However, Smith admitted his side had themselves to blame for their uphill struggle after their poor start to the second leg of the last-16 tie.

Jeremain Lens netted the only goal of the tie in the 14th minute after Balazs Dzsudzsak escaped Richard Foster to send in a low cross from the left, as PSV went on to win 1-0 both on the night and on aggregate.

Rangers struggled in the first half but exerted some sustained pressure around the hour mark.

Maurice Edu scuffed a great chance, Steven Naismith headed against the bar and Kyle Bartley's follow-up appeared to be handled on the line by PSV midfielder Atiba Hutchinson, which was missed by the referee, assistant and extra official behind the line.

But Rangers could not maintain their pressure and PSV came closer to another goal after Kyle Lafferty was stretchered off.

Smith said: "We were a bit disappointed with the way we started.

"I didn't feel we played well at all in the first half. We gave away a bad goal."

Smith, who brought on Naismith for David Weir at half-time, added: "We had to make an adjustment in the second half and we certainly applied more pressure.

"You have got to look at the penalty situation.

"We had a couple of chances in the run-up to a clear handball on the line.

"I don't know how many officials we have got on the pitch but they all missed it.

"It would have changed the game. It would have reduced PSV to 10 men and given us a chance to apply more pressure.

"Just afterwards Madjid Bougherra was brought down as well, which I thought was a clear penalty."

Smith admitted Rangers lost their momentum after Kyle Lafferty was stretchered off with a knee injury midway through the half.

"He was doing well for us up front," Smith said.

"He took a knock on the knee. I don't know how bad it is."

Smith revealed that there was even more concern over a knee injury to Kyle Bartley ahead of Sunday's Co-operative Insurance Cup final against Celtic.

The defender went down in the final minute but went back on, seemingly against the advice of the Rangers physio.

Meanwhile, Smith replied with a simple "no" when asked if he had been made aware of any developments in the long-running takeover saga.

Craig Whyte was at Ibrox tonight as he appears to be set to close in on a purchase of Sir David Murray's shares.

PSV coach Fred Rutten praised his team's "mature" display after their fourth away win in the competition.

He said: "The first half we played really well, we had lots of opportunities to score.

"In the second half our opponents made more chances but the team held on and I felt the team made a really big step in the right direction tonight.

"The players are very mature and play with a lot of confidence and are very aware of what I ask of them."