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PRESTON DOUBLE
GIVES OLLY TROUBLE
Rangers crashed to their fifth home defeat of the season after a
wretched second half showing against Preston North End. In a game
that was totally dominated by the R’s before the interval was thrown
away by a diabolical showing in the second period in which they
simply didn’t turn up and compete.
For
the fourth consecutive game Olly named an unchanged starting XI
following three impressive displays. Royce was in goal behind
Edghill, Davies, Shittu and Padula. Ainsworth, Santos, Gallen and
Cook were in midfield with Cureton and Furlong up front. The only
change came on the bench when Marc Bircham returned to the squad for
the first time since the defeat at Leicester.
Rangers started the game well and the off colour Cureton could
easily have been celebrating a hat-trick within the first ten
minutes. Preston were all over the shop and struggling to cope with
the savage wind swirling around Loftus Road. Neat passing between
Furlong and Cook saw the winger slip Cureton through but the striker
delayed his shot and England U21 keeper Andy Lonergan was out to
deny him.
Lonergan was out to deny him a shot again moments later and then a
moment of confusion and hesitation led to the best opening of all.
Mawene misjudged a long ball and Curo slipped in behind him. As
Lonergan advanced he lifted the ball over him only to see it drop
onto the roof of the net. The wind may well have caught this one as
it did the initial pass but he should still have done much better.
Preston were struggling to create anything of note at the other end.
The strong running of former Gills striker Patrick Agyemang was
causing a few issues but the end product was often lacking. Midway
through the half Preston were made to pay for their poor showing
thus far when Paul Furlong grabbed his fifteenth goal of the season.
Rangers won a corner on the right and it was taken short for Lee
Cook to turn and change the angle. It looked as though he had
carried the ball too far but then he flighted a delightful cross
into the box and Furlong met it with a header from twelve yards that
flew into the top corner leaving Lonergan pawing at thin air.
Rangers target Matt Hill was having a torrid time in the left back
berth for Preston and when Ainsworth robbed him to set up Cureton
again it looked as though Rangers would be adding a second. But as
is usually the case Cureton contrived to miss the target. This time
he lashed a wild volley over the bar rather than seeking to strike a
more controlled effort.
Rangers had totally dominated the half but only had one goal to show
for it and had in truth only hit the target once. There was little
indication of the impending sea change in Preston’s attitude after
the break as they came out fired up and ready for action.
The
start of the half started in bizarre fashion with Jude being sent
from the touchline after confusing the linesman. I am not sure what
he thought a man in a seven foot cat costume was going to do? Mind
you, this is the same lino that tried to award Preston a freekick
when the ball was out of play! You can forgive officials being poor
but you can’t forgive them being cretins.
Referee Probert was also failing to endear himself to the Rangers
fans. He managed to miss a blatant pull on the shorts on Edghill
when everybody in the ground must have clocked it. It was verging on
sexual assault! A bit more pulling and the Loft would have been
privy to a viewing of Reg’s veg! We shouldn’t be surprised at his
incompetence though, this was the man that failed to halt the game
at Wolves when there was six inch deep standing water all over the
pitch.
Preston manager Billy Davies changed the flow of the game with a
double change twelve minutes into the half. David Nugent came on up
front and Paul McKenna was brought on and like his namesake he began
to mesmerise the R’s midfield. Gallen and Santos could not get to
grips with him and something needed to change. Georges had been
farcically booked for kicking the ball away in the first half and
was clearly worried about putting in a challenge.
It
was Nugent that grabbed Preston’s equaliser after some poor
defending and poor goalkeeping. Moments before Davies had given the
ball away on halfway and it allowed Nugent room to blast a shot at
Royce which the R’s stopper did well to hold. Davies then let
McKenna past and he blasted a shot at goal. Royce again blocked the
initial effort but failed to hold it and Nugent was the only man to
react and he calmly slipped the ball into the net to grab his first
goal since signing from Bury. Rangers were all over the place now
and it was a matter of when and not if Preston would score again.
With the defence struggling to clear their lines and with Furlong
not having any visible assistance up front Olly was looking to
change things up. As he got his three subs lined up on the touchline
the defence committed hari-kari and gave away a soft second.
A
routine corner into the box was not cleared properly and it fell
back to Sedgwick. He crossed and the ball dropped to the feet of
Chris Lucketti who nearly ripped the net as he slammed it high into
the goal. Preston had not exactly set the world alight yet they were
now ahead and it had more to do with our lack of cohesion than their
abundance of ability.
Bircham, Rowlands and Bignot were thrown on immediately for Cureton,
Cook and Edghill as Olly tried to get his team to at least compete
for the final fifteen minutes. Bircham was in the thick of the
action from the off. He caught Cresswell in the face with a flailing
arm as he protected the ball and was immediately mown down by
American Eddie Lewis.
With the defence struggling to clear their lines and with Furlong
not having any visible assistance up front Olly was looking to
change things up. As he got his three subs lined up on the touchline
the defence committed hari-kari and gave away a soft second.
A
routine corner into the box was not cleared properly and it fell
back to Sedgwick. He crossed and the ball dropped to the feet of
Chris Lucketti who nearly ripped the net as he slammed it high into
the goal. Preston had not exactly set the world alight yet they were
now ahead and it had more to do with our lack of cohesion than their
abundance of ability.
Bircham, Rowlands and Bignot were thrown on immediately for Cureton,
Cook and Edghill as Olly tried to get his team to at least compete
for the final fifteen minutes. Bircham was in the thick of the
action from the off. He caught Cresswell in the face with a flailing
arm as he protected the ball and was immediately mown down by
American Eddie Lewis.
Rangers’ fans were totting up the injury time and were stunned when
the fourth official signalled for just two extra minutes. There had
been six substitutions, a fight, two goals and the trainer’s had
been on three times. He had also warned Lonergan for persistent time
wasting yet could only come up with two minutes. The man is a clown
and somebody in charge of the officials seriously needs to review
whether this man is fit to referee at this standard. It didn’t
really matter though as I doubt we would have mustered another
chance the way we were playing!
The
weekend off is not really needed at the moment. The best thing is to
get straight back into action when you need to exorcise some demons.
I would expect some changes to the side when Rangers next turn out.
We need a cutting edge and Ainsworth doesn’t provide it at the
moment. He huffs and he puffs but he never manages to blow anything
down. He creates little and Rowlands has to come in ahead of him.
With a bit of luck we can try and sign a midfielder to release
Gallen back into the attack. Cureton is a waste of a shirt at the
moment and Furlong badly needs some help up there.
simon@qprnet.com |
