SAVE YOUR POT SHOTS

Martin insists crunching numbers only tells half story as he shrugs off attempts on goal stats

- BY ANDY NEWPORT

RUSSELL MARTIN may have taken Rangers another step closer to a £40million Champions League jackpot - but the pressure is already piling on the new man in charge.

The Ibrox gaffer watched his side scrape through against Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday, booking a playoff clash with Club Brugge despite a nervy 2-1 defeat in Bohemia.

An impressive display and 3-0 win in the first leg ultimately spared Rangers' blushes but the stuttering second-leg showing did little to silence the growing noise from a frustrated support who are still to be convinced by Martin's credentials.

The Light Blues pocketed £3.7million for reaching the final qualifying round but fans were more concerned with another worrying stat, 101 shots fired at Jack Butland’s goal - and that's just six games into the season.

Martin, still settling into the job he took in the summer, admits it’s not a figure he enjoyed hearing but is adamant that it tells only half the story.

He said: “I was made aware of it this week. The analyst did a real breakdown on it. Half the shots were from well outside the box. The two games when we gave away too many chances was against Panathinaikos and Plzen.

“We were playing two teams away in Europe who were 2-0 and 3-0 down. They were doing stuff we hadn't usually seen them doing, committing numbers forward we haven't usually seen them doing.