| OH DEAR OLLY
Kevin Gallen
struck late to earn Rangers a point against Peterborough in a game
that we deserved to take nothing out of. With Chris Day and Martin
Rowlands failing late fitness tests it was the perfect opportunity
to see what some of our recent signings could do, however Olly had
other ideas.
Nick Culkin slotted in for Day in goal
and with Jake Cole injured there was no substitute keeper on the
bench. Terrell Forbes, Clarke Carlisle and Gino Padula kept their
regular places at the back with new signing Arthur Gnohere joining
Clarke in the centre for his re-debut. Paul Furlong continued up
front with Kevin Gallen partnering him but it was midfield that
caused the head shaking.
With Richard Johnson joining this week
and Steve Palmer being anonymous recently it seemed logical that
Palmer would make way, but it was not to be. Steve kept his place
alongside Bircham and they were joined by Matthew Rose on the right
in place of Rowlands. Nothing like going for it at home eh? Kevin
McLeod returned on the left of midfield offering, what should have
been, our only attacking outlet from the middle.
Peterborough carved out the first
chance of the game early on, Clive Platt tied Gino in knots before
doing well to find Andy Clarke but his shot was held by Culkin.
Rangers had started poorly; unfortunately it would only get worse as
the half progressed. Time after time the same routine happened.
Possession was swapped in midfield for what seemed like an eternity
before either side made a lacklustre attack only for the keepers to
lob the ball back in midfield and start the cycle again.
With Matthew Rose struggling badly on
the right it fell to Kevin McLeod to provide our creativity down the
flanks. Unfortunately for us he picked the worst day to have a
stinker. It seems to take Macca a few games to get back into the
swing of things whenever he misses out and we badly needed some
spark from him today.
Strangely we managed to muster five
corners inside the first forty minutes despite never seeming to put
together anything creative to earn them. One was earned from Rangers
best chance of the half, a cross from Gino was met by Furlong's head
but the effort was put behind. Terrell Forbes nearly scored from
twenty yards (read that twice, it's true!) but his strike was
deflected just over the bar. This was as close as we come in a first
period that was so mind numbingly dull I cannot do it justice in
writing.
Peterborough would punish our lax
performance with a strike that should have seen them take three
points back to London Road just before the break. Tom(my) Williams,
who had come off the bench to replace the injured Gareth Jellyman,
rammed the boos down Rangers throats when his deep cross was met by
the unmarked Clive Platt from five yards. Platt had been struggling
for goals of late but how he was allowed to wander around the box
unmarked is a mystery.
Rangers exited the pitch to a chorus
of boos and cries for change. Tony Thorpe's name had been ringing
round the ground for fifteen minutes but in truth he would have been
just as marooned as Gallen had been in a half when we tried nothing
and were all out of ideas.
The problems were further back in the
field with Bircham out of sorts, Palmer having his usual influence
on things and Rose being as effective as you would imagine a centre
back on the wing might be. You can criticise the tactics all you
want and with much justification but at the end of the day we are
talking about professional footballers. They are still standing on a
bit of grass and regardless what bit it is they should be able to
trap a football and they should be able to pass it two yards to a
team mate.
I would hope the paint on the dressing
room walls was peeling off but if the tea cups had been flying it
didn't seem to make a difference as Rangers started the second half
as they finished the first - poorly.
Peterborough could, and perhaps should
have sealed the points within minutes of the restart. Mark Arber
found himself clear on goal from Curtis Woodhouse's free kick but he
managed to put his shot just past the upright. A few inches
difference and it would have been game over for Ian Holloway's men
in more ways than one.
With Rangers putting in as much effort
as a Nick Blackburn sponsored walk Olly finally saw the light on the
hour mark and made a triple substitution. If he had held eleven up
the whole team would have trooped off but it was Palmer and Rose who
were finally put out of their misery to huge cheers from the Rangers
faithful.
If Olly takes anything from this game
it should be to listen to that reaction and think about why it
happened. Also exiting was Paul Furlong who had struggled to make an
impact since his missed chance in the first half. They were replaced
by Jamie Cureton, the much called for Tony Thorpe and Richard
Johnson, marking his debut.
It was a bold move by Holloway and the
right one at the time but in truth it shouldn't have been necessary
as at least two of those three should have started the game. The
gamble nearly blew up in our faces too after Clarke Carlisle
collided with Arthur Gnohere leading to him leaving the field for
nearly ten minutes. When he did return it was clear he could play no
part at the back and he went up front. Maybe Olly has some sort of
bet about playing a defender in every position this season.
The new faces injected something that
had been missing for the previous hour though, maybe they showed
more commitment and desire than had been on display until then, or
maybe it was just because we had eleven players on the pitch now
instead of effectively only having nine.
Rangers finally started to chase the
game and saw a free kick from Gino Padula sail over the bar and a
header from new striker Clarke Carlisle land in the keeper's hands.
Gallen wasted a glorious chance to level the scores with fifteen
minutes on the clock. A Bircham cross from deep was nodded on by
Thorpe only to be met by a Posh defender whose poor clearance landed
straight at Gallen's feet but he could only steer the ball over the
goal.
It could have got much worse for
Rangers though as Nick Culkin could (and should) have seen red after
handling outside his area. The referee acknowledged the offence but
only issued a yellow card.
Carlisle was greatly impressing up
front now, putting himself about, winning headers and playing people
in beautifully. Fair play to Clarke, he didn't have the best start
to the game but once he was thrown up front he rolled his sleeves up
and dug in and his performance heavily influenced the result as he
started the move that lead to the equaliser.
In the first minute of injury time
Carlisle flicked on to Thorpe outside the box. Thorpe demonstrated
just why he should have started the game by playing the perfect
through ball to Gallen who slotted home to earn Olly a massive get
out of jail free card.
Rangers were pressing now but the play
was broken up by the ref giving his first handball decision of the
game against us despite seemingly ignoring the rule for the previous
hour and a half. Peterborough went up the field but Steve Jenkins'
shot was too high and that proved to be the last action of the
night.
Drawing positives out of this it is
heartening to see us fight back into a game we were so far out of
but we shouldn't have found ourselves in the position in the first
place.
Sorry Olly but you got this one wrong
mate. I can tolerate defensive play away from home but we should
have gone at Peterborough tonight, Cureton and Thorpe may not be
match fit but they would have doubtless offered ten times more than
the players they replaced had they started regardless of their
fitness level. When we did attack them they looked scared.
Unfortunately we left it until the last ten minutes to try this
novel approach.
This was the kind of headless
performance you don't see too often from Rangers and I hope it's the
culmination of our poor run and not a progression of it. We are now
two points adrift of Bristol City and one point behind Plymouth. It
is still in our hands but anymore performances like today will be
punished heavily by better teams. I don't hold out much hope for a
result at Tranmere if we don't improve dramatically by next
Saturday.
We have the tools, the talent and the
time to win this league but anymore slip ups and we will leave
ourselves needing to win an unrealistic amount of games to go up.
Come on Olly, take the shackles off the players, you've seen what
they can do when you let them play. Don't be scared of losing, be
excited by winning. Suck it up and go for it.
simon@qprnet.com |
