| RANGERS NOT AT THE RACES AS REF
HAS A MARE
This was a poor
performance from Rangers who fell into the age old trap of coming
out for a stroll against the divisions worst side. To cap it all off
Rangers were on the end of another stinking refereeing decision when
Carlisle was dismissed following the amateur dramatics of Julian
Alsop.
With Paul Furlong having picked up his
obligatory injury against Blackpool on Monday night the only change
to the line up was the inclusion of Connolly in his place. Padula
and surprisingly Doudou also made it to the bench.
Rangers started the brighter and could
have taken the lead in the first couple of minutes. Jerome Thomas
slipped a through ball to Gallen who found his goal bound effort
blocked by Book, as Rose tried to pounce on the rebound, Book also
denied him. After this followed a concerted spell of Cheltenham
pressure and they seemed to show little of why they found themselves
bottom of the division.
The R's hit the front just after the
ten minute mark, admittedly against the run of play, with an
absolute gem. A Rangers attack down the right side was broken up and
a Cheltenham defender tried to sweep the ball wide. He only served
to roll the ball into the path of JT who curled a measured shot over
Book and into the top corner. It was a rare moment of class in the
game and things wouldn't get much better than this.
Instead of pushing on and making their
higher skill levels count they seemed to allow The Robins to have
the initiative and they had far too much ball in midfield. For all
of their possession and pressure they had trouble fashioning any
real clear cut chances and most of this was down to Sunday league
centre forward Julian Alsop. Cheltenham seemed very reliant on his
ability to hold the ball and bring others into the play. It's a good
job that he didn't have the ability to hold the ball up or bring
other into play or we may have been in trouble.
Rangers were fortunate not to be
pegged back midway through the first half when a Grant McCann free
kick beat Royce and cannoned of the post to safety. Soon after
Rangers had a chance to extend the lead but Dan Shittu could only
direct his header into Book's hands.
There were plenty more chances for
Cheltenham to grab the equaliser before the break. Richard Langley
threw himself in front of an effort from veteran Forsythe. The same
player also had an effort from outside the box tipped over by Royce.
As half time came you had to wonder what Holloway was going to say
to the players to lift them out of what seemed a slipshod attitude.
Again Rangers started brightly for
five minutes before tailing off once more. Richard Langley teed
himself up for a stinging volley that beat Book as well as his left
hand upright. Then Cheltenham started bringing more pressure to bear
on the overworked back three of Palmer, Carlisle and Shittu.
Grant McCann rattled the woodwork
again with yet another excellent freekick. This time the ball
crashed against the underside of the bar and was somehow cleared to
safety. Cheltenham winger Martin Devaney was now having a growing
influence on the game. He was lucky not to get a red along with JT
following an ugly melee on halfway. He would soon have a far more
positive moment.
The equaliser when it came was a
combination of poor defending, poorer refereeing and an excellent
piece of finishing. Dan Shittu looked to have averted any potential
danger when he carried the ball toward the right touchline to
attempt a clearance. He seemed to be fouled twice as he tried and
not for the first time referee Penn gave nothing. The ball was
whipped into the box and Devaney arrived on cue to sweep a high
effort past Royce.
For the majority of the time that
remained Cheltenham subjected Rangers to an almost non stop barrage
of pressure without really creating many clear cut chances. In fact
they seemed to be the better side until the moment that had many
Rangers fans baying for blood.
Clarke Carlisle had launched yet
another surging foray into the Cheltenham half as he attempted to
lead the team back from the brink. He had already attempted this on
three previous occasions but this time the lumbering Alsop managed
to track his run. He tried to kick his legs away twice before
Carlisle was challenged and the ball ran for a corner.
As Clarke regained his feet he
screamed in Alsop's ear, just to let him know how unhappy he was at
the Cheltenham forwards attempts to hobble him. Carlisle's head had
moved fractionally towards that of Alsop and that seemed enough for
the ref to brandish the red card at the Rangers centre back.
Carlisle was stunned, the crowd was incensed and Alsop seemed very
pleased with himself. He had started rubbing the back of his head in
the hope that the ref would be conned into thinking Carlisle had
done something untoward and it worked. The official word is that the
red card was for spitting which is a joke. I was no more than five
yards away and I can categorically say that Carlisle DID NOT spit at
Alsop. Alsop has now apparently said that Carlisle didn't spit, you
wonder how much pressure he has come under to say this as he
certainly didn't do Clarke any favours out on the pitch.
Only two more chances were fashioned
after this piece of diabolical refereeing. Tony Naylor, so often the
scourge of QPR whilst at Port vale produced a top class save from
Royce whilst Langley tested Book at the other end with a comfortably
saved twenty yarder.
In the end Rangers were probably lucky
to get a point after such a poor performance and we were also lucky
that most of the other top teams slipped up as well. We will have to
raise our game about ten notches against Oldham next weekend if we
want to get anything out of that game.
simon@qprnet.com |
