance. But we didn't miss too many chances."

Whoever comes out on top next Thursday will face either Bayern Munich or Zenit St Petersburg, who drew 1-1 in Germany last night.

Franck Ribery opened the scoring in the first-half for Bayern before a Lucio own goal handed Dick Advocaat's Russian side a priceless away goal.