Rangers responded to the defeat on Saturday with a hard fought point against a giant Tranmere Rovers team at Prenton Park. The game could have been very different for both sides had we not had to witness the farcical display of referee Paul Robinson who ultimately had both sets of fans cursing him.

Holloway rung the changes after Saturday and there were three changes to his starting XI. Camp remained in goal and Edghill returned to the back four at left back alongside Bignot, Carlisle and Gnohere. Ainsworth was back on the right, Bircham in the middle alongside Bean, with Rowlands switched to the left side. Gallen and Furlong kept their places up front.

Rangers almost found themselves behind after thirty seconds after some comical defending. Tranmere won a corner on their right and the long ball found the unmarked Tyrone Loran at the far post. He managed to send a volley right across the face of goal when scoring was surely the easier option. They then won a corner from the other side and this time Eugene Dadi headed the ball wide when well placed. Rangers simply had to respond or face the prospect of getting comprehensively battered and they did so through Gallen.

A quick break up field saw Furlong find some space to turn into and he ran at Sharps before feeding the ball into Gallen's path. There looked to be time for a touch to steady himself but Gallen let fly with a fierce left footed drive that Tranmere keeper Achterberg turned away in spectacular fashion. A few minutes later Bircham tried a twenty five yard speculator but saw his shot cut across the goal and drift over the top.

The sheer size of the Tranmere players was causing no end of problems for Gnohere and Carlisle, especially with their reluctance to want to head the ball. I was convinced that Arthur had a headache for the first half an hour as I don't think he headed the ball in anger once in that time. Their current love of letting the ball bounce was all too evident and it was being taken advantage of.

Paul Robinson started to "impose" his own crazy brand of refereeing on the game on the twenty five minute mark. Having seen Martin Rowlands almost launched over the Johnny King Stand without recourse Gallen found himself in the book for appearing to be wrestled to the ground by his neck! Whether Gallen has such a strong neck that he can attack people with it I do not know but from our viewpoint this was a joke.

The refereeing farce continued moments later when Marcus Bignot found his way into the book. The ball went out of play and Biggy grabbed one of the spare ball from the ballboy and took a quick one. The original ball then sailed back onto the pitch, the referee blew up as Biggy had taken it from the wrong place and the ball he had thrown in ended up back with him. He chucked the ball back to the ballboy and was promptly booked for it. It is not as if he was delaying play as Goodison had the original ball in his hand ready to get on with it. I have never in all my years watching football seen a player booked for giving a spare ball back to a ballboy, what a heinous crime!

As the half drew to a close Lee Camp produced a trademark one on one save from Dadi. Having been played through by a mixture of incisive passing and defensive indecision, Dadi bore down on Camp and seemed certain to score, but Camp stood up well and blocked with his legs.

Harsh words will have been exchanged at half time as the first half was a shambles. The two centre halves were all over the shop and were grateful for Biggy and Reg being on the ball enough to sort them out. With Olly's words still ringing in their ears they embarked on the second half and looked much brighter from the off.

In the first minute of the half Gallen weaved his way around three Tranmere defenders before dragging a shot wide. Ainsworth then found himself played through for a run in on Achterberg. Both players were focused on the ball as they flew in with all twenty four studs on show. The collision was a shuddering one as no quarter was asked and none taken as both men got up and dusted themselves off. It is a shame that not more players have the attitude of this pair as so many would have been rolling around looking for some sort of retribution.

Dadi was going close again soon after as the R's defence tried to play offside and got caught out. This time Dadi's shot beat Camp but drifted just wide of the far post. This was not the first time the back four had been caught out playing the offside trap and Carlisle seems to be the instigator most of the time. He seems far happier to stand with his hand in the air than make the first challenge and diffuse the situation there and then. I wonder is there any correlation between the time spent at Tony Adams clinic and the new found love of the offside trap…! You have to wonder exactly how much covering Big Dan was doing for him when they were playing together as Arthur doesn't appear to be able to do it quite so well and it is starting to show!

Rangers came agonisingly close to taking the lead midway through the half when they registered more shots on target in ten seconds than they had in ninety minutes at Ashton Gate. Furs broke free of his marked and forced a fine save from Achterberg, the ball came to Gallen and his shot was hacked off the line and dropped for Ainsworth to volley. Wild Thang gave it the full gun only to see the ball smash Sharps plum in the middle of his forehead and fly over the bar to safety. People were bemoaning the lack of any luck recently and this seemed to be indicative of that, things were to change later in the game though.

With fifteen minutes left to play a seemingly harmless Tranmere attack was faltering on the halfway line. Marcus Bean moved to cut out a pass and was blatantly checked as he tried but referee Robinson gave nothing, from this they broke and Gary Jones found himself bundling his way into the box. The ball seemed to be bouncing all over the place and he was clipped by Bignot and went down. The ref pointed to the spot and sent Biggy off, I am not sure whether it was a straight red or a second yellow but it doesn't really matter.

Dadi stepped up to take the kick and sent Camp the wrong way to send the deathly quiet Prenton Park crows into raptures. But then Robinson decided that Tranmere had encroached as the kick was being taken and ordered them to do it again. This time Dadi hit the post with his effort and Lee Camp was on hand to save the tracer of a follow up shot from Gary Jones with a breathtaking effort.

The drama wasn't over though and the myopic assistant, fresh from missing the foul on Beany was suddenly calling the referee over to grass on Holloway. Reports today suggest that Holloway called him a cheat after they had missed the penalty and that he had taken umbrage. Truth hurts eh? Nothing wrong with the ears then, they do say other senses are heightened when you lose one. Olly was sent to the stands with his certificate for passing his anger management class lying tattered by the dugout.

Neither side managed to trouble the keeper after that and this can definitely be viewed as one point gained rather than two lost. With Paul Robinson in charge anything is possible, I would have been happier if Stefan Dennis had refereed this one! His decisions against Rangers for most of the night were a joke but then he managed to piss the Tranny fans off as well with the retake.

We will have to start defending better if we want to get auto promotion. Lee Camp must feel like he is in the middle of a firing range at times and the constant attempts to play offside have to be reduced or we will get punished. As it was Camp was in sensational form and cannot be discounted for a late tilt at Young Player of the Season.

As for the rest of them, Biggy was unlucky to get booked and then dismissed and Reg looked comfortable enough at left back. Clarke and Arthur were all over the show in the first half by better in the second. Birch looked tired, Beany played like W12's version of Claude Makelele and Ainsworth and Rowlands were both industrious without creating much. Palmer also battled hard when he came on as did Rose. Gallen and Furlong were tireless in attack against the biggest back four in the league and although they didn't get much change out of them they never shirked their responsibilities.

simon@qprnet.com