This was as poor a performance as Rangers have turned in since the Swansea debacle back in November. Both the manager and the team got it wrong as we were outplayed from first whistle to last by an average Colchester side. Ian Holloway had his hand forced by injuries to key players in the week leading up to this game. Matthew Rose suffered a knee ligament injury that could see him sidelined for the rest of the season. Aziz Ben-Askar, who has picked up yet another injury, joined him on the treatment table. Murphy was back, young Wes Daly was handed his first team debut in the heart of midfield, and Gavin Peacock returned to partner him and Langley. Andy Thomson displaced Richard Pacquette in attack.

Rangers began with a 3-5-2 formation with Terrell Forbes lining up as the right-sided centre back. From the off it didn't look as though much preparation had been put in with this formation as the back three were all over the place. Colchester took the lead after only eleven minutes after a piece of sloppy defending that was typical of our afternoon.

A hopeful throw found it's way to the feet of Kevin Rapley who managed to brush Shittu off the ball. He got a yard of space and fired in a shot that took a cruel deflection to loop over the stranded Evans. The finish itself owed much to luck but the fact that he was allowed an opportunity in the first place was scandalous. The goal brought an immediate change in formation as Rangers switched to a more conventional 4-4-2. Murphy pushed up on the left of midfield and Bignot slotted in behind him. This was the first of Holloway's poor decisions on the day.

We now had a right-footed player at left back with a left back on the wing! I think we would have been far better suited leaving Murphy at left back, a position that he is accustomed to and pushing Bignot up ahead of him. Holloway know best, apparently, but this decision had many of the fans around me perplexed.

Rangers should have equalised when Dan Shittu was left with an absolute sitter from six yards. The ball was swung in from the right and all the big man had to do was point his head at the goal and it would have surely gone in. He seemed to be caught in two minds, both working perilously slowly, and half headed the ball weakly at Simon Brown. He then decided he would try to kick it and missed it completely. Brilliant!

Thomson should have equalised but his fierce drive cannoned off a Colchester defender and away to safety. Gallen also wasted a couple of good chances and almost cleared the stand, albeit modest, with one effort. It was now time for poor managerial decision number two. Five minutes before the break Danny Murphy was hauled off and replaced by Doudou. Why? Murphy had been forced into an unaccustomed position due to an earlier tactical change and wasn't actually doing that badly. You could see by his body language when he left the field that he was pissed off and who could blame him. Poor managerial decision number three would have made him doubly pissed off.

At half time, Holloway introduced Christer Warren for Wes Daly. Daly had done everything that was asked of him and was probably our best player of the half. The only reason he should have gone off was, if injured and if he was, then I apologise for this outburst, but what a fucking joke.

We had just wasted two substitutions by replacing a left back with a midfielder and a midfielder with a left back! He could have achieved the same thing by replacing Daly with Doudou but why make things easy. As it turns out Warren managed to give the second goal away barely ten minutes after his introduction.

A hopeful left wing ball was swung over to the back post. Warren allowed the Colchester player to get the jump on him and the ball was headed back across goal for the unmarked McGleish to nod home. 2-0 down and two pieces of awful defending to blame. Rangers should have had a lifeline soon after but were denied by a diabolical piece of refereeing.

Langley picked the ball up in the box and surged goalward. As he looked to turn to get a shot in both of his legs were taken from under him. A clear-cut penalty you would have thought. Oh no. Mr Cable from Surrey decided that the bloke hadn't touched Langley and that both his legs had mysteriously swung out from beneath him of their own accord. We shouldn't be surprised as Cable was awful all afternoon and couldn't have been more biased if he had scored for Colchester himself.

The rest of the half was a scrappy affair and all too often punctuated with the shrill blast of Cable's whistle. The game burst into life again with five minutes left. Karl Duguid surged down the right and brushed the hapless Warren off to deliver a cross. The ball was met with a left-footed volley from Rapley that flew into the top corner. Did he mean it? Not sure. It looked like a bit of a slice up from the other end but if he went for it then fair play to him, it was a great finish.

In injury time, Rangers actually managed to create another chance and get a piece of luck at the same time. Kevin Gallen fed Doudou who cleared the ball from his feet and shot. The ball looped up off the otherwise outstanding Con Blatsis and found its way over Brown into the net. It was no more than we deserved. Oh hang on, we were so poor we didn't even deserve that!

The game was lost due to poor play and poor management. I don't normally have a go at Holloway but today he didn't seem to have a clue what was going on. We changed formation three times in the game and the only time he should have made a change he didn't. Surely when you are two goals down you have to try and get back into it. We had Pacquette on the bench but he wasn't used, he can't have done any worse than the lacklustre Thomson.

The season is now officially over and I would like to see the opportunity taken to blood a few of the younger players. Daly did well in his brief appearance and Lyndon Duncan made the bench for the first time today. Player like Fitzgerald, Oli, Gradley and Bean should now be allowed to show what they can do and maybe ruffle the feathers of a few of the more established members of this squad.