| RED HOT ROWLY LEAVES ROBIN'S
ROCKIN'
Rangers fought
back from a diabolical first half display to earn a point against
Swindon Town at the sodden County Ground. If the team had played
champagne football against Plymouth the first half here was
decidedly Blue Nun but despite this, the R's managed to retain top
spot.
Holloway made only one change to the
team that had taken maximum points from Brentford and Plymouth last
week. Kevin McLeod had picked up a knock so Eric Sabin started in
his place, the manager obviously hoping he would turn in a
Rowlands-esque performance against his former employers.
Day was in goal behind his now
familiar back four of Edghill, Carlisle, Forbes and Padula. Sabin
lined up on the right with Rowlands moved to the left to accommodate
him. Bean and Bircham were in the middle with Gallen and Thorpe up
front.
Rangers had the afternoon's first
sight of goal when Kevin Gallen found space and tried to lob Rhys
Evans from twenty-five yards. The former loan Ranger had the effort
well covered as the ball sailed harmlessly over the bar. At the
other end Day had to be alert to repel the threat of Tommy Mooney as
he tried to grab an early advantage for The Robins.
Rangers were finding themselves pushed
further and further back into their own territory as Swindon took
the game to them. On a sopping wet pitch the first touch needed to
be excellent and Swindon's was. Miglioranzi and Robinson were
causing all sorts of problems and Gino found himself in the book for
a crude swipe at the latter after only twenty minutes. This was his
fifth of the season and will now see him miss the LDV clash with
Brighton.
Duke had already missed a good chance
when Thorpe managed to get a rare chance to shine. He broke through
and went one on one with Evans but tried to get the ball back onto
his right foot and this allowed Evans an opportunity to snuff out
the danger. Whilst it seemed that Rangers just couldn't create a
clear-cut chance Swindon were having no such problems. Having
already seen a Mooney effort crash back off of the bar the former
Watford man was at it again, this time Gino managed to deflect his
effort onto the bar and away to safety.
You could sense that the goal was
coming though and it was no surprise that when it did it was from
the head of R's fan Sam Parkin. Swindon forced a corner and Rangers
could only half clear the danger. Robins skipper Andy Gurney was
given time and space on the right wing to fling over a cross that
tempted Day from his line. The Rangers keeper was never getting
there and Parkin was given the simplest of tasks to nod into the
unguarded net. This was a real howler from Day and he looked jittery
all afternoon, even before this aberration. He managed to redeem
himself slightly with a good save to stop Duke making it two at the
break but his fault for the goal cannot be hidden.
Holloway had clearly seen enough and
when Shittu was pulled in from his half time kick about by kit man
Gary Doyle you knew that changes were coming. Edghill and Sabin made
way for Shittu and Ainsworth as Olly livened things up immediately.
Sabin's involvement in the game had been restricted to getting
himself booked, albeit harshly, and having the catcalls of the
Swindon faithful ringing in his ears. He showed the kind of form
that had their fans reaching for the party poppers rather than a
hanky when he departed.
The early going was still being made
by Swindon and another moment of indecision from Day almost brought
a second. Once again he went up for the ball with Parkin and
inexplicably thought better of using his hands, this time the big
striker was not able to capitalise and I think this served as a real
wake up call for Rangers who suddenly took the game by the scruff of
the neck.
Beany went close to equalising after
being well set up by Thorpe. The diminutive striker had managed to
round Evans and picked out the young midfielder as he burst into the
box. He tried to place the shot rather than give it his usual lash
but saw the ball hacked off the line with the keeper nowhere to be
seen.
Thorpe was really getting going now
and was unlucky not to score when he saw a shot come back off the
post. He managed to work an opening and placed a shot wide of Evans
and must have thought he had notched. The ball struck the base of
the post and fell to Ainsworth who hammered it goalward only for
Evans to dive full length and brilliantly turn the ball behind for a
corner. The tempo was picking up all the time and the man who was
largely responsible was Ainsworth. Swindon simply had no answer to
his powerful, direct running and more often than not had to resort
to foul means to deny him.
Evans denied Thorpe again on the hour
and you just started to feel that this might be another crappy
County Ground day for Rangers as with so much pressure being brought
to bear Swindon were managing to keep us at bay. At the other end
Swindon could only release the pressure by looking for Mooney and
waiting for him to tumble under the slightest touch. I don't
remember him being a cheat in the past but yesterday he spent more
time on the deck than Admiral Nelson. One such dive brought a
booking for Bircham when it was clear that he hadn't been touched.
Bircham's subsequent sarcastic round of applause for Knight could
have easily seen him having first use of the bath water.
In truth Barry Knight had been a soft
touch all afternoon and it was clear that he favoured the home side
on more than one occasion. I am not one for calling referee's cheats
but he couldn't have come much closer to picking up that accolade
with as home biased a display as we are likely to see. Four yellows
in the game for Rangers, three of them unwarranted, Christ knows
what would have happened if this had been a vaguely dirty game.
With a little over ten minutes left to
play Rangers grabbed the equaliser their second half display had
warranted. It seemed to come from nothing as Tony Thorpe turned
provider and steered the ball into the path of Martin Rowlands. He
was calmness personified as he took a touch before slotting past
Evans. That was the sixth of the season for the midfield hobo and
you wouldn't have wanted that chance to fall to any other player on
the park, he is so cool in front of goal it is staggering.
After the equaliser it was clear that
Swindon were as happy with the point as Rangers. Andy King even
prevented his own players from taking quick free kicks as they tried
to push on. King had been involved in the game all afternoon
including showing a turn of pace not in keeping with his portly
appearance to control a ball that hadn't even gone out. As usual
Knight chose to ignore this one, as it wasn't an act committed by a
Rangers employee.
Given the awful first half showing
this was an excellent point. The second half introductions of Shittu
and Ainsworth gave us more steel at the back and more verve going
forward. I can see Big Dan starting against massive Sheffield
Wednesday next Saturday but I fear Ainsworth will be destined for
the bench again as he doesn't get into the best eleven at the
minute. It's a shame as this was his best display for a fair few
weeks but you can see McLeod walking straight back in when fit
again. Overall though Rangers did more than enough for a point and
it was enough to keep us at the head of the queue for auto
promotion.
simon@qprnet.com |
