Wholesale changes were made from the side that went down 1-0 at Reading the previous week. Murphy and Shittu were restored at the back in place of Bruce and Ben-Askar. Alex Bonnot and Leroy Griffiths started in midfield instead of Rose and Connolly who were suspended and injured respectively. We knew Gallen was injured and didn't expect to see him, but it was something of a surprise that Thomson was also missing. Doudou and Richard Pacquette stepped into the striking berths.

If rumours around the ground are to be believed the reason Thomson was not there is because he was in Motherwell putting the finishing touches to his impending transfer. Whether you think this is true or not is entirely your decision but I don't think it is too wide of the mark.

You could see from the outset that Bury were rubbish and that they had clearly identified Doudou as the danger man. Within the first five minutes, he had been on the end of two scything challenges that would surely have resulted in bookings later in the game. Whenever Bury did manage to get the ball back from us, they just tried to crack it straight to the centre forwards. Balls like this are meat and drink to players like Palmer and Shittu and the new boy in particular won nearly every challenge.

It didn't take long for Rangers to take the lead. Richard Pacquette was put clean through on goal and must have thought he was about to open his senior account. As is often the case with Pacquette though he wanted to go for the spectacular rather than the simple. He leathered the ball straight at Paddy Kenny in the Bury goal who saved well. Fortunately the ball fell back to Pacquette and he managed to feed the onrushing Griffiths who hammered home from a tight angle.

By this time Rangers were laying siege to the Bury goal and Pacquette in particular was guilty of wasting three or four great chances. We should have had this game won out of sight before we were handed the numerical advantage just after the half-hour mark. As Doudou launched another blistering attack, he was brutally upended by former Manchester City player Steve Redmond. From our angle, it looked like he had taken a bit of the ball but I am assured he didn't and he was duly dismissed. Judging from the reactions of Holloway and Jackett who both hurdled the front wall of the dugout it was the correct decision.

Rangers' problems began when they found that Bury had started to deploy the 8-0-1 formation. For the last fifteen minutes of the half Rangers probed for gaps in the defence but none were forthcoming and a bit of panic seemed to set in. Despite a good recent run of form, none of the players seem to have an abundance of confidence and you could see them getting a bit twitchy as time wore on. Half time was obviously used to good effect by Holloway as Rangers soon doubled their lead.
Doudou, now recovered from his previous assault, launched yet another attack on the now punch drunk Bury defence. His ball in from the right was met with a crisp Pacquette strike (cheers BB!) and the ball flashed past Kenny's right hand. It was a goal typical of this youngster; my only fear is that he will become a scorer of great goals rather than a great goal scorer.

Rangers should now have gone on and racked up a cricket score but it never materialised. On five occasions, Doudou seemed to be charging through on goal only for the through ball to be a yard too heavy. Bury simply had no answer to his pace and they had been forced into changing their approach following the earlier red card.

We had to wait for the last minute for the third and what an absolute gem it was. When Marcus Bignot picked the ball up wide on the left their seemed little danger but how wrong can you be? He cut inside and sent a beautiful curling shot right into the postage stamp leaving Kenny without a prayer. It was the goal of the season so far and I am sure it was also the goal of Bignot's career. It was good to see as it capped his best display for a long time.

If the entire team had managed to play at the same time, we would have won by a country mile. I am not sure what happened but half of them played well in the first period and the other half in the second. Initially, Griffiths, Doudou and Peacock looked like they would destroy Bury, only to disappear as the game wore on. On the other hand, Bonnot, Bignot and Pacquette seemed to grow in stature as the game progressed.

It was great to see youth team striker Brian Fitzgerald come on for the final fifteen minutes, he showed some nice touches and did enough to suggest that he will develop into an excellent player. If it turns out that Thomson is off to Sweatland we may need all the strikers we have to bridge that gap.