| DRAW WITH POSH IS ABSOLUTE TOSH
Rangers stumbled
their way to a far from convincing goalless draw against
Peterborough United at London Road yesterday. The poor nature of the
result was only compounded by the fact that Peterborough had played
the last hour of the game with only ten men.
Following the easy win over
Kidderminster in the LDV there were changes aplenty for Holloway.
Day returned in goal behind a back four of Barton, Palmer, Forbes
and Padula. Kevin McLeod was fit enough to return on the left side
with Martin Rowlands reverting to the right. As usual Bean and
Bircham provided the teams engine room. Gallen and Furlong were
restored in attack against a Posh side that had yet to notch a home
win this season.
Things started brightly enough and
Paul Furlong fired over the bar following good work from Kevin
McLeod. The Scouse winger was looking sharp and seemed to have the
beating of full back Gill at every turn. McLeod created the next
chance as well when he fed Gallen who in turn played Furlong in.
This time Mark Tyler threw up his arms to send a fierce shot over
the top to safety.
The pressure on the Peterborough goal
was almost constant, the only respite they could find was the ball
over the top for the pace of Andy Clarke and Leon McKenzie to try
and exploit. Between the two of them they must have accumulated ten
offside decisions in the first half alone.
Warren Barton got up to head a
Rowlands freekick wide and Tyler was on hand again to save well from
Gallen as Rangers struggled to take advantage of their early
dominance. Jus before the half hour Rangers were served due warning
of the threat of McKenzie when he shot wide of Day's goal with the
big keeper seemingly well beaten. Then in the very next instance
Peterborough found themselves down to ten men.
Former Palace man Sagi Burton had just
been booked for a foul on Furlong when the two of them rose for a
high ball from Day. This time Furlong knocked Burton to the ground
and a freekick was awarded. As Burton was on the deck Marc Bircham's
momentum carried him into the prone defender and he tripped over the
top of him. Burton took exception to this and lashed out at the
combative midfielder and referee Kettle was quick to flash a
straight red. This should have been the signal for an all out
assault on the Posh goal but as is so often the case when Rangers
are faced with only ten opponents, it failed to materialise.
It was Peterborough that had the first
chance following the sending off as Palmer was harshly adjudged to
have fouled McKenzie twenty-five yards from goal. Matthew Gill took
the kick and Day had to be at his best to beat the sweetly struck
shot away for a corner. Day was on hand again as half time
approached to tip an Andy Legg corner over the bar when it seemed as
though it would dip inside the far post.
Rangers were forced into a change
early in the second half when Furlong seemed to take a heavy knock
in a collision with Tyler. Tony Thorpe replaced him and it suddenly
seemed as though the early threat was no longer there. With all
respect to Thorpe he is a player I would rather see at home when you
are not so reliant on battering your way to a win against a team
content to shut up shop and defend for their lives.
McLeod was still having the better of
his exchanges on the left but this time his opponent was Rangers
reject Christopher Kanu. Twice he breezed past Kanu to send in
teasing centres that just evaded the onrushing attackers. For some
reason Rangers then stopped passing to McLeod and he continually
found himself drifting inside to try and get the ball. Unfortunately
this often meant that he wasn't wide when needed and I think this
played a part in his early substitution.
Bircham should have scored when he met
a Rowlands cross at the far post but he headed well wide of the
post. This was a chance that Rangers desperately needed to convert
as it was beginning to look as though a goal was more and more
unlikely. Indeed Peterborough were starting to claw their was back
into the game and Leon McKenzie in particular was starting to cause
real problems with his pace and trickery. It was easy to see why he
has caught Olly's eye in the past and he was giving the back four
and Gino in particular a torrid time.
The day was summed up for Rangers when
they won a freekick just under twenty minutes from full time. Padula
struck the shot well and the ball took a huge deflection off the
wall that left Tyler helpless. There was an agonising wait as the
spin took hold and the ball dipped into the bottom of the right hand
post and away to safety.
Things were starting to get fraught
now and Rangers were lumping the ball forward instead of trying to
keep it and exploit the man advantage. Ainsworth had now replaced
Rowlands and he was having some joy down the right but there never
seemed to be a player on hand to attack his centres.
With ten minutes left Callum Willock
appeared off of the bench for Peterborough and it only seemed a
matter of time before he scored. Willock had been so poor in his
spell at Rangers last season some wag decided to christen him
pillock and was fully expecting to have those words rammed down his
throat. Luckily Willock had not changed and still seemed devoid of
any confidence in any shred of ability he may have locked away deep
inside of him.
His first involvement was to attack a
ball that had found it's way across goal. Willock was unmarked and
Day was stranded at his far post and seemingly without a prayer
should the shot be on target. Willock's strike wasn't bad but Day
came haring across goal to somehow deflect the ball away with an
outstretched foot. Willock's final act was to get Palmer booked with
an outrageous dive to fool the gullible Kettle.
This was a poor display from Rangers
in terms of creating and taking chances. There were plenty to be had
and an inspired display from Tyler and some sluggish attacking meant
that they all went begging. At the same time this was another clean
sheet, the fourth on the bounce and Daisy was absolutely magnificent
once again.
The game at Port Vale will provide a
stern test and they will be fired up following the 5-1 hammering
dished out by a rampant Plymouth team. I would like to see a couple
of changes to the side and think that they have to happen if we want
to get anything there. Edghill must return instead of Barton who
seemingly has only two gears, stop and reverse! I am not convinced
that he would be able to beat Steve Palmer over a ten-metre sprint.
I would like to see Rowlands brought
inside to add a little more creativity to the spine of the team.
Bean will shortly be suspended following a fifth booking yesterday
so now may be the time to let the youngster have a break. Ainsworth
could come in on the right and we could get back to the two out and
out wingers that served us well in the early stages of the season.
A win will see us back on our two
points per game championship target and I think Olly will have his
charges fired up to get this disappointing display out of their
systems.
simon@qprnet.com |
