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Rangers took over at the summit of the 2nd Division with a crushing victory over Plymouth. With both teams roared on by a huge following this was a match that the R's simply had to win and they did it in style. The passion and commitment showed reduced Argyle to a shadow of their former selves.
Unsurprisingly Holloway didn't feel the need to make any changes following the excellent midweek victory over Brentford. Day again lined up in goal behind the regular back four of Edghill, Carlisle, Forbes and Padula. Rowlands and Bircham both overcame minor knocks to line up with Bean and McLeod in midfield. Gallen and scourge of Brentford Tony Thorpe continued in attack.
Plymouth were missing the services of Gallic midfielder David Friio but their dead ball specialist Paul Wotton was most definitely playing and he tested Day with a stinging free kick after barely two minutes. Rangers responded immediately though and Kevin Gallen got a sight of goal but could not find the target. Similarly Kevin McLeod attacked a Martin Rowlands cross at the far post but he could not trouble Luke McCormick in the Plymouth goal.
Rangers seemed obsessed with walking the ball into the net in the first quarter of the game. Both Gallen and Thorpe delayed chances when they could have got a sharper shot away. It was by no means one-way traffic though and Hodges was denied by an excellent interception from Carlisle whilst Steve Adams show wide following good work from Regi Blinker clone Jason Bent.
The lead when it came was from the feet of the rejuvenated Kevin Gallen. After taking a fair bit of stick in recent weeks for not scoring enough the skipper has hit a rich vein of form. McLeod was crudely felled just outside the box and fussy referee Parkes had no hesitation in awarding the freekick. It looked as though it was only ever going to be a cross but Gallen fooled everybody by whipping a low shot past the wall and beating McCormick at his near post. Loftus Road erupted as Gallen took the acclaim. You could see Plymouth visibly sag as their confidence took an immediate blow and from that point you sensed that there was only ever going to be one winner in this game.
The threat of Wotton was still very much in evidence though and he went close twice more before the break. Firstly his shot from outside the box was charged down by Edghill before a dangerous ball in from wide on the left was collected by Day to avert the danger. Dead balls were the only real threat to Rangers at the moment as without Friio Plymouth seemed toothless.
Holloway would have had a pretty easy half time team talk, as not a great deal needed tinkering with. Bircham and Bean had all but snuffed out any threat that Plymouth may have had from the middle of the park and Birch in particular was in the mood to try a few things and luckily the majority of them were coming off. He has the ability to be a much better player than he shows a lot of the time. He gets caught up in the battles too often and this is to the detriment of his ability.
The start of the second half was tight with neither team managing to create anything clear cut in front of goal. McLeod sent a couple of tantalising crosses across the face of goal and you wished Furs had been on hand to rampage in at the far post to get a header on them.
The biggest cheer of the afternoon so far was reserved for a returning hero. Dan Shittu had been out with a cruciate injury since the breathtaking away win at Sheffield United in the Carling Cup and now he was back only seven weeks later. Edghill made way for the big man and Forbes moved to right back. Shittu looked as though he had never been away as he and Carlisle clicked and began to repel all boarders.
Just seven minutes later and Rangers had made it two and wrapped up the points to take them top of the league. Rangers won a throw on the left and Padula took it a yard from the corner flag. He threw the ball into McLeod who was having his shirt grabbed by Worrell. The ball was deflected to the edge of the box where Tony Thorpe was on hand to steer a low left footer past the helpless McCormick to send the Loft Boys wild. You could see what the goal meant to Thorpe as he celebrated like we had won the league rather than gone top!
Three minutes later and it was all over as Rangers added the third through Gallen. Terrell Forbes was now at right back and he slotted back in perfectly as he used his pace to probe for weaknesses on the Plymouth left. He carried the ball forward and a quick hot shoe shuffle, was followed by a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Gallen. Kev spun on it instantly and thrashed the ball past the shell shocked McCormick. Loftus Road was as noisy as it had been since the Oldham game and the Plymouth players could simply not believe the way that they had seen systematically dismantled.
In a final throw of the dice Plymouth threw on Nathan Lowndes for Micky Evans, a man who seems to have taken full advantage of their Ginsters sponsorship. Day was then on hand to make a spectacular save to deny Wotton from yet another freekick and he also produced the save of the game to deny Lowndes after he had gotten free at the far post. Day seemed to be stranded at the far side of the goal when connection was made with the header but he flung himself headlong across the goal to beat the ball away.
Rangers weren't done though at the other end and Gallen came within a hairs breadth, well more like a pubic hairs breadth, of grabbing his hat trick. Bircham released Thorpe with a fine pass and he managed to pick out his strike partner at the back stick. Gallen lashed a ferocious volley that McCormick bravely threw his knackers in the way of to stop Gallen claiming his first match ball at first team level.
The final whistle was met with a colossal cheer as the Rangers players and fans celebrated hitting top spot as well as comprehensively disposing of the team that had occupied that position when the game had kicked off. The Plymouth fans had been bullish in the build up to this game and they were taught a harsh lesson on what it is like to be the top dogs. Lets hope that Rangers have also heeded that lesson as they have now moved themselves into a position whereby people want to shoot them down at every turn.
A tough game against Swindon at the County Ground awaits and I for one never seem to enjoy my visits. Much like Vale Park, this ground often brings out the worst in Rangers and hopefully they can turn in another top class display and begin to cement top spot.
simon@qprnet.com
