Hearts exam will be crucial – Davis

Rangers midfielder Steven Davis believes the Scottish champions’ tough opening day examination against Hearts will prove invaluable in their crucial Champions League qualifier against Malmo tonight.

Ally McCoist’s side made a stuttering start to their title defence on Saturday as they were held to a lacklustre 1-1 draw by Hearts at Ibrox.

David Obua headed Hearts into a first-half lead before Steven Naismith rescued a point for Rangers in what was McCoist’s first competitive match in charge.

Northern Ireland international Davis, who captained the side due to David Weir’s suspension, admitted the players were disappointed to drop points in their opening fixture.

But the midfielder, who recently signed a five-year contract to stay at Ibrox, hopes that being pushed so hard by Jim Jefferies’s side will have given them a wake-up call ahead of the first leg of their third round qualifying tie against the Swedish champions.

“We’re not going to make any excuses. We haven’t started the way we would have liked but hopefully with each game the sharpness will come back,” Davis said.

“We’ll get fitter, better and stronger. Hopefully, we can bounce back and get a good result against Malmo.”

Malmo currently sit in a mid-table position in the Swedish league, 13 points behind leaders Helsingborgs. But their manager Rikard Norling insists the pressure is all on Rangers ahead of their trip to Ibrox.

“We all know they have big pressure on them for this game. They’re a massive club and they should go through against us,” Norling said.

Third qualifying round

Playing Today                                                                   1st leg   2nd leg   Agg

APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus) vs Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) vs Rubin Kazan (Russia)
FC Twente (Holland) vs Vaslui (Romania)
FK Ekranas (Lithuania) vs BATE Borisov (Belarus)
Genk (Belgium) vs FK Partizan (Serbia)
Litex Lovech (Bulgaria) vs Wisla Krakow (Poland)
Rangers (Scotland) vs Malmo (Sweden)
Zestafoni (Georgia) vs Sturm Graz (Austria)

Tomorrow

Benfica (Portugal) vs Trabzonspor (Turkey)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark) vs Shamrock (Ireland)
HJK Helsinki (Finland) vs Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Maccabi Haifa (Israel) vs NK Maribor (Slovenia)
Odense OB (Denmark) vs Panathinaikos (Greece)
Rosenborg (Norway) vs Viktoria Plzen (Czech Rep.)
Standard Liege (Belgium) vs FC Zurich (Switzerland)

Second legs: August 2/3.