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If draws are a disease, then Jamie is the Curo! This game looked to have been cruelly snatched from Rangers until super sub Jamie Cureton intervened to score the winner. Anything other than an R's win would have been a travesty and questions must be asked as to how we managed to ship another two.
Holloway rang the changes following the stuttering display against Peterborough last time out. The keeper and back four remained the same with Culkin in goal behind Forbes, Carlisle, Gnohere and Padula. Changes were made in midfield where Rowlands returned on the right with Richard Johnson partnering Bircham in the middle. McLeod was on the left as usual. Kevin Gallen was joined in attack by Tony Thorpe after the pair combined so impressively for last week's equaliser.
Rangers could not have made a worse start to the game and were behind with little over a minute played. Vale won a right wing corner and the near post delivery was nodded home by the unmarked Steve Brooker. How he was afforded the freedom of the box is a mystery but it looked to me as though Forbes slept in and allowed him to run off of him unchecked. People will moan about Culkin not coming for it but he shouldn't have to, nobody should be given an unchallenged header in the six yard box.
Rangers responded brightly though and shocked most of those inside LR by keeping the ball on the deck and trying to pass their way through the Port Vale defence. Credit for much of this has to go to Richard Johnson who showed a willingness to pass and move that has been sorely missing from our midfield in the Palmer era. Slick passing fashioned chances for both Thorpe and Rowlands. Neither of them made a decent enough contact to beat the time wasting Jonathan Brain in the Vale goal.
The crowd were becoming more and more agitated by the failure of Rangers to get back on terms. Despite some lovely football being played chances were not forthcoming, certainly not clear cut ones. When they did come, a combination of nervy finishing and stout defending often saw away the danger.
Rangers found themselves in the strange position of playing against a team that seemed determined to time waste for eighty eight minutes having taken the lead. The worst culprit was Brain who swung the lead time and again with little recourse from the criminally weak referee. Grant Hegley needs to take a long hard look at himself if he thinks that he turned in anything like a decent display tonight. We have all heard refs described as "homers", I am coining the phrase "awayer" to sum up this numpty.
Chance after chance seemed to be missed as the R's continued to pour forward. Rowlands had a shot deflected wide and Carlisle headed the resulting corner over the bar. McLeod should have scored after good work from Forbes, just about the only good work of note he managed in a poor display, and we were very nearly treated to goal of the season when Gallen fired wide after a sweeping twenty pass move.
There was almost a case of déjà vu at the start of the second half when Vale immediately won a corner. This time the danger was averted and Rangers quickly picked up the tempo and went looking for the equaliser. Rowlands saw a shot deflected wide by Thorpe before the equaliser came just after the hour mark.
Gallen took a freekick from wide on the right and the ball found its way to Bircham at the far post. He controlled the ball with what looked like his arm before scuffing a shot toward goal. It seemed to take an eternity to reach the goal and vain attempts to keep it out were to no avail as the R's fan finally registered his first goal of the season. Not exactly one to tell the grandkids about but a vital one all the same.
Culkin at the other end had to stay alert even though the pressure from Vale wasn't exactly strong. He also had to put up with the piss taking of the crowd whenever he left his line. He did this to particularly good effect when he was left exposed a beat Brooker to the ball with a spectacular diving header. Culks is a confidence keeper and the catcalls of the crowd are not going to help him so maybe a few more people should try and support him whilst he is playing.
Arthur should have scored his first goal as a full time Ranger midway through the second half but he could only power a Padula freekick into The Loft. Holloway needed to make a change to pep things up and the introduction of Cureton wit just under twenty minutes left did just that. Barely three minutes had gone by before he notched his first for the real Hoops.
Martin Rowlands, who had been unusually quiet for long periods turned on the style and ghosted past a whole host of defenders before squaring the ball. An age seemed to pass as Cureton was teed up before calmly slotting the ball past Brain. The crowd delighted with a chorus of "Time waste and you'll get f*ck all", to the cheating stopper.
Loftus Road was stunned into silence as the ninety minutes drew to a close when Vale grabbed an undeserved equaliser. A long cross from the right found the head of veteran striker Adrian Littlejohn and he nodded past Culkin into the far corner. Once again Forbes had allowed his man a free header and he has to sharpen up as he is something of a weak link at the moment.
The response from Rangers was phenomenal though. Rather than sulk about it as they have been prone to do over the years they rolled their sleeves up and took the lead again within seconds. Johnson sprayed a beautiful ball out to Rowlands who beat his man before feeding Cureton who rammed the ball into the roof of the net to send the place wild. Talk about making yourself into an instant hero!
When the final whistle went there was an anxious wait to see if Tony Adams' Wycombe Wanderers had managed to do us a favour and a mighty cheer went up when the scoreboard showed their late equaliser. Three points behind with a game in hand. Tonight may have been something of a watershed in a season which has already had more twists and turns than a Cristiano Ronaldo highlights reel!
There were some excellent performances on show tonight. Clarke and Arthur were great at the back and Bircham and Johnson were tireless in midfield. Both took heavy knocks during the game but soldiered on and it was nice to Birch notch for once. Rowlands was influential when we needed him most and Cureton was sensational when he arrived on the scene.
Another big home game now awaits against the hatchet men of Oldham and we will need to be at our battling best to beat them. If we don't all of tonight's hard work will be for nothing.
simon@qprnet.com
