Trevor, Trevor, Trevor. One day you will learn. Engage brain before opening mouth and saying something that will come back and bite you on the arse. The likeable and un-opinionated Trevor Francis said this week that the signing of Lee Hughes from West Brom would guarantee promotion to the Premier League for his team. Wrong! If they play like they did today, they will be lucky to make their usual play-off slot.

Birmingham City became the second notable scalp of what is turning into a very satisfactory and furthermore, enjoyable pre-season campaign. The same pattern emerged from kick off for Rangers as it had done in our previous home games against Watford and Chelsea. Solid at the back with Steve Palmer again in commanding form, imaginative in midfield with Gavin Peacock pulling the strings and lively up front with Andy Thomson continuing to lead the line well.

It was Thomson that notched the only goal of the game.  A pinball session on the edge of the Birmingham box and the ball fell to Peacock. A delightful ball teased across the six-yard line and Thomo arriving at the far post to slot home comfortably. It could have been worse as well. Richard Pacquette gave a good account of himself as Thomson’s partner. He is a very raw talent and one that will only get better as the season progresses and ‘Olly begins to exert his influence on him. He missed a couple of easy chances today but he must not be disheartened. In my opinion, he has a massive future ahead of him.

Half time could not come quick enough for Francis’ beleaguered men. He must have had his teamtalk, made sure everybody knew who was marking who and where any potential weaknesses were, walked out onto the pitch and thought “Oh bugger”. ‘Olly had decided that now was the time for seven (yes seven, count them) changes. Six trialists plus Christer Warren came on at half time. I won’t say who they are as I did not know most of them. The ones I did recognise were Carl Hutchings and Nicky Banger (formerly of Southampton and affectionately known in the game as Sausage).

It was as the second half kicked off that your eyes were drawn to the little and large combination that we now had up front. The small man, for the sake of this report I will call him Wee Man, had one of the biggest foreheads I have ever seen. The big man had hair that looked very much like Frank Spencer’s beret, again for the benefit of the report I will call him Betty. Betty and Wee Man seemed to strike up an instant rapport. I don’t know whether they had played together previously or if this was their first meeting but they both looked impressive. Wee Man had very quick feet and seemed to trick players for fun. He was at one point hauled down by Nicky Eaden but I think the ref chose to spare his blushes. Betty was big and quick and won every header he went for. He also seemed decent on the floor for a big guy. He could have scored later in the game but his composure seemed to desert him at the final hurdle.

Birmingham needed to make some changes if they were to get back into this game. Cometh the hour cometh the man. Geoff Horsfield appeared on the touchline and entered the fray. He is the Chris Sutton of the Nationwide League. By that, I mean hated by everybody, probably even Mrs Horsfield. You can almost picture the scene last summer when Francis purchased this one time hod carrier. Jean Tigana must have gagged on his toothpick when he was offered £2.5 million for him. Excellent business. Francis looked to have paid about £3 million over the odds. Needless to say, he made no impact on the game other than to start a fight with Marcus Bignot. In a league game, I would not have been surprised to see two dismissals. Fists flew from both men and they had to be pulled apart. The ref chose to give a meaningless yellow card to both parties.

Overall, this was another good performance from some of our first team regulars, most of who came off at the half time purge. Mark Perry was as solid as ever as was Terrell Forbes. This lad seems to be making a name for himself. As I mentioned earlier, Thomson and Pacquette played well up front as did Peacock and Bignot in the midfield. I can only really take issue with two players that started today’s game: Karl Connolly and Matthew Rose.

Connolly seems to take an age to get going on the left. He seems a lot happier when he is allowed to roam the field in a free role. This must be something that Holloway is thinking about as Connolly showed how well he could do this against Chelsea last week. As for Rose, I am not sure what the problem is. We all know he was not picked up in the summer by a 1^st division side but that does not give him an excuse to turn in lacklustre performances. He played poorly at Luton in midweek and did so again for the majority of today’s game. He showed glimpses of his undoubted class but I think his attitude stinks. We know he does not want to be here but does he have to show it so readily?

One more friendly against Hampton & Richmond Borough on Monday and the pre-season games will have been completed. We must turn our attentions to the more serious business of Stoke City this coming Saturday. I believe that they will be play-off contenders this year and it is important that we beat them and stamp our authority on this season as early as possible. Holloway has made startling improvements to this team but it will all count for nothing if we cannot perform when it matters.

Rangers were once a great side and will be again. It all starts against Stoke City. ‘Olly has given us back our pride. Now it is time to start the assault to get back what is rightfully ours, a place in the top flight of English football. Come on you R’s