| SLOPPY RANGERS CHUCK IT AWAY
Two Gareth
Ainsworth stunners were not enough to see off the challenge of
Division 2 new boys Rushden & Diamonds at Nene Park today. Sloppy
defending in the last ten minutes cost two points which had looked
so comfortable for so much of the game.
Holloway made changes to the side
despite the win over Bournemouth on Saturday. The keeper and back
four remained the same so it was Day, Rowlands, Shittu, Carlisle and
Padula. Gareth Ainsworth continues on the right with Palmer and
Bircham inside. I was a little surprised to see Bircham as he had
injured a hamstring on Saturday. Kevin McLeod was absent as Mrs Mc
was having their nipper so Williams came in for him. In attack Kevin
Gallen replaced Thorpe alongside Furlong.
Rangers had a decent chance almost
from the off. Paul Furlong managed to evade his markers to plant a
shot into the arms of the waiting Turley. He also managed another
blocked effort and Williams sent one sailing into the crowd before
Rushden took the lead courtesy of the first, and certainly not the
last, piece of shabby defending by the R's.
An attack built down the right and
Rodney Jack released Paul Hall. He drew Carlisle toward him before
firing the ball across goal to the waiting Duane Darby. Chris Day
went down in instalments to try and cut it out and Darby had the
simplest of tasks to prod the ball home. Rowlands was nowhere to be
seen at the far post and if he is going to play right back on a
regular basis some work will need to be done on his positioning.
Within a matter of seconds it could
have been 2-0 as Day redeemed himself. Another attack came down the
right and this time Paul Hall was on the end of it. His shot
ballooned toward goal and Day turned acrobatically to flip it over
the bar. Day then proceeded to turn the air blue as he told the
defence in no uncertain terms that they simply had to raise their
game.
The half then settled down into wave
after wave of Rangers attacks being repelled by Rushden and the
hosts trying to use the pace of Jack and Hall to hit us on the
break. Most of the threats were easily dealt with, mainly due to
Jack being caught offside so often. It was a dangerous game though
and it would come back to haunt us as the game drew to a close.
As it seemed as though we would have
to settle for being a goal down at the break, the game turned on its
head in spectacular fashion. Rangers broke from defence and Williams
fired a hopeful cross field ball at Ainsworth. The winger had plenty
of time and space to pull the ball down and attack his fullback but
he was having none of that. As the ball arrived he smashed it full
on the volley with such ferocity that it screamed into Turley's net
like a tracer bullet. The book had just been closed on goal of the
season!
The crowd were still celebrating when
Ainsworth did it again. Another break from the back saw the ball
arrive with Ainsworth in plenty of space on the right. Surely he
would go at is man this time? Not a hope I am afraid. Spotting
Turley slightly off his line he crashed another shot past the
helpless keeper into the same top corner as the last. 2-1 within the
blink of an eye and all down to a man that had barely touched the
ball for most of the half.
Rushden were shell -shocked and it
seemed likely that Rangers would simply steamroller them now. This
thought was improved all the more when Furlong made it 3-1 after 53
minutes. Tom Williams was once more involved in the move that
brought the goal.
From just within his own half he
looked up and spotted Furlong pulling onto the shoulder of his man.
He sent a sublime ball over the top and into the no mans land
between Furs and Turley. Sensing the keeper's hesitation Furlong
latched onto the ball and slotted a calm right footed finish through
Turley's legs and in. It should have been time to put Rushden to the
sword now and had Rangers taken any more of the catalogue of chances
they created then the result would have been academic.
Gallen, Furlong and Ainsworth all had
and squandered good chances to extend the lead. With a little under
20 minutes left Furlong made way for Tony Thorpe and it was at that
moment that the game started to turn away from Rangers. The ball
just wasn't sticking up front any more and this meant that the ball
was getting played back though the Rangers midfield of Palmer and
Bean, on for the injured Bircham, far too quickly.
The goal for 3-2 was courtesy of some
real schoolboy defending. Once again Paul Hall was the man at the
hub of the action and his movement was too much for the R's defence
to track. He played his way into the box and picked his spot past
Day and inside the far post. There were only eight minutes left now
and it looked for all the world that Rangers simply would not hold
out. That proved to be the case and in injury time Onandi Lowe
pounced.
I had never seen Lowe before, apart
from on TV, and I didn't appreciate the sheer size of the man. I
thought Hightower had climbed off of the bench when he came on and
he was knocking Shittu and Carlisle about for fun. At a corner they
made the criminal mistake of leaving him unmarked at the far post
and he had the easy task of controlling and smashing home. It could
have been worse had Day not blocked another Lowe effort with his
legs moments later.
So two points thrown away by letting a
team have three goals that a pub team should be annoyed at
conceding. At times Shittu and Carlisle can look imperious, at
others they can look like a couple of amateurs and that was the case
late in the game today. It is criminal that a man the size of Lowe
can be allowed so much time and space so late in the game. Some
harsh words needed to be said and I am sure that Holloway will have
given them a proper roasting.
The centre of midfield was completely
overrun yet again today. All three players that had a go in their,
Palmer, Bircham and Bean did nothing and the amount of room the
Rushden midfielders were allowed was criminal. I hope these two
points will not en up being one of those "what ifs" as we had far
too many of those last season. A top side would have been thinking
about making it4 or 5-1 with well over half an hour to play; as it
turned out we were fortunate to get out of there with anything.
simon@qprnet.com |
