Rangers followed their second half capitulation against Sunderland at the weekend with a frustrating display against lowly Gillingham. The Gills came for a point and will doubtless be delighted with their dour showing; Rangers needed the win to keep promotion dreams alive.

Olly made two changes to his starting eleven, one forced and one by choice. Royce was in goal behind Bignot, Shittu, Davies and Rose. Miller started on the right of midfield alongside Santos, Bircham and Cook. Gallen and Furlong were again teamed in attack. Sixteen year old Shabazz Baidoo retained his place in the bench and was joined by seventeen year old Stefan Bailey.

Rangers started the game the brighter of the two sides and made all of the running in the first ten minutes. Despite dominating possession there was precious little to show for it. The only chance of note came when Lee Cook found space to gallop into on the left and he sent a fierce drive just over the bar. Gillingham seemed content to launch the ball into the chilly West London sky and see what developed when it came down.

There were plenty of shocked faces around Loftus Road when Gillingham took the lead just after the quarter hour. Shittu seemed to have time to affect a clearance but made a real hash of it and presented it straight to the combative Mike Flynn. The little midfielder piled forward and forced his was between a tentative Davies and Shittu before firing past the advancing Royce. I thought Royce could have been sharper off his line once he saw his centre backs were struggling.

Rangers responded strongly though and Furlong could have equalised immediately. Cook burst down the left and fizzed a low cross into Furs. He took the ball first time and forced an excellent save from Jason Brown. The game was not pretty to watch and good football was at a premium as Gillingham seemed to content to hold what they had and not commit too many men to the attack.

Both Miller and Gallen had efforts off target as the half drew to a close and the referees whistle brought a chorus of boos that was slightly more palatable than the caterwauling wenches that passed for half time entertainment.

Olly must have wished he had Mick McCarthy on hand to deliver a foul mouthed half time team talk as it was needed. As the teams lined up you could see that Gallen and Santos had switched places and it was the big Frenchman that set the early tempo as he chased a lost cause into the corner.

Miller had now livened up a bit after a non-existent first half and tested Brown with a low effort from outside the box. To this point he had been giving a demonstration of why Olly didn’t throw him on in place of Rowlands on Saturday. Rangers grabbed an equaliser soon after and for the 18^th time this season Paul Furlong was the man on the spot.

The ball was won on the halfway line and Rose slid the ball through to the onrushing Cook. This time the quality from the winger was there and Furlong swept the ball across Brown into the corner. Given Rangers domination of the game thus far it was no less than we had deserved but we had made such hard work of getting to this point it was untrue.

It was all Rangers now, mind you it had been anyway, and there was an amazing goalmouth scramble that somehow ended with the ball out of play for a throw on. A long ball set Santos away and he controlled the ball well before cracking a left footer at goal. Brown did well to parry but the ball fell to Gallen. He had time to control and he hit the target only to see a Gills player block the ball away. It went straight to Miller and he should have struck it first time but instead chose to compose himself. His shot was turned away by yet another Gillingham defender and this one looked suspiciously like handball.

As far as decent chances went that was about it. There was plenty of huffing and puffing going on but nothing ever seemed to quite come off. Cureton was now into the fray replacing the injured Furlong and he had one half chance but failed to control properly. There seemed to be a lack of fight and desire at times from certain people and a willingness to lie on the deck rather than battle was in evidence far too often.

As the game went into injury time Olly handed Shabazz Baidoo a first team debut. He didn’t get a chance to touch the ball but if Furlong has injured his hamstring badly then he may well be getting a few more chances before the season is out.

Let’s make no bones about it, this was a poor game and the team looked tired and devoid of ideas for long periods. There were also some shocking displays. Davies had a mare and Matthew Rose played as badly as he has for years. He looked like he couldn’t be arsed, something that could have been levelled at him in years gone by but not recently.

Miller looked hesitant and seemed to get hurt rather easily. He also showed some bright touches but they were all to fleeting. On the other wing Cook came to life in the second half after he had been a passenger in the first. Bircham gave the ball away a lot as usual.

Things may be a bit tight on Saturday at Sheffield United if we have any more injuries. After they thumped Leeds for four tonight they will be buzzing and we might just be on the end of another one if we are lacking in experienced players.

simon@qprnet.com