Lee: Walter right to sit on defence

May 18 2008 By Gordon Waddell

LEE McCULLOCH last night insisted Walter Smith got his tactics spot on by trying to throw up the iron curtain against Zenit in midweek.

The Ibrox side fought grimly to contain Dick Advocaat's slick St Petersburg side, killing the UEFA Cup Final as a showpiece.

But the Scotland star believes what was good enough to get Gers to Manchester was good enough to see them through one more game.

McCulloch said: "That's the way the gaffer has set everybody out since day one and I don't think we can complain about getting to a major final, can we? So why change it?

"We changed it maybe with 20 minutes to go and went three up front and were causing them a little bit of a problem. But then they counter-attacked and got their second goal.

"We will not be feeling sorry for ourselves or anything like that though. There are still two medals up for grabs this season and, of course, the treble. What a season that would be."

Lee, along with Charlie Adam and DaMarcus Beasley, has made a stunning recovery from an injury that looked set to end his season.

Now he's itching to make a big contribution when it matters.

He said: "I have trained about four days and was just happy to get some game time in midweek.

"It was my first run out since getting the injury and it felt all right. "But now it's up to the manager whether I start games, come on as a sub or whatever.

"As a team and a club we've done ourselves proud - now we have to be aiming to get into the Champions League by winning the SPL.

"If we do that I don't think many teams will fancy drawing us after what we've done this season."