| DUKE'S GOT IT BAD (AND THAT
AINT GOOD) FOR RANGERS
Rangers were
turned over by runaway league leaders Wigan Athletic in a drab
encounter at Loftus Road. In truth Rangers were never really in it
and couldn't argue with Wigan taking all three points.
Changes were forced on Holloway after
the hammering of Cheltenham in midweek. Day was in goal and the
first change was in the back four. With Williams having injured his
ankle yet again Padula returned to the line up alongside Forbes,
Shittu and Carlisle.
Kevin McLeod, signed on loan from
Everton, made his debut in place of Lee Cook. The Watford wideman's
terrific loan spell had come to an end and Holloway had made an
immediate effort to fill the void. He was joined by Langley, Palmer
and Bircham. Gallen and Furlong again started in attack.
Rangers started slowly and could have
been behind almost from kick off. Nathan Ellington and Neil Roberts
were causing Carlisle and Shittu all sorts of problems and only a
fine interception from Gino prevented Roberts testing Day early on.
The first effort from a Rangers player
came from Furlong. McLeod managed to free himself on the left a
whipped over a cross that was turned on by Gallen. Furlong managed
to get his shot away but found john Filan blocking his path. The
former Blackburn keeper would remain sadly under worked for the
majority of the game.
Holloway would have known all about
the threat of Ellington but his defence seemed to have little idea
of how to counter it. Ellington was soon allowed a free run through
a static defence and he shot early at Day's goal. It looked as
though Day tried to see it out but he misjudged it and the ball
cannoned back off his left hand post.
Minutes later he redeemed himself with
a stunning save to deny Roberts. As the Rangers defence stood around
waiting for a blatant offside to be flagged Roberts remained alert
and sent a dipping volley at goal. Day managed to arc his body and
get two hands to the ball to palm it away.
Kevin McLeod was inches away from his
first Rangers goal following a surging break from midfield. His run
took him past three defenders before he turned inside onto his left
foot and cracked a shot just over the bar. Despite being starved of
the ball for much of the half he had shown some nice touches in
possession and there was enough to suggest that he will be a handy
acquisition.
With the game level at the break the
R's faithful were hopeful that the team would be able to push on
from here. There had been too much long ball stuff played from both
teams and to be honest it was dull. In the Rangers midfield though
Marc Bircham was having an excellent game, breaking up the play when
possible and using the ball simply but well whenever he could. His
domination of that area was such that Paul Jewell replaced Tony
Dinning with Jason Jarrett at the break and Wigan reaped immediate
rewards.
With barely a minute gone in the half
Wigan swung a ball into the box which was headed goalward by
Roberts. From where I was it looked as though the ball was going
straight to Day until it hit Ellington as he tried to get out of the
way, the deflection was enough to do for Day and Wigan had the lead.
Wigan were now dominating the game and
only they will know how they didn't extend the lead beyond one goal.
Rangers didn't have any answers to the questions being asked of them
and with better finishing the game could have been out of sight. As
it was the one goal advantage meant that there was still something
in the game if we could create some decent chances.
McLeod had a shot blocked by Jackson
as he surged onto a Langley freekick. Langley was having a game that
was the polar opposite of his performance on Tuesday night. Time and
again he gave the ball away cheaply and struggled to have any
influence. It was no surprise when he was taken off with fifteen
minutes left to play.
Most of the bright points in the
Rangers play were coming through a combination of Bircham and
McLeod. McLeod showed some neat control to weave his way into the
box from a seemingly hopeless situation, he was tackled by Jackson
before he could get a shot or cross away.
The Rangers front pair of Gallen and
Furlong had been thwarted all afternoon by outstanding performances
from former loan Ranger Matt Jackson and the superb Jason De Vos.
Indeed De Vos gave one of the most commanding performances seen at
Loftus Road this season and it is easy to see why Wigan have only
conceded eight league goals away from the JJB this year.
Andy Thomson had been brought on at
the expense of Langley to bolster the lacklustre attack but even
though he showed good movement he wasn't able to fashion a chance of
note.
The game ended with Rangers out of
ideas, out of luck and pointless. Wigan were worthy winners. I think
they will have to spend heavily in the summer if they want to stay
in the first division and their defensive, counter attacking tactics
may need some tinkering but they were too good for us on the day.
Blackpool next week has now become a
must win game and Cardiff the following week has become a mustn't
lose. I have an uneasy feeling that we may come out of the next
couple of weeks with no more points than we have now. I hope not,
but our record against the better teams isn't exactly inspiring
right now.
simon@qprnet.com |
