Rangers fell to their first defeat at Loftus Road since August against an Ipswich Town side that seemed destined for promotion this season. Aside from two stunning Furlong goals there was little to crow about for Rangers as they made it three losses on the bounce and once again poor defending played its part.

As was expected Olly abandoned his flirtation with a 4-5-1 formation to switch to a more conventional 4-4-2. Day was in goal behind Bignot, Santos, Shittu and Padula. Ainsworth, Bean, Bircham and Miller made up the midfield four with Gallen and Furlong partnered in attack.

The first twenty minutes of the game was one way traffic as Ipswich came out like a team on a mission. Rangers hadn’t even had a chance to get going when Day was forced into the first of four tremendous saves. Ian Westlake managed to find space inside the box and Day had to be at his best to turn his strike away. Next to be denied was former Hartlepool midfielder Tommy Miller as once again a fierce effort found Day at his most agile.

Day then denied Darren Bent by tipping his header over the bar. At the other end Rangers finally managed to create a chance worthy of the name. Gallen won a freekick on the left and the impressive Adam Miller curled in a beautiful ball to the back post. Dan Shittu was arriving like a train but somehow failed to make contact with the top corner at his mercy.

Rangers were made to pay five minutes later when they gifted Ipswich the softest of openers. Jim Magilton put in a right footed corner and the ball went back and forth across the six yard box without any R’s player attempting to intervene. Eventually the ball was headed down into the path of the criminally unmarked Jason De Vos and he had the simplest task to nod home from four yards.

Then finally something seemed to click and the R’s players burst into life. Having been almost totally bereft of ideas up to this point they suddenly put it all together. A flowing move from the back led to Miller feeding the ball into Furlong’s path forty yards from goal. He took the ball on his thigh, turned, and surged past the Ipswich defence before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner. Kelvin Davis was powerless to intervene such was the ferocity of the effort.

Whilst Ipswich were still coming to terms with being pegged back to quickly Furs was at it again and Rangers were quickly in the lead. A long ball was played up to Kevin Gallen, largely anonymous to this point; he controlled it and laid it into the path of Furlong. He struck the ball first time and such was the swerve on it that Davis almost ended up diving out of the way. He got a hand to it but could not prevent it rippling the net. Now we had a chance to really push on and take another massive scalp.

Adam Miller was now starting to prompt and probe from his left wing berth and he was giving Drissa Diallo a real chasing. He had no answer to his smooth running style and on one occasion he skipped away from him before lashing in a shot that Davis held to his midriff. Just before the break Gallen coughed up a gilt edged chance to put this game beyond Ipswich at the break.

More good work from Miller saw the ball played into Santos. He calmly turned and picked out Gallen who had managed to find acres of space in the box and he only had Davis to beat. It was time for him to pick his spot and put this game beyond the Tractor Boys but instead he contrived to send the ball into the Ipswich fans behind the School End goal. It was a terrible miss and summed up his afternoon in truth. Even though we had been playing 4-4-2 we may as well have had just one up front such was the lack of involvement from the captain.

Ipswich breathed a huge sigh of relief and Joe Royle clearly fired up his charges at the break and once again they started like a house on fire. Darren Bent smashed a shot wide and as with the start of the first half it was all one way traffic. Rangers simply couldn’t retain the ball up front as De Vos and Naylor began to dominate Gallen and Furlong. The midfield was also surrendering possession far too easily with Bean in particular seeming to pick out an orange shirt with almost every touch.

It was only a matter of time before the equaliser came, and what a spawny effort it was. A ball was played up to the giant Kuqi and he managed to evade the Shittu and Padula and find the onrushing Darren Bent. As Bent went to strike it his left foot slipped and as he hit the ball with his right it flicked off his left and arched into Day’s top corner. Day was helpless as he had to react to where the original shot was going not where it ended up after Bent kicked it with both feet!

It was not all lost for Rangers though and they should have been back in the lead minutes later when Gallen was presented with yet another relatively simple chance. Ainsworth barrelled his way down the right and crossed for Gallen to strike at goal. The placement was good but the power was badly lacking and Davis plunged low to his right to get a strong hand to the ball. If Gallen had struck the ball truly Davis would have been powerless to stop it.

Then Ipswich brought on Darren Currie and everybody in the ground knew he was going to score. He has managed to get goals against us for both Wycombe and Brighton, the latter earlier in the season and he didn’t let anybody down. Picking up a ball on the left he moved inside and was afforded far too much time and space and he struck the ball goalward. Bircham tried to block it but only succeeded in deflecting the ball past Day’s dive and into the top corner.

Rangers were now behind to two of the most fortuitous goals we have conceded this season, five minutes later and Ipswich were two goals clear as barrel chested Fin Shefki Kuqi notched. Wilnis took a throw in from the right and De Vos flicked on for Kuqi. He rolled Shittu and lashed a volley across Day into the far corner.

Everybody waited for the response from Rangers but it never came. It was almost as if they didn’t believe they could get back into it and as such didn’t try. Rowlands had been brought on for his first game since injury and didn’t do anything. Similarly Cureton may as well have stayed on the bench for the impact he made when he entered the fray.

I am sure people will try and draw positives from this game but for me they were few and far between. Day was excellent in goal and for the second time in eight days he has kept the score down in a defeat. Miller was once again excellent considering this is only his second game in the pro game. Up front Furlong was magnificent again and what is left to say about him.

What was more alarming was how poorly the central midfield played and how the partnership of Shittu and Santos seems to be on the wobble. Bean and Bircham hardly found a hoped shirt all afternoon and Tommy Miller and Jim Magilton ran them all over the place. Shittu and Santos seem to be playing awfully close together and got in each others way a few times as they tried to clear. The fact that they are almost inseparable on the field meant that there was always space between them and the full backs for people to break into. Kuqi and bent didn’t need asking twice and Miller running from the middle strolled through time and again.

Olly needs to get Timmy Breacker pulling double sessions to get things tightened up as we are leaking more goals than is healthy. I know we are probably still finding our feet but out early season form has set a precedent and we seem to be falling some way short of that at the moment.

simon@qprnet.com