The return of the prodigal son. The Bad Dog was back in town. Apparently, this was the nickname given to Leroy Griffiths by the Borough faithful. Shame he didn’t play really. Injury prevented Leroy making a return against his former side and he would have scored a hat full against a Ryman Premier League side that for much of the game looked average at best.

This is not to say that we strolled it. The game began with a very inexperienced side as expected. We had another chance to look at several trialists and it was the colourfully named Doudo (pronounced doo doo) Ebeli M’Bomo who stood out. He got on the scoresheet after only ten minutes. A long ball pumped from the back and flicked on by the big guy up front. M’Bomo ran onto the ball leaving defenders in his wake and slotted comfortably past the keeper.

When you are so close to the pitch it is a rare opportunity to see the confusion so many trialists can cause. Lyndon Duncan who was playing at right back was shouting “Aboo, Aboo” and could not figure out why nobody was listening. The fact that the guy’s name was Doudo had something to do with this. Duncan soon realised and proceeded to kill himself laughing along with most of the fans nearby.

It was at this point that the young Rangers side thought the game was going to be an easy one and took their foot off the gas. Don’t get me wrong we still dominated the game but we could have made it a lot easier for ourselves. With ex-Swindon Town forward Craig Maskell pulling the strings up front, Borough began to cause a few problems not least to Carl Hutchings.

The former Brentford player was now being given a torrid time and did enough to convince me that we shouldn’t bother signing him. If he can be taken apart so easily by a couple of young kids and an old man, who were frankly nothing special, I can’t see him standing up to the rigours of the Second Division.

Half time came without much further incident. Personally I thought we should have made a few changes at the break to liven the team up a little but the team that began the second half were those that finished the first. They began in exactly the same manner. Five minutes into the half and one of the Borough players nearly knocked the goal over with a fierce volley that struck the bar with Bull beaten.

We had to wait for the hour mark before a whole host of substitutions were made. Almost immediately Rangers took control of the game and never looked like they would relinquish it. It was soon after this that the second goal came and what a goal it was. Richard Pacquette, playing out of position on the right wing, picked the ball of thirty yards from goal and proceeded to leather it into the top corner like a tracer bullet. After a shaky performance in front of goal against Birmingham last Saturday, it was exactly what he needed.

The goal served as the catalyst for Boroughs capitulation and soon Rangers were rampant. Mark Perry soon chipped in with a fierce drive from fifteen yards that left the keeper clutching thin air. Stuart Wardley was next to register. Playing up front presumably to limit the damage he could do in midfield, he picked the ball up on the edge of the box, turned sharply and fired a strong shot toward goal. The keeper got hands to it but the power was sufficient to take it into the corner of the net.

The fifth goal served to show what a good player Karl Connolly is. Collecting the ball on the left corner of the box, he turned and sent a delightful chip sailing over the keeper into the far corner. Absolute genius.

It could have been worse had the linesman on the far side not had a hair trigger. He flagged Andy Thomson offside on four occasions when he was through one on one and almost guaranteed to score. But let’s not be greedy. I think we would have settled for 5-0 before the game so I left the ground a contented man. Which is more than I can say for the drunken idiot in front of me who decided his time would be best used abusing Ben Walshe every time he was in earshot.

Granted, Walshe was not having a great game, but the last thing an eighteen year old kid needs is some arsehole telling him he isn’t showing any pride in the shirt and that he shouldn’t be on the pitch every time he runs past. And I told him so.

Performances of note came from Burgess and Cochrane in the centre of midfield. They are going to get used to playing a major role this season after the clubs decision to loan Gavin Peacock to Charlton Athletic. I know we can’t afford to keep him on at the moment, but it does seem odd to play him in all of the pre-season friendlies if this is going to happen. He has been influential in all the games he has played and we are going to miss him badly. I just hope that we can ride this period out and still get off to a good start this term.

Other good performances came from M’Bomo in the first half and Connolly in the second. Again Terrell Forbes performed well and Nikki Bull was solid if unspectacular between the sticks.

The coming week must now be spent focusing the players for the task ahead. They will feel the departure of Peacock as much as the fans and they must not become disheartened. The first two months of the season will be vital. We cannot afford to pick up any injuries with such a small squad so we need to get the crocks we have at the moment fit. Most importantly the Bad Dog who has the potential to fire us to glory this year.