Rangers made a welcome return to winning ways with a comfortable 3-0 victory over a one dimensional Burnley side. The Clarets game is built on keeping it tight and seeing whether they can pinch one. When they collapsed like a house of cards in the first half hour, they had no Plan B to fall back on.

Furlong was back fit again and returned to the starting eleven in place of Bean for the only change to the side that had gone down 2-1 at Wolves last week. Day remained in goal behind the back four of Bignot, Santos, Simek and Rose. Rowlands reverted to right midfield alongside Bircham, Branco and Cook. Gallen partnered the returning Furlong in attack.

The R’s made the brighter start and both Gallen and Rowlands hit tame efforts at Danny Coyne in the opening exchanges. Burnley were screaming for a penalty when the amazing collapsible man Robbie Blake went down under a challenge from Simek. This would be a theme after the half time break when Blake decided that he would ref the game as well as play in it.

With just thirteen minutes on the clock Rangers won a penalty. A freekick from Bignot was aimed at the far post for Santos to head back across goal. As he won the header he was pulled by Graham Branch and referee Miller had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Gallen stepped up and coolly slotted his penalty to Coyne’s left with the keeper going the wrong way.

Just three minutes later and it was 2-0. Burnley conceded a needless freekick to the right of the penalty area with a sneaky attempt at a handball. Cookie swung a perfectly flighted ball across the near post and Santos was on hand to glance the ball past the stranded Coyne. That was Georges’ third of the season and his movement in the box is so good that I don’t expect it to stop there if we can keep providing decent delivery.

Only another eight minutes had elapsed when Burnley committed defensive hari-kari after Rowlands pumped a hopeful ball into their half. There seemed to be little danger as Coyne came out of his area to clear. He made a horrendous misjudgement though and he was far too close to the ball to strike it and only succeeded in executing a comedy air shot. Unluckily for him Furs was lurking and he fired the ball home with unerring precision. Coyne for his part had to be stretchered from the field with an apparent ankle injury, although I am not sure if it was his pride that had taken the real battering. He was replaced by The Beast, Brian Jensen.

The game was already over and we had played just twenty four minutes. It was clear that Burnley had little on the bench to change things and those on the pitch had hardly been covering themselves in glory. Shortly before the break Rangers were forced into a change when Rowlands was the victim of a late scything challenge from Jean Louis Valois. Bean came on and slotted into the middle with Branco moving to the right wing position he operated so well from at Wolves.

After the break Burnley simply had to improve and they showed signs of this through the only player that looked likely to do anything, Blake. Every time they attacked it had to go through him or things would just break down. He was starting to link well with left back Mo Camara and Biggy soon found himself booked for a tug on him. That was his fifth of the season and earned him an automatic one game ban. Moments later he made a far more positive contribution with a brilliant challenge on Blake in the area when it seemed the former Bradford man would pull one back.

Shortly after this Rangers came within a whisker of adding the fourth. Lee Cook set of on a trademark jinking run down the left and delivered a lovely ball into the path of Gallen, he shot first time and Jensen had to make a brilliant reaction save to turn the ball onto the bar.

Blake was starting to get the better of referee Miller now and every time he dropped to his knees he was awarded a freekick. Miller was turning in a bizarre display, in the first half he had given Rangers everything and in the second he was affording Burnley the same privilege. The long and short of this was anybody attacking the School End was allowed carte blanche to do whatever the hell they wanted.

Blake came close with a freekick that shaved the top of the bar but there was little else for the Clarets fans to take comfort in as their team mounted one of the most one dimensional and predictable attacking  ploys ever. Right back Michael Duff was planted on the right wing and they smashed high balls at him to head. Matthew Rose was giving him little change though as he turned in yet another outstanding display at left back. The sad thing is it is only a matter of time before he gets injured, probably in the most innocuous circumstances, and loses his place and potentially his form.

After having a poor spell Rangers soon returned to a position of dominance and only a rogue offside flag denied Furs the chance to make it four. His run and the through ball from Cook looked perfectly timed only for the merry flag waver to intervene much to Furs’ visible chagrin. Not long after Furlong fired a shot just wide after a steepling through ball from Bircham. Jensen was beaten and the ball clipped the side netting. It took a few seconds for the good folk in Ellerslie Road to regain their composure as it looked like a goal from where they were sitting.

Gallen also came close to adding his second when he smashed a fierce shot that Jensen gathered at the second attempt. If he had managed to keep the shot down I am sure that he would have beaten the big Dane as it would have taken a fair old time for him to hit the deck from all the way up there!

There were few late dramas as Burnley simply ran out of ideas and any attack they had was snuffed out by the impressive pairing of Santos and Simek. It was a shame that we couldn’t add a couple more to give the goal difference a boost but after going three goals up so early it must be hard not to take your foot of the gas.

This was a comfortable win against a Burnley side that were shot to pieces after twenty four minutes. It is a great way to go into the London derby against Dennis Wise’s Millwall on Tuesday night. This will be a different game, a real blood and thunder encounter and I don’t doubt that cool heads will be needed with such snidey operators as Wise and Muscat on the field. We must not be drawn into a war; if we play football then we will win.

simon@qprnet.com