GRAEME Souness couldn't fault his players effort as they crashed out of the UEFA Cup at the first stage of the competition.

The 3-1 defeat in the first leg proved to be too much to overcome, as Rovers threw the kitchen sink at Gençlerbirligi, but they were thwarted by the woodwork on three occasions and a host of poor finishing.

"We played very well tonight, we've done everything right except put the ball in the back of the net," said Souness on Radio Rovers after the game.

"We've created chance after chance, we hit the woodwork three times, but we were guilty of missing golden opportunities.

"In the first ten minutes we could have been three-nil up, their goalkeeper has played his part and made a couple of saves, but we have done everything we should have done except put the ball in the net.

"And then we've made one mistake defensively and it has cost us the goal.

"At times like this, we have to dig deep and stay patient.

"But some of our football tonight was excellent, but how can I ask for anymore than they've given tonight.

"We should have won that game 5-1 tonight."

You can see more post match reaction on tomorrow's Rovers World, if you aren't a subscriber for Rovers World, click here for more information.