| FURLONG FLUFFS IT AS R'S ARE
SCREWED AT CREWE
It was going to
happen sooner or later. After winning five on the spin you expect
that you are going to come unstuck, it is a shame that it had to be
against one of our major rivals for the Div2 crown.
Holloway was forced into changing
keepers following the decision of Mickey Adams to recall Royce to
sit on the bench for Leicester Fraser Digby got a rare start. The
semi-fit Culkin was his backup. The only other change to the side
that beat Colchester last week was Furlong and Oli swapping places
with the youngster sitting this one out. Olly decided to us the
4-3-3 formation with Palmer and Rose flanking Langley in midfield.
Things started brightly for Rangers
with a succession of corners being forced. Clayton Ince in the Crewe
goal looked like a real dodge pot of a keeper and his languid style
looked as though it had the potential for exploitation. Steve Palmer
was unlucky with a deflected drive and Karl Connolly fired wide
following good set up play from Gallen.
After the initial burst of pressure
from Rangers something seemed to go wrong. None of the passes were
sticking and the only player that seemed to be performing was Mathew
Rose. Time and again he made lung-bursting runs up the right only to
find little support from his more attack minded colleagues.
Rangers were forced into a
substitution midway through the first period. Fraser Digby came to
punch away a corner and in the bundle Clarke Carlisle ended up in a
heap under Digby and Hulse. After lengthy treatment he was able to
continue, but not for long. Bircham soon replaced him and Steve
Palmer was forced to drop into the back four.
This seemed to dent the confidence of
Rangers even further and the Crewe opener was not far away. A
routine ball was banged forward and Shittu should have headed away
comfortably. Instead the ball went up in the air and Forbes moved
into help, only he didn't. He should have attacked the ball but
ducked instead, Shittu then had an air shot at it and the ball fell
to Steve Jones to roll the ball home. It was a diabolical piece of
defending and to apportion blame to jut one player would be unfair,
both Forbes and Shittu had an absolute 'mare.
Soon after Dan was at it again as a
slack piece of play let in Hulse. As Crewe's top scorer bore down on
goal Digby was quick off his line to make a vital save. We
desperately needed a goal before the break but it didn't look as
though it would ever come.
After the break Crewe's attacking
efforts were being ably assisted by the roly-poly linesman looking
after our back four. To say the guy was out of shape would be an
understatement. For his weight he should have been seven feet tall!
I thought that officials had to have fitness tests, if that is the
case this fella must have clipped a £50 note to his form!
With Carlisle out of the equation the
defence was looking dodgy to say the least. Crewe rattled the
woodwork through hanky wearing Efe Sodje after he was left unmarked
from a corner. Hulse fired the rebound over the bar.
Digby was alert again to deny Jones a
second after he had sprung the offside trap. He wasn't so fortunate
minutes later when the fat lino really came into his own. As Crewe
launched another attack, chunk-a-lunk was fifteen yards behind play,
as a result he was in no position to see that Rodney Jack was five
yards offside. He had plenty of time to cross and Jones swooped at
the far post to fire home.
Just when it looked like we were out
of the game completely Rangers were handed a lifeline. Having denied
Crewe a blatant penalty earlier in the half, referee Cain was more
obliging for Rangers. Dennis Oli, on for Connolly, burst into the
box and had his heels clipped by Wright.
With Connolly off the field the
responsibility fell to Furlong to take the spot kick. Furlong has
scored plenty of penalties in the past but this effort was simply
woeful. He struck the ball so gently toward goal that Ince had time
to put his paper down before diving for it. He was almost lying
there in wait as the ball trundled into his grasp. In my opinion Oli
should have replaced Furlong rather than Connolly as he had a
stinker from start to finish. You have to wonder what might have
happened had the pen been scored.
Furlong missed another gilt edged
chance following good work from Gallen. He was fed the ball at the
edge of the box and rather than taking a touch he sent another poor
effort wide of the post. Andy Thomson came on with five minutes left
but by that point there was little he could do.
Few players will have emerged from
this match with any credit. In fact the only people that can hold
their heads high are Dennis Oli and Matthew Rose. Oli was a constant
threat when he came on and his run to win the penalty was excellent.
Matthew Rose was our best defender, best midfielder and best
attacker. Whilst not wishing to take anything away from his
performance it does tell a tale about the rest of the side.
I am sure that Holloway will get the
team up for the next game on the telly against Blackpool and we must
hope that Carlisle is fit enough to play as we don't look the same
side without him.
simon@qprnet.com |
