On the back of two poor home performances, Rangers fans travelled to Ipswich in a pessimistic mood. Whilst you can always hope to nick a win in this division it was the manner of the performance that was almost as pleasing as the great result!

After the disappointing turn around against Wolves that saw Olly’s tactics vocally questioned by many at Loftus Road, it was perhaps surprising to see him name an unchanged side.

Simon Royce continued in goal and with Chris Day on loan at Preston Jake Cole was recalled from his loan spell at AFC Wimbledon to warm the bench. The back four of Marcus Bignot, Matthew Rose and Danny Shittu picks itself but eyebrows were raised at the continual inclusion of Edghill at left back ahead of Gino Padula.

Martin Rowlands and Lee Cook played down the flanks with the industrious pairing of Marc Bircham and Georges Santos preferred in the centre once again. Upfront Paul Furlong and Kevin Gallen continued their striking reunion after showing encouraging signs on Tuesday before Olly fiddled with the formation.

The visitors settled into the game early and we were barely four minutes in before Rangers hit the front courtesy of an almighty cock up by Ipswich keeper Kelvin Davis.

Having been put through by Kevin Gallen, Furs fell in the area looking for a penalty only to see Andy D’Urso award the free kick against him. However Davis made a huge mess of the kick. Furlong would have been as surprised as anyone when he felt the ball hit the back of his head but he quickly composed himself to turn, control the ball and coolly slot past the embarrassed keeper.

It was a lucky start but you could almost see the confidence swell through the Rangers players as they took control of the game. Lee Cook was looking lively down the left and giving full back Fabian Wilnis a real going over, whilst Marc Bircham was at his fiery best, bossing the midfield and popping up causing problems all over the place.

Rangers were soon in on goal again with Kevin Gallen putting a shot over after good work by Furlong to find his partner at the far post. Ipswich were stunned as Rangers continued to surge forward, and the home support, having seen their team defeated in the last two games already were twitchy at best.

Ipswich finally mustered a chance through on loan striker James Scowcroft but the Leicester man, brought in to replace Shefki Kuqi is no Shefki Kuqi and his tame header was easily dealt with by the impressive Royce.

Royce was thwarting whatever Ipswich could muster, twice he leapt to pluck decent crosses out of the air before they could amount to anything, it was nice to see as they were the sort of crosses that his predecessor would have girly slapped away rather than held. Royce’s dominant command of his box must surely inspire great confidence in his back four.

Lee Cook proved once again that he had Wilnis on toast as he helped carve out another chance for Rangers that saw the ball hit the back of the net, only for the goal to be ruled out. Cook’s cross found Furlong at the far post and Furs knocked it back across goal to the charging Marc Bircham to turn in and send the Rangers fans wild.

However Furs pushed chunky David Unsworth to win the header and the ref had given a free kick almost before the ball hit the back of the net. D’Urso felt the wrath of the Rangers traveling fans at the time but looking back on the incident now it seems he made the right decision.

The goal being chalked off seemed to slow down the Rangers effort and Ipswich came into the game for the last fifteen minutes of the first half. However despite controlling the possession they failed to carve out any real decent chances. Darren Currie found himself in on goal but his strike was easily blocked by Royce, whilst Kevin Horlock should have done better when he put an effort over the bar.

Half time came with Rangers still in front and many excited calls being made from the terraces to home. Some wag behind me pointed out that the teams biggest challenge was to keep the momentum going after Olly’s half time team talk. Funny, but worryingly true of late! However as it transpired he had no real reason to be concerned.

The second half started with disciplinary matters the topic of discussion. Jason De Vos had been kicking lumps out of Furlong at every opportunity and having already been booked in the first half could consider himself fortunate to stay on the pitch after chopping him down again after just a few minutes. Meanwhile James Scowcroft, who had been pushing people around more than David Prutton, finally found himself in the referee’s note book after a foul on the disappointing Richard Edghill.

Ipswich were again putting pressure on Rangers and nerves on the terraces were tested even more when Matthew Rose was forced off with an injury. Read that twice, Matthew Rose was forced off with an injury. I know I could barely believe it myself.

Rose had been having a great game and, like Andrew Davies, is a much better foil for Danny Shittu to play alongside than the roof inspectors approach of Shittu and Santos together. He went up for a header and seemed to land awkwardly, perhaps turning his ankle. Despite trying to play on, he was forced off and Adam Miller came on to replace him. Miller went into central midfield with Santos slotting in the back.

However the change worked in Rangers favour. After a scrappy start to the second period Rangers started to get the ball down again with Miller in fine form through the middle. He linked well with the attack and showed Olly that perhaps the answer to the midfield creativity problems could be right under his nose. Meanwhile Joe Royle also tinkered with his side, bringing on Pablo Counago for the disappointing Scowcroft and Ian Westlake for Jim Magilton.

Rangers continued to bother Ipswich although the chances were coming from long range. Martin Rowlands saw a left footed effort just clear the bar from the edge of the box and Miller also saw a shot go wide from distance. Ipswich struggled to gel after the changes and any momentum they might have built slowly ebbed away until Rangers killed the game off on 75 minutes.

Lee Cook was fouled when bearing down on goal and Martin Rowlands perfect free kick found Danny Shittu charging in like a man possessed. He found himself clear on goal and headed past the helpless Kelvin Davis to make it two nil. The big man danced a jig of delight in the goal mouth in celebration!

You’d think have thought the goal might have bought some urgency from the home side but they meekly surrendered and, save for a tame effort from Pablo Counago, rarely bothered the Rangers rear guard. The home fans had already begun leaving with ten minutes to go and at the final whistle Rangers fans were left to celebrate a fine win.

This was a great team performance from the R’s with some outstanding individual displays, Marc Bircham and Adam Miller looked both solid and creative in midfield, and it’s a partnership that I’d like to see given a full game together. Gallen and Furs were impressive up front again and Shittu was at his imperious best. The only disappointing display was from Richard Edghill at left back, his distribution was all over the place and perhaps it’s time for Gino to come back in on Saturday.

Rangers now face Reading at home on Saturday, a game that sees the return of the Les Ferdinand to Loftus Road. Reading have not won in ten games and it’s another match where you might expect Rangers to suffer a backlash. However if we can put in anything like the performance we did yesterday to see off Royle, then we shouldn’t have too much bother dealing with The Royals on Saturday.

ron@qprnet.com

Lee Cook. There were many fine performances across the park but Cookie gets my vote having put in the best display in a Rangers shirt since his original loan spell two years ago. He was silky smooth down the left wing, consistently beat his man and put in some decent crosses to boot.