| RANGERS RAIN ON GARDEN'S PARTY
After suffering
three away defeats on the spin Rangers returned to winning ways with
a win over Notts County at Loftus Road. The game was far more
comfortable than the scoreline would suggest and County were
indebted to their keeper for preventing a real hammering.
After the Chesterfield debacle
Holloway made changes, although not as many as he would have liked
to. Culkin replaced Day in goal after the number ones shaky displays
of late. The back four was once again Forbes, Carlisle, Rose and
Padula, although Rose and Forbes switched positions from last week.
Kevin McLeod made a welcome return in midfield to join Rowlands,
Bircham and Palmer. This meant that Gallen could return to the
attack with Thorpe. Jamie Cureton was on the bench hoping to make
his R's debut at some point.
It took a while for the game to get
going but once it did Rangers laid all out siege to the County goal
for much of the first half. Kevin Gallen was the first to test the
mettle of Stuart Garden in the Magpies goal with a rasping volley
that the keeper did well to turn over the bar. Moments later he got
down low to turn away a drive from Bircham that seemed destined for
the bottom corner.
Rowlands was the next man to hit the
target but his header from six yards did not carry enough power to
beat Garden. Going the other way the wind was causing all sorts of
problems for the Rangers back four and Carlisle in particular was
misjudging headers all over the place. Two or three times Rose, who
had not looked that assured himself early on, had to be alert to
tidy up after the big centre half. Forbes on the right was not
having his best game and kept getting pulled way out of position,
something which Andy Parkinson would exploit time and again in the
second half. County though were struggling to make an impact and
failed to muster a single effort on target in the first half.
Before the break Garden was forced
into action again when Gallen headed straight at him and then Thorpe
missed a golden chance to give us a half time lead when he nodded a
McLeod cross well wide. Rangers survived a scare just before the
break when Carlisle was lucky not to be sent off. Having been
harshly booked earlier in the half he clattered Caskey on the
halfway line and referee Curson chose to give him a final warning
where many would have pulled out a card. Whether the soft first
booking influenced this is hard to say but the decision could
certainly have gone the other way.
The team were harshly booed by a
section of the R's fans at the break despite dominating the half and
only being denied by a wonder show from Garden. The second half
started in the same fashion though and Bircham was once again
denied. Having picked up a loose ball he hammered it toward the top
corner only for Garden, a keeper that is far more Jocky Wilson than
Bob Wilson, to fly to his left and tip it away.
Referee Curson then denied Rangers a
stonewall penalty after Thorpe was tripped inside the area. You
could see the slide mark the defender made as he tried in vein to
halt Thorpe's progress yet the ref chose to give a freekick on the
very edge of the area. Thorpe and County's Paul Boertien were booked
in the resulting melee. Padula stepped up to take the kick and
whipped a wicked effort past Garden only to see it crash back off
the far post.
Rangers soon put things right though
and opened the scoring courtesy of Kevin McLeod. Martin Rowlands,
quiet in the first period, had now come to life and was teasing the
County defence with his close control. He managed to work some space
and fizzed a low cross along the six-yard box that was missed by
both Gallen and Thorpe before McLeod stole in to fire home from the
tightest of angles.
Rangers were now starting to play and
Rowlands, Gallen and Thorpe in particular were linking up almost
telepathically. When these three start to gel there can be few in
this division that can live with them. It came as something of a
shock when County managed to force an equaliser from an opportunity
that should have barely been a quarter chance! The ball ended up in
the Rangers box and four players failed to deal with it allowing
former Tranmere striker Parkinson the chance to fire past Culkin
from twelve yards. This was their first shot in anger and the way
the defence handed it to them was nothing short of criminal. Shittu
is being badly missed and he needs to be replaced immediately as
these silly errors have to be eradicated.
Undeterred by this setback though
Rangers stormed back into the lead within minutes. Once again
Rowlands was the architect as he tied former R Ian Baraclough in
knots before delivering a cross that Thorpe was on hand to ram home
from six yards.
Holloway took the opportunity of
giving Furlong a ten-minute run out and he repaid him with a
storming display in the time he was on. With his first touch of the
ball he glanced a Padula freekick against the post and then minutes
later he was on hand to score Rangers' third. He received the ball
with his back to goal and held off his man before turning and firing
a savage strike at goal. Garden got both hands to it but such was
the power he could only deflect it into the top corner.
Rangers were on easy street now and
with two minutes to go Jamie Cureton stepped off of the bench to
replace McLeod for the final stages. Rangers then contrived to hand
County a late lifeline with yet more kamikaze defending. Bircham
conceded a freekick wide on the right and Baraclough swung the ball
to the far post. Ian Richardson was left unmarked and headed across
Culkin into the far corner. It beggars belief that the loss of one
player, no matter how influential, can cause the breakdown of all
marking at set pieces. Olly and Kenny need to start drilling these
boys a bit harder if we don't want to come unstuck again.
The final whistle soon followed and in
this week of comebacks, everybody was relieved that another three
points had been added to the tally. Had it gone on for much longer
you had to wonder whether the back four would have contrived to gift
County an equaliser.
Attacking wise this was a much better
display than of late. Thorpe and Gallen linked well and in the
second half McLeod and especially Rowlands ran County ragged. Furs
was superb when he came on and Bircham had his most effective game
attacking wise in a long time. The problems were all going the other
way. Palmer's display was nothing short pf pathetic and I cannot see
any justification for him starting at Brentford next week. He is
chasing shadows most of the time and on this form I reckon that Hank
Marvin could beat him to a 50/50 ball. He must be dropped; it is as
simple as that.
The back four seem to be all over the
place and we desperately need a partnership at centre back. Neither
Rose nor Forbes seem to have linked well with Carlisle in the last
couple of games and we are in need of a dominant figure that doesn't
mind sticking his head where the boots are flying if needs be. I am
sure Olly will be working on that this week and I hope that
something is sorted out before the trip to Griffin Park next week.
simon@qprnet.com |
