Rangers travelled to the West Country to take on Olly's former charges Bristol Rovers in a testimonial match for former Gashead Jamie Shore. With the injury list seemingly growing by the day this game was as much about not picking up any more as turning in a decent performance

Olly went into the game with Day in goal behind a back four of Bignot, Gnohere, Forbes and Padula. The midfield four was Rowlands, Bean, Cameroonian trialist Branco and Cureton. Gallen and Furlong were partnered in attack. There was no place on the bench though for Jon Hjelde so it seems he failed to impress sufficiently.

Rangers started the game brightly and were allowing Rovers only the briefest sniff of the ball in attack. This was largely down to the display of Bean who was covering every blade of grass in the middle of the park. Anyone that did get past him found Gnohere in good form.

Rangers hit the front just after the quarter hour mark. A Padula corner from the right was headed behind and Gallen then took a corner from the left. Furlong rose highest at the far post to send a downward header at goal only to see it hacked off the line by the man on the post. Furs was quickest to the rebound though and forced the ball home to give Rangers a deserved lead.

It could have been two when a sweeping move ended with Gallen heading against the woodwork. Good play between Rowlands and Bignot saw the ball flung into the box and turned on by Furlong. Gallen stole in at the far post and beat former Palace keeper Kevin Miller only to see the bar intervene. Miller had to be at his best moments later when Cureton tried his luck from range only to see the ball clawed away when it seemed destined for the corner.

Olly only made one change at the break and that seemed enforced. Hamilton came on for Bignot who was later seen limping back to the dugout. The early stages of the half were much of the same with Rangers enjoying the bulk of the possession without really troubling Miller again.

By now it was trialist time and Olly threw two into the fray. Swiss U-19 international Milos Malenovic and the exotically named Swedish/Congolese player Ndiwa Lord-Kangana entered the game, the first on the right of midfield, the latter in the heart of defence. I don’t think it is any coincidence that Lord-Kangana’s introduction heralded Bristol Rovers’ best spell of the game.

Ex-R Junior Agogo was now on and was running Lord-Kangana ragged whenever he got near him. He also seemed to single out the returning Richard Edghill, now on for Gino, for some treatment. Reg looked leggy having missed a large slice of pre-season and looks like he has a lot to do before the Rotherham game if he wants to be considered. Daisy had to be sharp to keep out a couple of fairly straightforward efforts but for all Rovers’ pressure he wasn’t forced into anything too difficult.

With five minutes left to play Rangers doubled their lead through Tony Thorpe. Thorpey seized on an error at the back and picked up the ball just inside the box. He jinked inside two challenges before slipping the ball past Miller at his near post. It was just reward for Thorpe who had worked hard since replacing Rowlands just after the break and will have served as a nice little nudge to Olly.

This was a decent game and the performance was pretty satisfying. There was plenty of chopping and changing during the game as Olly tried people in different positions to see what clicked. Rowlands player both left and right wing, Cureton played left wing, right wing and up front as did Gallen. Trialist Malenovic also had a spell on the wing and up front.

As for the trialists, Hamilton was solid again, this time at right back. Lord-Kangana may as well have been Lord Lucan as most of the time you wouldn’t have known he was there as Rovers forwards strode past him at will. Branco was busy in midfield but seemed to give the ball away an awful lot as well as conceding plenty of freekicks. Do we need another midfield clogger? Malenovic certainly seemed to have a nice touch and is probably worth another look. He just needs to be more aware of what goes on around him and become more acclimatised to the rough and tumble of the English game.

In terms of our current squad, Day looked in control at all times and Arthur turned in another good showing following his Inverness nightmare. Bignot and Padula were as reliable as ever but Forbes didn’t seem on the money to me. Gallen, Rowlands, Cureton, Furlong and Thorpe were all very sharp but the pick of the bunch was Beany. He was simply outstanding, tackling everything and keeping his passing short and accurate.

On to Palace now and a distinct step up in class from this encounter. Olly will be looking for a few more chances to be carved out in our final pre-season game as we look to go into the Rotherham encounter in fine fettle.

simon@qprnet.com