| ONE TOUCH THOMMO STICKS IT TO
STAGS
Rangers stormed their way to an impressive four
goal victory against a Mansfield Town side that get hammered for
fun. It could have been a very different tale however of we had not
witnessed a goalkeeping tour de force from Simon Royce.
With the Rangers squad having been hit
with yet more injuries in the week building up to the game changes
were inevitable. Richard Langley returned to the side in place of
Doudou and young Marcus Bean was handed his first start in place of
Matthew Rose. The most heart-warming sight was that of Clarke
Carlisle taking his place amongst the subs to end an absence
stretching back to February 2001.
Mansfield certainly started the
brighter of the two sides with Royce being called into action after
only two minutes. He challenged for a high ball with Christie and
seemed to land awkwardly. Luckily for Rangers he was able to carry
on after lengthy treatment and almost immediately Rangers hit the
front.
Kevin Gallen pulled wide to the right
and fired in a low cross. The Mansfield defence weren't able to deal
with it properly and it fell for Paul Furlong to swivel and power a
volley high into the net. Three this season now for Furlong and this
was to be the start of an excellent afternoons work for the veteran
front man.
Almost immediately Mansfield were back
on the attack and the generous nature of the Rangers back four
wasn't helping matters. Liam Lawrence on the right of midfield had
the freedom of Field Mill as time and again Tommy Williams found
himself hopelessly out of position. The problems were being
compounded by a lack of cohesion amongst the other members of the
back four. Palmer, Forbes and in particular Shittu all seemed to be
having a 'mare.
Time after time the Mansfield attack
was allowed far too much time and space in front of goal. Royce had
to be sharp to deny the efforts of White, Disley and Lawrence.
Luckily, little of the Mansfield shooting carried enough power to
pose a massive threat. Every save seemed a comfortable one but you
got the impression that it would only be a matter of time before
somebody really connected and caused a serious problem.
The Rangers attacks were fleeting but
always seemed to carry a threat. Former United keeper Kevin
Pilkington did well to turn away a Williams cross shot and also made
a spectacular save from a Marc Bircham pile driver. Just before the
break he flew off his line to deny Furlong after Gallen had put him
through on goal.
More worrying than the shocking
defensive display Rangers were turning in was the withdrawal of
Jerome Thomas just before the half hour mark. He had been giving the
Mansfield fullback a torrid time and his threat was massive as ever.
He seemed to over stretch when attempting a cross and was replaced
by Connolly before things got any worse. We hear now that he should
be ok and this is lucky, as we have looked a different side with him
playing.
I'm pretty sure that Holloway would
have stripped paint with his half time teamtalk as this was as bad
as I had seen the Rangers defence play since Holloway took over the
reigns. They weren't even playing well individually and some of the
gaffs Shittu made were verging on the ridiculous. On three occasions
he actually took air shots at the ball and he was giving freekicks
away with almost every challenge. He was rightly booked for one that
nearly put the Mansfield player in the stands. Big Dan made amends
for some of his defending after only two minutes of the second half.
Pilkington had made yet another
excellent save to deny Gallen and Langley trotted over to take the
corner. His ball was met with a thumping header from Shittu that
left Pilkington with no chance. He leapt into the crowd to celebrate
and came very close to picking up a second booking in the process.
It was a very sensible piece of refereeing that prevented him having
first use of the bathwater.
The game was all Rangers now and only
some resolute defending prevented the lead being extended before it
was. Indeed Mansfield nearly halved the arrears when Christie burst
through after yet more poor defending only to see his effort come
back off the upright.
With five minutes left the Rangers
fans erupted as Clarke Carlisle stepped toward the touchline. It was
a moving ovation for a player that has been through so much in such
a short career. Although he looked a little tubby his mere presence
on the pitch seemed to give the players a lift and they immediately
added two quick goals.
Steve Palmer had now pushed into
midfield as Bean had made way for Carlisle. His first touch was a
perfectly weighted ball over the top for Gallen to latch on to. His
first touch bought him a yard of space and he held off two defenders
before slotting through the legs of Pilkington. It was no more than
he deserved as both he and Furlong had been on the end of some rough
house defending all day yet never once shirked their responsibility.
Andy Thomson replaced Gallen with two
minutes left and with his first touch of the ball made it 4-0.
Terrell Forbes burst forward down the right and rolled the ball into
the path of the onrushing Langley. His cross found Thommo and he
steered a slightly miss hit shot low into the corner. Rangers were
denied a possible fifth soon after when Bircham was unceremoniously
hauled down when trying to latch onto a Thomson through ball.
4-0 was probably a little harsh on
Mansfield but at the rate they concede goals they are in danger of
being down with the decorations. For once we had created a host of
chances and actually taken some of them and poor defending hadn't
cost us.
The defensive side of things need to
be addressed quickly and as much as I think the lad has bags of
potential Shittu seems to be a problem at the moment. He is going
through a bad spell and I can see him being dropped as soon as
Carlisle is fully fit. Most will blame the defensive shortcomings on
Palmer but that is just short sighted in my opinion. His experience
amongst a young back four is vital and he does more right than
wrong.
Bircham and Bean both played well in
the middle of the park and young Beano showed enough to suggest that
he is far more accomplished in this position than perennial hate
figure Matthew Rose. In an ideal world he would be the understudy
for Bircham but his fists of fire display at Wycombe has put pay to
that for the time being. Langley, Thomas and Connolly when he came
on also did well. Man of the match though has to be Royce and he
turned in one of the best and bravest displays of keeping I have
seen for a long, long time.
It will be interesting to see what way
we go with Bircham and Thomas out of the side for the trip to
Orient. If we play like this it shouldn't really be a problem but it
is the cup and we all now Rangers hate the cup! Don't we?
simon@qprnet.com |
