FORMER CELTIC STRIKER Oh Hyeon-gyu scored after missing an earlier penalty as Genk beat 10-man Rangers 1-0 in their Europa League opener at Ibrox to put Russell Martin back under the spotlight.
The Belgian visitors struck the woodwork in the first half before Gers midfielder Mohamed Diomande was deservedly shown a straight red card in the 41st minute for his challenge on Zakaria El Ouahdi.
In added time Gers keeper Jack Butland saved a penalty from Oh, who missed a series of chances before he eventually opened the scoring in the 55th minute with a close-range finish, which proved to be the winner.
The 2-0 win over Hibernian at the weekend gave under-fire Martin some much-needed respite but it was a case of one step forward, two back and again the fans turned on him at the final whistle.
Rangers are second bottom of the William Hill Premiership and the former Southampton boss has to come up with something positive for the trip to Livingston on Sunday.
The home side worked their way into the game after a shaky start and attacker Mikey Moore missed the target with two efforts and a John Souttar header was cleared off the line by Genk skipper Bryan Heynen before the whistle went for an infringement.
At the other end, El Ouahdi picked out Oh with a cross from the right but he somehow blazed the ball over the bar from eight yards and then Patrik Hrosovsky struck Butland’s left-hand post with a shot from 16 yards.
Oh had a couple of other half-chances which he could not convert to some relief inside Ibrox.
In the 33rd minute a header from Gers skipper James Tavernier appeared to hit the arm of Joris Kayembe inside the Genk box.
After Slovenian referee Matej Jug checked his pitchside monitor at the behest of his VAR, he then spoke to both captains before awarding the visitors a free-kick, seemingly for a push by the Light Blues captain.
When Diomande was then sent off by referee Jug for his lunging tackle on El Ouahdi in the middle of the park, Rangers’ task became more taxing and it looked ominous when there was penalty check for Genk in added time after Yaimar Medina went tumbling inside the box after being clipped by Tavernier.
This time after checking his monitor Jug pointed to the spot but Butland saved Oh’s blasted effort.
Oliver Antman replaced Moore for the start of the second half and within minutes Thelo Aasgaard hammered a shot high over the Genk crossbar.
Butland made a double save from Medina and Hrosovsky in a goalmouth melee, but the deadlock was broken when Jarne Steuckers split the Light Blues defence to pick out Oh and he buried the ball behind Butland before being booked for taking his shirt off in his celebrations.
Gers winger Djeidi Gassama fired just wide of the far post but Oh had the ball in the Rangers net in 69th minute only for the goal to be ruled out for an earlier offside and Thorsten Fink’s side held out for three points.
