| FROM HERO TO VILLAIN
Game on! Honours
even after a breathless encounter at Boundary Park and things are
balanced on a knifes edge for the second leg at Loftus Road. Rather
than people remembering a full-blooded encounter between two evenly
matched teams people will simply remember the petulance of Richard
Langley.
With suspensions and illness affecting
the defence Ian Holloway had no choice but to make changes. Day was
in goal but the back four showed three changes from the team that
started against Crewe. Kelly and Carlisle were both serving one
match bans, Forbes and Rose replaced them. Gino Padula had been laid
low with a virus on Friday and not even travelled. Tom(my) Williams
slotted in at left back, with Dan Shittu the final member of the
defence.
The rest of the side was as you were,
with Langley, Palmer, Bircham and McLeod in midfield, with Gallen
and Furlong in attack. It was the Rangers team that started the
quicker as they looked to make an immediate impression on the Oldham
rearguard and shaky keeper David Miskelly in particular. The R's won
a corner in the first minute and from Williams' delivery Paul
Furlong powered a header over the bar from seven yards. He was
unmarked and should have done better; he does seem to need a couple
of sighters before he hits the target.
Rangers continued to have the better
of the game for the most of the first half an hour. Furlong poked
the ball home but the whistle had already gone for a foul on
Miskelly. Another session of penalty box pinball saw three or four
players try their luck with Gallen having a spectacular volley
blocked and Shittu seeing a twenty-yard piledriver glanced over the
bar by Sheridan.
The Latics were beginning to grab a
foothold in the game and Matthew Rose found himself booked for a
foul on Andrews on the halfway line. It was a fair booking as Rose's
challenge was calculated. Andrews almost scored from the resulting
freekick and Rangers were grateful to a last ditch block from Forbes
to deflect the ball away.
Then Oldham grabbed the lead in
slightly fortuitous circumstances. Wayne Andrews set off on a burst
up field and as he approached the box he cut across Shittu and the
big man brought him down. From the resulting freekick David Eyres
fired a freekick straight at the wall, fortunately for him it took a
deflection to leave Day wrong footed and the ball flew in.
The rest of the half was mostly
one-way traffic as Oldham pressed for a second and Rangers defended
in numbers to deny them. The only real chance Rangers had to hit
back before the break fell to the out of sorts Gallen. Williams and
McLeod combined on the left and McLeod crossed and Langley cleverly
steered the ball into the path of Gallen. His shot was poor and
Furlong tried to stab out a foot and divert it home but just failed
to make contact.
As the half time whistle blew four
players had already found their way into referee Bennett's notebook
and he got off the field as quickly as possible as his pencil needed
sharpening. There had probably been no more than eight fouls in the
half yet four of them brought cards, he had left himself little room
for manoeuvre and this would come into play late in the game.
With Holloway's instructions ringing
in their ears Rangers hit back within a minute of the restart. Kevin
McLeod burst up the left side but lost the ball as he entered the
box. Williams was following up and managed to deliver a perfect
cross to the far post. Richard Langley slid in to steer through the
tightest of gaps and put Rangers on terms with their hosts. The 2700
Rangers fans went berserk and despite them being at seemingly full
volume anyway managed to find another level. It put the muted Oldham
fans to shame, I know that a lot of the people in the ground don't
normally go to Oldham games but anybody would think they had been
brought to the ground under duress such was their apparent apathy to
the proceedings.
Paul Murray had a great chance to
restore the Oldham advantage when he found himself through on goal
with only Day to beat. Rather then try to control and slot past him
he attempted a lob, which landed on the roof of the net. I know
Murray is a good player but that would have been a hell of a finish
had he pulled it off.
As the game wore on there were more
flashings of Bennett's yellow card as both Shittu and Forbes found
themselves booked for challenges on Andrews. He was causing
headaches for the Rangers back four, not least with his willingness
to hit the deck. That is not to say that there wasn't a certain
Rangers player that shared the same skills as the Oldham man.
As the game entered the last fifteen
minutes Rangers lost Matthew Rose with a serious injury. He
challenged for a ball and seemed to fall awkwardly and was writhing
in agony clutching his arm. It looked like he had dislocated his
shoulder or elbow (which he has done previously) and he was
stretchered off. Richard Pacquette took his place, with Gallen
dropping into midfield and Palmer slotting into the back four.
Moments later Forbes set off on a run
up the right side and slightly over ran the ball. He stretched to
get it and found himself on the end of a crude lunge from midget
rent a thug Darren Sheridan. Based on the cards he had already
handed out this was a nailed on yellow, but he got away with just a
warning and this was to blow up in Rangers faces almost immediately.
Langley was clearly incensed and then he and Sheridan challenged for
a ball. The Rangers midfielder tried the old dying swan act and hit
the deck; Bennett was having none of it and showed him a yellow
card.
Less than a minute later the
temperamental wide man was off for a second yellow. I am not 100%
sure what happened as it was a long way away but he seemed to get
embroiled in a spat with Eyres and the Oldham man reeled away in
supposed agony. Whether contact was made or not I don't know but
what is clear is that Langley's temper had once again got the better
of him and he had found himself in a situation that made the ref
take action. I think all players need to have aggression of they
want to succeed but they need to learn to channel it properly.
Langley clearly hasn't mastered this art and I think Holloway needs
to have a long talk with him as he may have jeopardised our chances
of promotion with his petulance.
The closing stages was real backs to
the wall stuff as Pacquette dropped into midfield to plug the gap.
He became the final Rangers player to be booked for kicking the ball
away after he had won a clean challenge and been penalised for it.
Luckily for Rangers they managed to ride out the final few minutes,
including five minutes injury time, unscathed.
In light of what happened in the last
fifteen minutes this was a pleasing result. You cant help but wonder
what might have happened if Bennett had red carded Sheridan when he
should have instead of just ticking him off, which was out of
keeping with every other decision he had made. I am not going to try
and defend Langley, he was an idiot, but it should never have
happened.
Back to Loftus Road on Wednesday night
and the place will be rocking; a packed house will see a tremendous
atmosphere and the Rangers players need to keep their discipline.
Oldham are a team in their managers image, big and ugly, and will be
on the wind up. Both teams know how poor the referee will be as both
have encountered the fool Clattenburg this season so best behaviour
will be required.
As a certain Premiership manager said
not to long ago, it's squeaky bum time!
simon@qprnet.com |
