SO much for the new mellow Jose Mourinho. By the closing stages of this match, after some slipshod play by his own team and a few refereeing decisions going Rangers’ way, he was on the edge of his technical area screaming instructions to his players and arguing with the fourth official. When he digests it, the Portuguese will consider some problems which persist from last season. The lack of a truly penetrating passer in his midfield and a tendency to be too narrow in his midfield when compared to Manchester United. Having said that he got a decent cameo from Florent Malouda in a first half which showed the Frenchman has dig in his left foot and some devil in his make-up. Tal Ben-Haim spent the match flitting across roles in the back four, something that he may also spend the season doing, although Steve Sidwell was easily outclassed by Barry Ferguson when they came together in midfield.

It was a good test for Chelsea as Rangers were definitely up for it, their players seeking places in the lineup for Tuesday’s Champions League qualifier against FK Zeta of Montenegro, and won the game with two goals in the last five minutes. First, Nacho Novo picked his spot sweetly into the bottom corner after Chris Burke burst down the right and found him on the edge of the box. Then, Ibrox rubbed its eyes in delirious disbelief as a right-foot effort from Filip Sebo, the Paul le Guen misfit, deflected off Ben Haim and flew over Hilario into the top corner. The stadium spent the remaining seconds chorusing “easy, easy” which cannot have helped Mourinho’s mood.

His assistant, Steve Clarke, believes the match was a good exercise for his Chelsea troops and thought pitting their wits against teams of the calibre of Rangers is the best way to start the season. “We don’t select easy preseason games,” he said. “If we want to win 3-0, 4-0, 5-0 we can go to other places and find easy games. The matches we play are difficult games. Ibrox is a difficult place to play and we all knew that when we selected them.”

Chelsea were arrayed in luminous yellow and the 4-4-2 he plans to employ more frequently this season. Sidwell kept Frank Lampard company in the central midfield and got forward to pull an early shot past the post, while Ben Haim slotted in beside John Terry and Malouda provided the width on the left with Joe Cole on the right. The Scotland v England aspect of the game meant it was not quite your usual tepid preseason friendly and when Ferguson nailed Malouda with a flailing tackle as the Frenchman sped through midfield, Drogba was immediately in his face. Malouda didn’t need his pal’s assistance, waiting 10 minutes for the revenge tackle on Ferguson which brought a booking.

He also sent a drive flying narrowly past just before half-time, after a first period which generally lacked fluency. Rangers had their moments, Ferguson lured Sidwell in and then sparked a one-two before almost playing Jean-Claude Darcheville in. The striker was halted by a dubious linesman’s flag but Boyd didn’t have this excuse when driving an earlier opportunity against Petr Cech after David Weir’s pass snaked through Chelsea’s defence. Terry’s new lucrative contract did not stop him missing a routine cross from Alan Hutton but Boyd, again, could not capitalise on his slip.

At the other end, Drogba met a Lassane Diarra cross with a header which dropped just wide and left Hutton, who had the temerity to challenge him for it, writhing on the turf. Diarra had been drafted in at the last minute, when Paulo Ferriera was injured in the warm-up, while Glen Johnson played left-back with Ashley Cole in the final stages of convalescence.

The feeling of square pegs in round holes was accentuated after a half-time of Sven-Göran Eriksson style substitutions. Now Ben Haim and Sidwell, the new boys, constituted the left flank of Chelsea’s team as Carvalho came in at Terry’s side and John Obi Mikel at Lampard’s. The versatile Israeli then went to right-back when Cole was introduced shortly after the hour.

“I thought Ben-Haim was excellent today,” added Clarke. “He made a few mistakes towards the end but that’s fatigue, and don’t forget he played three positions.”

Perhaps the most impressive newcomer on either side was Carlos Cuellar, who Rangers paid Osasuna £2.2m for. He generally handled Drogba’s physicality well and was also quick enough to cover across for his colleagues. Terry, in contrast, again looked rusty when he slipped and had to foul Sebo to prevent him getting a run on goal.

It was almost as if Chelsea were intent on providing succour to the much-derided striker, signed by Paul le Guen last summer, when Mikel presented the ball to Nacho Novo and the Spaniard played Sebo in perfectly only for him to fluff the chance with an incredibly poor connection. No wonder, one report yesterday suggested that the man who sold him to Le Guen for £1.8m on behalf of Austria Vienna found himself being slapped heartily on the back everywhere he went in the Austrian capital subsequently. Now, belatedly, the match came to life and Cuellar had to block Lampard’s shot on the line after allowing Drogba to escape down the left and provide a cross which caused panic in Rangers’ box.

Another Rangers’ break then ended with Ashley Cole making a superb tackle to deny Ferguson as he prepared to score from Novo’s pass. Yet the goals, finally, came for Rangers as Sebo had the last laugh to leave Mourinho scowling. Chelsea now turn their attention to Tuesday’s game against Brondby, their last game before Sunday’s Community Shield clash against champions Manchester United. Clarke added: “Hopefully we will win the match and go into the Community Shield in a positive frame of mind.”

Star man: Carlos Cueller (Rangers)

Rangers:McGregor (Carrol ht), Hutton (Murray ht), Weir (Webster ht), Cuellar, Papac (Broadfoot ht), McColloch (Sebo 62min), Hemdani, Ferguson, Adam (Burke 82min), Darcheville (Beasley 46min), Boyd (Novo ht)

Chelsea:Cech (Hilario ht), Diarra (Carvalho ht), Terry, Ben-Haim, Johnson (A Cole 63min), J Cole (Wright-Phillips ht), Sidwell, Lampard, Malouda (Obi Mikel 46ht), Shevchenko (Pizarro 46ht), Drogba (Sinclair 71min)

Scorers: Rangers:Novo 86, Sebo 88

Referee: Stuart Dougal

Attendance: 50,380