Walter Smith hailed goalkeeper Allan McGregor for an outstanding performance after Rangers progressed to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals.The 26-year-old produced a string of saves as Rangers withstood fierce pressure from Werder Bremen in a 1-0 defeat on Thursday night - but progressed to the last eight with a 2-1 aggregate victory.

Diego was the only player to beat the Rangers stopper when he connected with a low shot in the 58th minute.

The Ibrox side then survived a late onslaught which saw McGregor deflecting a close-range shot from Boubacar Sanogo on to the crossbar just five minutes from time. In the end, the 2-0 first-leg victory was just enough to send Smith's troops through - and the veteran coach knew whom he had to thank the most.

"McGregor played extremely well," Smith lauded. "His handling was terrific. A couple of balls really came straight up at him and he held them well. He then made a couple of fantastic saves in the last 15 minutes and kept us in it. He really saved the game for us tonight. We are just elated to be through."

Smith admitted he had expected Bremen to come at his team straight away.

"I knew we were going to be under a lot of pressure," he said. "I certainly knew it was going to be that type of match. I fully expected this game to be played like this.

"We could not have done any better tonight. We defended very well and we had to be extremely resilient. I could not have asked more of the group.

"One thing Bremen do is they leave themselves very open to counter-attacks. I was a little bit disappointed we could capitalise on that. We had a lot of bad luck as well but managed to get through and we're very happy."

Smith also praised his troops for not conceding after Diego's strike.

"I thought we did extremely well after the goal. I thought there could have been a reaction to losing that goal especially at that time but they held on and McGregor made a couple of fantastic saves.

"They defended very well and it was the resilience and will to win that sent them through."

Asked how he got through the 90 minutes, Smith replied with a smile: "As far as heart attacks are concerned I go to the gym every day. I haven't had one yet."

Meanwhile, Werder coach Thomas Schaaf criticised his players' struggles in front of goal.

"We did everything right except for one thing," he said. "We did not score a (second) goal. I give my team a lot of credit. They played a great game and gave it all they could. Once again we tried everything but we could not reward ourselves."

Smith is optimistic his team can go far in the tournament, adding: "We proved we are a difficult team to beat and we're looking forward to the next round."

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