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Rangers rolled into Ashton Gate for the biggest game of the season so far and turned in an absolutely turgid display. Whether the impending departure of Kenny Jackett had an effect on the players or whether they bottled it, this performance, at this stage of the season, was simply unacceptable.
After a decent defensive showing against Luton last week most people assumed that Holloway wouldn't tinker with the back four so there were plenty of raised eyebrows when the team was announced. Camp remained in goal and Bignot, Carlisle and Gnohere all kept their places. Edghill though was inexplicably left out for Matthew Rose. Rowlands, Bean and Johnson started again with Kevin McLeod coming back in at the expense of Thorpe. This meant Gallen was free to resume his strike partnership with Paul Furlong.
Both teams seemed to start the game rather edgily and there wasn't a great deal of football to be seen. Bristol City play in a very similar way to Rangers, get the ball to the front men quickly and then build off of them. Lee Peacock was the main target with the lively Christian Roberts feeding off him. It took almost twenty minutes for either team to register a shot on target. Mickey Bell found acres of space on the left and his cross was headed back across goal by Peacock. How he got a free header is anybody's guess and Roberts then had another one and seemed to have scored only for Camp to throw himself high to his left and turn the ball round the post.
This should have been the signal for Rangers to sort themselves out and try and impose themselves on the game. It wasn't helping that we were virtually playing without a left side, so ineffective were Rose and McLeod. It came as little surprise when the only goal of the game came from an attack down the right spearheaded by Scott Murray.
A hopeful ball was knocked into Murray and he could have scarcely believed his luck when Rose allowed him the freedom of Ashton Gate to stroll down the wing and pick a pass inside. Roberts had stolen a march on Carlisle and although his connection on the ball wasn't clean it had plenty to send it past Camp and into the net. What came next was Roberts goading the Rangers fans and being met with a barrage of missiles. I cannot condone anything being thrown at anyone but action should have been taken by homer ref Tony Leake to get him away sooner and card him for inciting the crowd. This isn't the first time R's fans have slung stuff onto the playing field and I would fully expect some wrist slapping at some point.
As the half drew to a close Leake compounded matters by showing Rowlands his tenth yellow of the season and then booking Arthur for clearly winning the ball. Rowlands will now miss the games with Stockport at home and more crucially, Plymouth away! Rowlands is the type of player that always walks a fine line but you wouldn't want to take the aggression out of his game as you would certainly lose the player we have now.
Cureton was introduced at the start of the second half to try and give the Rangers line up a more attacking look. Beany was the man to be replaced, unfortunately this change would backfire big time later in the half. Rangers did manage a flurry of action early in the half tough that gave encouragement to the massed ranks behind the goal.
Carlisle went close with a header from a corner that was scrambled away at the near post. Johnson then saw the ball spirited away from him as he tried to line up a shot after good control on the edge of the box. That was just about his last involvement in the game though as he took a heavy knock and was replaced by Palmer. This seemed a strange choice to me, I would rather he had brought Edghill on and moved Rose into the middle. This would have meant we mighty stand a chance of containing Murray and at the same time not completely surrendering the middle of the park to Tinnion and Doherty. As it was Palmer entered the fray and huffed and puffed and didn't do much else, all of a sudden people wished that Beany was still out there.
Camp made another fine save as the game entered its final quarter, rushing from his line to deny Murray a goal on his home re-debut. Holloway responded by dragging the ineffective McLeod off and replacing him with Tony Thorpe as Rangers switched to three up top in a last desperate attempt to get something from this game.
Still Rangers struggled to create any chances; the only time you knew Cureton was on the field was when he was flagged for offside and there was just nothing happening for anybody. Then, as it seemed that all was lost a lifeline appeared in the shape of Tony Thorpe. Furlong controlled the ball neatly on the edge of the box, turned, and played a great ball into Thorpe. He suddenly found himself one on one with Phillips and shaped to knock it wide of him into the far corner. And that was the problem, I knew what he was going to do, most of the people in the ground knew what he was going to do, and Phillips knew damn well what he was going to do and made the save easily. A confident Thorpe would have shaped one way and sent it the other.
And that was that, Rangers had surrendered the initiative and who knows what effect this could have on the run in. Bristol City to their credit did not play like a team that had lost three on the bounce. They were quicker to the ball all over the park and when they tried to play they used the ball well and exploited the weaknesses on the left side of Rangers back four. In stark contrast Rangers could not get anything right, every time they tried to string two or three passes together it would break down and only one shot on target in ninety minutes is a very accurate reflection of this performance.
It may well be the case that news of Kenny leaving has had a massive impact on the squad. We all know how well liked and respected he is by the players and it will no doubt be hard for them. Maybe it is a case that when the pressure was on they went to pot and simply couldn't cope with a Bristol City side that seemed to want it more than them. Like any defeat though, it is how you respond to it that is the important thing. A defeat at Tranmere is simply not an option; if we do lose then it will be us on the slide and Bristol City that suddenly have the fresh impetus. If we can gain a point then we are still one clear with a vastly superior goal difference and with some decent showings between now and the end of the season that could well be enough. If we win however, the confidence will flow and it would see us storm our way through the six games that follow. Unfortunately, I think I can almost predict now what scenario will pan out.
simon@qprnet.com
