Rangers went out of the Carling Cup with a brave battling display against Manchester City at Loftus Road this evening. The game was a tight affair for long periods and City, although the better side throughout, were grateful for some absolutely abysmal refereeing decisions.

Holloway had yet another change enforced on him as Tony Thorpe was cup tied following his appearance for Luton in the 1^st round. Richard Pacquette replaced him in the side to partner Gallen. Day was in goal as usual behind a back four of Edghill, Forbes, Carlisle and Padula with the midfield again being Ainsworth, Bircham, Rowlands and McLeod.

The game started brightly with both sides trying to get the ball down and play. The fact that City did this came as no surprise as Keggy Keegle always gets his sides to move the ball well but Rangers matched them. Shaun Wright-Phillips was looking lively on the right and Gino was having the devils own job to keep him in line.

A mistake from Carlisle allowed Nicolas Anelka a sight of goal but the surly Frenchman could only fire against the legs of Day when he really should have scored. Rangers fought back though and Gallen flashed a cross along the six yard box and the onrushing Ainsworth was only denied a clear run on goal by a timely tackle from Richard Dunne.

When City took the lead it was in highly contentious circumstances. Kevin McLeod retreated deep into the corner to clear a ball up the touchline. His long ball found Pacquette but McLeod was clattered as the ball left his foot and left in a heap on the deck. Pacquette could not retain possession though and City broke quickly and Wright-Phillips was in on goal. The prone McLeod had struggled to his feet and unwittingly played everybody onside and the midget winger didn't need to be asked twice to stride on and crack a fierce effort past Day's despairing dive. The crowd went mad as did Olly but it seems the linesman and fat cheat Dunn were happy for the goal to stand. This wouldn't be the last time that Dunn would give a decision that was totally biased against the R's.

Rangers still hadn't managed to test ageing stopper David Seaman by the time the half time whistle sounded. The Rangers fans had kept themselves amused by taking the piss out of the Hornblower look-a-like and to be fair to him Spunky gave as good as he got. It was nice that he was applauded from the field and turned round to clap The Loft. He is still a Judas though!

The second half started as brightly as the first had and Gareth Ainsworth tried to test Seaman's main weakness, stopping shots from outside the box, but could only send his shot over the bar. You could tell Seaman wasn't worried as he wasn't slowly back peddling waving his hands above his head.

Richard Edghill was having a cracker against his former employers and he sent in three glorious crosses that his Rangers colleagues stood and admired. If one of them had tried to attack one of them then we may have had a lifeline before Wright-Phillips added his second of the night.

Yet another lightening break from City saw them quickly arrive on the edge of the Rangers area. Having committed men forward try and get a goal back there was precious little cover as Jon Macken fed Wright-Phillips and he slammed the ball home via a slight deflection off of Gino's leg.

Then to add insult to injury City grabbed a third only two minutes later. Macken ran onto a through ball and could only have been some four yards offside but it seems that that was not enough for the joke of a linesman to spot him. Play broke down and City regained possession and Macken had the simplest of jobs to slot the ball past Day. It could have been four moments later when only the bar denied Wright-Phillips his hatrick.

Despite not having managed a shot on target yet being three goals down was cruel on Rangers who had managed to match City in so many areas for so much of the game. Finally a chance arrived at the feet of a Rangers player but it came to nothing. Richard Dunne displayed his legendary lack of pace and Ainsworth galloped goalward. He tried to flick the ball past Seaman but Spunky managed to get a hand to the ball and the chance was lost.

At the final whistle the Rangers fans rose to applaud their team's efforts as this had been a really good battle. It was an absolute travesty that City were allowed to get three goals and if we had had a half decent official then the score line would almost certainly have been different. Steve Dunn is as bad an official as I have seen and no doubt he and Rob Styles are bosom pals. Let's face it; Dunn has plenty of bosom to go round!

I was pretty disappointed with City on the whole. I expected a lot more from Anelka but he showed the form that made him such a hero at Real Madrid. Robbie Fowler too looks a shadow of the player he used to be, a big old shadow, but a shadow all the same. Wright-Phillips though was different class and he took us to bits. He is an incredibly strong lad for somebody so small and I can't see it being that long before Svennis comes calling.

Rangers did well though and there were decent showings all over the pitch. Forbes and Carlisle did very well to snuff out the threat of Lumpy and Grumpy up front and Padula was always a threat with his passing. Rowlands looked bright again in the middle and Gallen looked sharp in attack. Pacquette though was a major disappointment and looked really out of shape. Olly won't have been pleased with the way he sulkily trudged off of the pitch and I wouldn't expect him to keep his place for the Stockport game.

Man of the Match for me though was Edghill. He hardly gave the ball away all night and some of his crossing was first class. It was testament to the man that the only time he let Trevor Sinclair out of his pocket all night was when he got hauled off.

Apologies to the polite folk amongst you for the next part as you may be offended. Late in the second half City won a corner and as they took their time taking it somebody lobbed a bottle onto the field. The lino spotted it, which made for a change, and he told the ref who told the fourth official. This will now be reported to the FA and we may well get stiffed for the £25k suspended fine that hangs over us. If we do then the absolute cunt that lobbed it on should be whacked for the whole thing and strung up. The club hasn't got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of and the last thing it needs is to pay a fine as some cretin can't control himself. Well done pal, I trust you are proud of yourself.

simon@qprnet.com