| RANGERS JUST EDGE OUT DUCKS
Thank you Clarke
Carlisle. The big centre back was a rock in defence and scored the
late winner, which spared Rangers blushes against the not so mighty
ducks of Aylesbury.
Rangers couldn't really have got off
to a better start with Dan Shittu heading the opener after only five
minutes. He got a good header to Murphy's corner and was quickest to
react when Aylesbury failed to clear his initial effort. Obviously
everybody just assumed that the floodgates would open but how wrong
we were.
The whole team seemed disjointed and
we had the least attacking central midfield pairing in the history
of football. Steve Palmer and Matthew Rose provided little in
defence and nothing going forward. Indeed Rose's performance could
best be described as diabolical. If either of these two start the
season in these positions we could have a long old campaign ahead.
Thomson and Pascual teamed up in
attack and the later showed some nice touches before his enforced
substitution. He seemed to twist an ankle in a heavy challenge that
seemed the order of the day for the Aylesbury players. His
replacement Mamady Sidibe showed the form that had made him a less
than popular figure at Swansea. To say he looked disinterested would
be an understatement of massive proportions.
Chances were few and far between as
the midfield struggled to create anything. Thomson missed a simple
header from a Forbes cross and Rose and Burgess both fired efforts
wide from the edge of the box. Half time came with the lead still at
1-0 but it wasn't to last that long.
An Aylesbury corner was not cleared
adequately and when the ball was fired back into the box Digby
flapped badly at it. The ball was shovelled back across goal and
striker Dwight Marshall had enough time for three touches before
slotting home.
All the while at the other end Rangers
were struggling to make any impact. Sidibe missed a couple of good
chances and Connelly missed an absolute sitter. The tempo only
seemed to pick up when Doudou replaced him. The little fella was
immediately singled out for the same sort of treatment Ollie Burgess
had been getting all day. Referee Gallagher made a mockery of the
situation by ignoring bad challenge after bad challenge. Eventually
Burgess had to make way for Wes Daly.
Indeed, Daly nearly scored after a
neat one-two with the otherwise poor Sidibe. He forced a good save
out of Aylesbury's roly-poly custodian, Sidibe managed to fall over
the ball as he went for the rebound.
Disaster almost struck five minutes
from the end when Bangura crashed a header against the underside of
the bar. Rangers made the best of this good fortune in the very next
attack.
The winner came a couple of minutes
from time. Danny Murphy swung in another corner and Carlisle rose
highest at the far post to head home. It reminded us what a
significant threat he is at set pieces and this aspect of his game
will be of massive importance to us.
All in all a poor display but at least
most of the side got ninety minutes under their belts for the first
time since April. It will probably be all change for Kingstonian on
Monday, let's hope that applies to the performance as well.
Man of the Match - Clarke Carlisle
simon@qprnet.com |
