After taking a step forward with an emphatic victory over St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup last weekend, this was a night when Rangers flirted with the idea of immediately taking two in the opposite direction.In a UEFA Conference League play-off tie against Jablonec, Rangers made heavy weather of it – and then some.A solitary goal from Ryan Naderi five minutes into the second half was enough to secure a one-goal lead as they head to the Czech Republic for next week’s second leg.But this is far from a done deal. Rangers remain far from convincing and no one can be sure that they will have group-stage football in Europe to look forward to for the season ahead.The last time Rangers did not play in the group stage of a European competition was back in 2017 when they lost to Progres Niederkorn.Derek McInnes and his players still have it all to do. Even against such limited opposition, Rangers were not impressive for the most part. Ryan Naderi sees his effort hit the roof of the net to ensure Rangers take a first-leg lead Rangers are denied as Jablonec defended stoutly at IbroxThey were laborious in possession and largely devoid of creativity. They are still in the market for two new wingers and a new striker is possible.It’s not difficult to see why. The problem for McInnes is that he has already signed 11 new players. This is now very much his team and there looks to be precious little cohesion or attacking threat.Rangers were clinging on towards the end after Cammy Devlin was shown a straight red card barely two minutes after coming off the bench.It was a decision with which he could have no complaints, given it was high and it endangered his opponent.If McInnes is to make a success of this job, it’s difficult to overstate how important next week’s return leg will be.By hook or by crook, he and his players must come through it. If they were to be dumped out of Europe in two separate competitions by Jagiellonia Bialystok and Jablonec, it would be a major blot on his copybook.Even this early in his tenure, he is fighting to convince some supporters he is the right man for the job. There is absolutely no style or identity to this team whatsoever.Rangers were marginally improved in the second half but the overall paucity of the performance left the Ibrox crowd flat and underwhelmed, despite the slender victory.When the Rangers team-sheet dropped prior to kick-off, more than a few eyebrows would have been raised at the fact Lawrence Shankland was once again on the bench.McInnes had spoken pre-match about Shankland and insisted that he retained full confidence in the striker’s ability to make a success of himself at Ibrox.Yet, in a game of this magnitude, with European group-stage football on the line, there was something odd about the newly-appointed club captain not being in the starting XI.Having deployed the team in a 4-3-3 shape in the 5-1 thrashing of St Mirren last weekend, McInnes clearly liked what he saw and stuck with it. Naderi celebrates his goal, which could prove to be invaluable next weekPerhaps that’s what went against Shankland, whose lack of mobility and ability to press makes him ill-suited to play the lone striker role in this system.It was Ryan Naderi who got the nod up front, with the only change seeing Dan Neil coming in as captain to replace Nico Raskin in midfield.For all they may not be the most glamorous of names to have graced Ibrox over the years, Jablonec arrived in confident mood on the back of six straight wins in all competitions.The Czechs were quite content to sit in and frustrate Rangers in the early stages. In fairness, given the lack of creativity in the home side, it probably wasn’t the most difficult of tasks.Rangers lacked any guile or tempo in possession. Everything they did was one-paced and predictable, moving the ball from side to side, without any hint of penetration.Manny Fernandez has been in poor form so far this season and it was notable just how nervous the crowd became when he was on the ball.There looks to be a mistake in him at any moment. He picked up a booking after only 10 minutes and had to walk a tightrope for the remainder of the match.As soon as Ben Godfrey is fit again, it is surely inevitable that he will come back into the team to partner Olwethu Makhanya and Fernandez will be dropped.Rangers finally mustered a sight of goal on 25 minutes when some neat play in the penalty box saw Naderi lay the ball off to Vanja Dragojevic.The Serbian midfielder had scored a screamer against St Mirren last weekend, but, on this occasion, his shot came back off the post and trickled along the goalline before the visitors were able to clear their lines.Fernandez continued to be a bag of nerves. His body language was dreadful at times, moaning at others around him even though it was he who had made the mistake.If there was a sense that the emphatic victory over St Mirren last weekend might imbue Rangers with a renewed sense of confidence, it simply did not materialise.There were booed off at half-time. What made the performance so unimpressive was the fact that Jablonec were there for the taking. Cammy Devlin saw red moments after coming on for Rangers as a second-half substituteThe Czechs could kindly be described as limited opposition. Even a semi-competent Rangers team would have been able to brush them aside with ease.But this was another slog. The onus was on McInnes as manager to impart some kind of meaningful change heading into the second half.With the crowd growing ever more restless, the breakthrough duly arrived within five minutes of the restart to ease the tension.With what felt like his first forward pass all night, Neil clipped a ball to the back post, where Daisuke Yokota cushioned a header back across the face of goal.With the goalkeeper out of position, Naderi, who had been largely anonymous, had the simple task of tapping home into the empty net.The goal breathed new life into Rangers and it really ought to have been 2-0 just five minutes later when they cut the Czechs open down the right.It was Naderi who whipped in a good cross to the far post for Djeidi Gassama. He met the ball first time on the volley and blazed it over when heading it may have been the better option.Knowing that a one-goal lead would make for a nervy affair next week in the Czech Republic, Rangers were desperate to try and build on it if possible.McInnes made a double change on 69 minutes, bringing on Devlin and Findlay Curtis as he tried to inject some fresh legs.But it proved to be a disastrous cameo from Devlin, who, having only been on the pitch for a couple of minutes, went in late and high on Jablonec left-back Jiri Slama.Romanian referee Marian Barbu appeared to miss the incident initially, but, after being referred to the monitor by the VAR, he showed Devlin a straight red card.This was desperate for Rangers. It was now a case of backs to the wall and trying to cling on against a team who would be no more than mid-table in the Scottish Premiership.They got the job done in the end, but it was a tough watch. Truth be told, they will settle for more of the same next week if the end result is a place in the group stage.