| MAGPIES DOWNED BY HOTSHOT
LANGLEY
Rangers made in
five wins on the bounce with a deserved, if not a little nervy, win
against Notts County this afternoon. For all the first half
domination the game should have been out of sight but it was left
for a moment of stoppage time brilliance from Langley to seal the
deal.
For the fifth game in succession
Holloway had the luxury of an unchanged starting eleven. Day in goal
behind Kelly, Shittu, Carlisle and Padula. Langley, Bircham, Palmer
and McLeod in midfield with Gallen and Furlong in attack. Unlike the
game against Brentford on Saturday Rangers flew out of the blocks
and looked as though they were in the mood to hand out a spanking.
Within three minutes Gino was
presented with an opportunity to whip in a left footed free kick.
His ball speared toward the near post and Fenton was only inches
away from scoring an own goal. Langley was soon trying his luck with
a now trademark free kick from the left side. He noticed that Deeney
was slightly out of position but could only fire his effort past the
near post.
Rangers took the lead in the fifteenth
minute through the physicality of Paul Furlong. A good passing move
saw Gallen release McLeod on the left wing in plenty of space. He
was able to pick out a ball to the near post, which Furlong
challenged keeper Deeney for. Both players collided as Furlong met
the ball and as they fell the ball dropped to Furlong's left foot
and he hooked home from close range.
Furlong should have doubled his tally
when he was presented with another headed chance at the back stick.
Padula's ball seemed perfect for him but he somehow managed to head
away from goal rather than at it. As big a fan I am of Furlong and
the way he has turned his Rangers career around I must say that he
does miss some real sitters.
All Notts County could muster in reply
was a half hearted attempt from the bloated Darren Caskey that Chris
Day easily collected. Caskey looked like he had eight shirts on
today and it makes you wonder what the hell happened to the player
that showed so much promise at Spurs in his early days.
Minutes into the second period Kevin
McLeod tried an overhead kick that was blocked as it left his foot.
Langley also should have done much better when a defensive error
left him bearing down on goal. The ball bounced invitingly but he
had a rush of blood and smashed his effort wildly into The Loft.
The game was becoming more and more
scrappy as time went on and whilst Notts County looked unlikely to
make the break through you could sense that the crowd and players
were becoming uneasy at the lack of a second goal. County for their
part were putting in one of the most erratic passing displays to
grace the Loftus Road pitch in a while. Full backs McCarthy and
Nicholson seemed more interested in testing the reactions of the
punters in the Paddock and Ellerslie Road than those of the Rangers
back four. Any ball that did manage to stay in play found Carlisle
and Shittu in imperious form.
Mark Stallard showed why he has twenty
odd goals this season with a sharp turn and shot that kept Day on
his toes. The Rangers stopper had had precious little to do thus far
so it was nice that they wanted to try and keep him involved.
Big Dan was turning the type of
performance that grabbed the runner up for Player of the Year and he
had to be alert twice to make last ditch challenges to prevent a
possible equaliser. His seemingly telescopic legs denied both Caskey
and Allsopp.
Langley was beginning to have a much
greater influence and with only minutes remaining he managed to
twist his way into the box and smash a left footed shot narrowly
over the bar. This should have served notice but as the game went
into injury time Langley was given another chance, this time with
devastating effect.
Marc Bircham tried to skip past a
challenge a couple of yards outside the box only to be clattered by
McCarthy. The Skipper did well for Bircham by pulling him away from
a potential flashpoint as McCarthy received the yellow card for his
indiscretion. All the while Deeney was lining up his wall and I
couldn't quite believe what I was seeing.
The wall was nowhere near his post and
he then proceeded to stand right behind it, leaving a huge gap to
his left. Langley had seen this and stepped up and curled the ball
at pace past the keepers despairing dive and into the top corner. It
was a strike that Beckham or Henry would have been proud of. Moments
later the final whistle blew and the ground erupted in sheer joy.
This was another battling performance,
much as the ones against Luton and Brentford were. I have the
impression that there is still a little more to come from this team
in the closing stages of the season and I hope this will come to the
fore against Crewe and Colchester. A point from the last two will do
the job as Tranmere would need to win both of theirs and score as
many as seventeen goals into the bargain. We seem to be the form
horse at the moment and nobody will fancy having to play us. It's
all getting rather exciting isn't it?
simon@qprnet.com |
