| BIRCHAM BELTER BUGGERS UP BEE'S
BIG DAY
Rangers rolled
into Middlesex for this faux West London derby with confidence high
after a string of excellent recent results. After having the better
chances all through the game it was still left to a dramatic injury
time winner to take all three points back to W12.
With two wins on the trot there was
never going to be any changes to the starting eleven. Day continues
in goal despite a slightly nervy performance against Luton last
week. Stephen Kelly again kept Forbes on the sidelines as he teamed
up with Shittu, Carlisle and Padula. Langley, Palmer, Bircham and
McLeod were across the middle of the park with Gallen and Furlong up
front.
Brentford had the better start to the
game as they realised that incompetent referee (and not the first of
the day I might add) was going to give almost every decision their
way. Early corners and freekicks around the box amounted to nothing
as Rangers finally grabbed a foothold. Gino was introduced to the
good people of Brentford when he was shoved into the stand as he
cleared a ball. Luckily he landed on the steps as it could have been
very nasty if he had landed on one of the many empty seats. The
hospitality afforded to the Argentine was not great and moments
later he took his revenge by setting up the opener.
Referee Webb awarded a dubious looking
corner to Rangers and Gino took the kick from the right hand side.
His ball found Shittu unmarked at the far post and he powered a
trademark header past Paul Smith for his seventh of an excellent
season. Quite how the stunted Stephen Hunt came to be marking Shittu
is something of a mystery and one I am sure R's fan Wally Downes
will be scratching his head over.
Kevin McLeod tested Smith with a
header minutes later as he connected with a Langley centre. Langley
was beginning to have a growing influence of the game and fired in a
cross that everybody contrived to miss. He soon finished off a
lovely move involving Gallen, McLeod and Furlong with a curling shot
that was well held by Evans.
At the other end the Brentford attacks
were sporadic, when they did manage to penetrate the back line they
found Chris Day in less than commanding form. He was still effective
however and punched a number of crosses clear and did well to come
off his line to deny the onrushing Peters. Jay Tabb, a player who
looks like he could still scrape into an U-11's game, was rightly
cautioned by the referee for an outrageous dive in the area
It was testimony to the Bees
performance that their best opportunity of the first half came
courtesy of a misdirected Shittu header. As he leapt to clear a ball
into the box the ball glanced off his head toward goal, Day did well
to plunge to his left to turn the ball away.
A one goal lead at the break was never
likely to be enough as Downes was bound to fire his charges up at
the break. This is exactly what he did as Brentford once again
started the half stronger. Day had to be sharp to deny Tabb from
twenty yards but Rangers soon managed to turn the tide and get back
on with the job of securing the second vital goal.
Brentford managed to hack two efforts
off the line, one from Gallen and one from Furlong as the corner
count started to rise. Following a minor flare up Marc Bircham
collected his tenth yellow card of the season which should mean a
two match ban. He squared up with Fullarton and as both players
traded insults referee Webb decided to book the Rangers man only.
As the game wore on the fingernails
were being bitten more and more as Rangers sought to kill off the
Bees. Stephen Kelly came within millimetres of scoring a fantastic
goal when he latched onto Bircham's through ball. He burst into the
box and dinked a delicate effort with the outside of his right foot
that beat Smith all end up and just drifted wide of the post. Within
minutes Rangers had another one hacked off the line as Furlong shot
goalward only for the ball to find the grateful Brentford rearguard.
Then, the moment that the whole of
Brentford had been waiting for came. They managed to grab an
unlikely equaliser with only minutes left on the clock. A long ball
was pumped forward and Carlisle came to meet it. His header was poor
and fell to O'Connor to delicately drop the ball into the path of
Peters. He had enough time to pick his spot past Day and send
Griffin Park into hysteria. Anyone would think that this goal had
just won the FA Cup such was the fervour of the celebrations.
The antiquated ground was rocking now
(well, in comparison to the usual library atmosphere the 5000
diehards try to generate) and Brentford's tails were up. Evans
tested Day with a header that needed to be turned over the bar but
as the game went into injury time Rangers came strong again.
Corner after corner was pumped into
the box and one led to a freekick being awarded just outside the
box. Kevin McLeod stepped up and whipped a vicious swerving shot
against the angle of post and bar. Then just as most thought a point
would have to be settled for the winning goal came in the most
dramatic of circumstances.
Yet another corner came into the box
and McLeod challenged with a Bees defender. The ball wasn't cleared
and it bounced into the path of diehard R Marc Bircham who met the
ball with the sweetest of volleys. The ball crashed past Smith
leaving the Brentford keeper clutching thin air and bulged the net
in front of the 3000 strong travelling army.
The celebrations were made all the
more sweet for the fact that you would have thought the world had
just ended by the looks on the faces of the Brentford fans. They
streamed from the ground in droves as Webb blew for full time and
some of the R's fans poured onto the pitch to celebrate with the
players.
This was a massive victory given
Tranmere's result at Notts County and the relief felt at the last
minute winner was palpable. We remain five points clear of the men
from the Wirral and with a game against Notts County ourselves a win
is a must.
The performance was more battling than
scintillating but it did the job. Twice in the past few weeks we
have scored last minute winners away from home and that is a good
yardstick of the qualities Holloway has instilled in this team.
Bircham was always driving the team on, when the ball was out of
play he was rousing his colleagues whenever he could. McLeod was
involved in most of the good moments and even though both Gallen and
Furlong were quiet you could never discount their threat.
Three games left, nine points to play
for and second place still within our sights. This is gonna be an
exciting couple of weeks.
simon@qprnet.com |
