But suddenly the situation changed as substitute David Gibney turned to shoot in the goal which revived Cavan's hopes.
There was no let-up in the pace after the re-start and Samaras fluffed a chance to shoot for goal from the centre of the Hibernian penalty area after Fortune crossed in from the right.
Nash then added a spin-and-shoot goal from between the circles on the power play with 8:41 left the Rangers' fifth goal in three games with the man advantage.
Moments later, MacDonald beat the offside trap to round Pernis and shoot for goal, but Paul Dixon had tracked back and cleared the ball off the line.
When the Real Madrid man was allowed to run at goal he twice met with strong challenges from Lucio, the first of which was a superb block from a shot on the left, but the second, from a similarly aggressive run on the right, inadvertently deflected the ball across goal to Raul Meireles only for the midfielder to shoot wide.
Just after the restart, Simon Church turned sharply to shoot over the top as Reading looked for a killer second goal.
Craig Fagan was sent through on goal and, after Boro keeper Brad Jones had swatted the ball away from him as he prepared to shoot, Manucho sent the loose ball across the face of goal.
Combe dropped a Mendes corner, allowing David Weir to shoot towards goal and Simon Ford cleared the ball on the line as Kilmarnock struggled to cope with Rangers' advances.
Lille seemed subdued for half an hour, but they finally showed their attacking prowess as Hazard, the goal-scorer from the home leg, burst into the box to shoot straight at the fortuitous Reina.
Our goal will be to shoot out through the atmosphere, orbit in space, then fall back into the air when the bullet gets behind our head.
Gillingham had a moment of deep anxiety three-and-a-half minutes into injury-time when William Buckley found space in the box to shoot but his effort flashed across goal and harmlessly wide.
Forest whose only half-decent strike towards goal before the interval saw McGugan shoot wildly over, had not scored on the opening day of the season since 2006 when Julian Bennett grabbed the winner against Bradford City.
Substitute Dirk Kuyt looked to have given Liverpool victory in extra time, but a late Ben Turner goal sent the match into a dramatic penalty shoot-out.
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On 38 minutes Ronaldo sent Park racing through on goal but, just as the South Korean prepared to shoot, Ashley Young slid in with a perfectly-timed challenge to avert the danger.
In full flow, the strategy is a masterpiece of keepaway: The ball zips between the Spanish midfielders and forwards until the befuddled opponent is dragged out of position, leaving space for a Spaniard to shoot on goal.
Rangers were seldom seen as an attacking threat and their only sight of goal in the first half came when Sebo turned nicely on a Brahim Hemdani pass only to shoot tamely at Artur Boruc.
The midfielder picked out Zubar out wide on the right and despite the Frenchman needing to shoot from a tight angle, he showed no hesitation in blasting the ball past Green for his first Premier League goal.
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