HANDS buried deep inside his pockets, head bowed and a frown etched across his forehead, Walter Smith cut an uncomfortable figure in the glare of the Kirkcaldy sun on Saturday afternoon.

Yet it was not the soaring mercury levels that left the Rangers manager feeling the heat.

When Smith wryly remarked after the game that the only positive he could take was the fact it signalled the end of the Ibrox side's pre-season, he was only half joking.

The sight of Carlos Cuellar limping down the tunnel with a bag of ice was bad enough to have him in a sweat, but added to that was an insipid, limp performance that does not bode well for Wednesday's crunch Champions League qualifier against Kaunus.

In fact, if Smith started with a team that he thought might have been similar to what he was going to go with against the Lithuanians, he would have ended up with more questions than he had answers.

Allan McGregor was back between the sticks but lost a soft goal when he caught a header from Iain Davidson in the air, then let it squirm from his grasp as he landed before Kevin Smith tapped in from close range.

Criticised to the point of exhaustion last season on his decision to play with just one striker, Smith began the game against Raith with Kris Boyd playing in tandem with Jean-Claude Darcheville and Kenny Miller pushing on from the left to add to the attack, but there seemed no great bite to Rangers going forward.

More than that, there was no width in the team and as such genuine chances were negligible in the opening hour.

Only when Nacho Novo and Andrius Velicka came on and then latterly Kyle Lafferty and Daniel Cousin, did the Ibrox side start to look lively. Novo scored when he had barely been on the pitch after collecting a neat flick from Velicka and Lafferty in particular looked worthy of the summer saga with Burnley.

The Northern Irishman played on the left flank and his lanky, angular frame belies a searing pace.

He was on only a minute when he raced down the left flank and sent over a cross that Cousin popped in at the back post.

"Kyle's capabilities of playing wide and through the middle is good," said Smith. "He showed a fair bit of pace and helped to lift us when he came on."

The problem for Smith this season will be in deciding not only to go with a more attack-minded side, but also which personnel he uses to fill it.

He has no shortage of striking options at the club - odds are that some of them will go before the closure of the transfer window - but it would appear that the Rangers manager has not yet found an ideal partnership.

Lafferty's pace will be a welcome injection into the forward line and although the 20-year-old played only 15 minutes at the weekend, there may be a temptation to give him a bigger role against Kaunus.

But, in midfield and defence, there are further headaches. Ferguson's influence is impossible to replace and while Charlie Adam started in that role against Raith, he does not have the same presence.

Kevin Thomson missed Saturday's game with a twisted knee and should be back for the game against Kaunus and much responsibility will rest on his shoulders.

Lee McCulloch, too, should be back after a throat infection.

Despite the catalogue of injuries that are beginning to pile up, Smith, though is not about to start waving any blank cheques.

"Barry is important to us. You can't get away from that. He is our captain. We will miss him. But how much would Barry Ferguson cost in the transfer market?

"There is no point in rushing out to buy someone because we wouldn't get a like for like player.

"There is no point in panicking. We have to make sure we have enough players to cover for him.

"As long as we don't get a run of injuries to upset us any more we can add to our midfield, but we'll only do so if we think it's the right player."

Cuellar's loss is perhaps even more significant than Ferguson.

At Kirkcaldy it was Kirk Broadfoot who moved inside to take over from Cuellar as Christian Dailly was brought on to fill the berth the former St Mirren defender vacated. Rangers conceded a goal two minutes later.

Sasa Papac can also be used in the centre of defence and the player has impressed Smith so far this summer.

"Papac has arguably been our best player in pre-season," he said.

"He has taken a bit of time to get used to the left-back position but he has been playing extremely well."

It is not something you could say about Rangers in general this summer.

Performances have been well below par and there will be a few people squirming in their seats on Wednesday night unless there is a significant improvement.

With a £12m bounty at stake, there had better be.