Three defeats on the bounce and six consecutive away defeats makes for pretty sorry reading for the Rangers fans at the moment. Although we lost this game we really didn’t deserve to and had Jamie Cureton not acted like a petulant child we may well have got something from the game.

Holloway rang the changes following the home defeat against Ipswich last week. Day remained in goal behind a back four of Bignot, Santos, Shittu and Padula. Rowlands was back on the right with Gallen restored alongside Bircham in the centre of midfield. Miller was once again deployed on the left with Cureton returning against his former club to partner Furlong in attack.

Rangers got off to a shaky start following a Padula back pass toward Day. Rather than glance a header back he passed it and it got very big on Day and he fluffed a clearance. Luckily the resulting shot was straight at the keeper but almost immediately there was an almighty row going on between Day and Gino. The lack of harmony amongst our back four and keeper has been growing in recent weeks and Gallen had to come back and try and get them to calm down and refocus.

Furlong and Rowlands both had opportunities to strike freekicks from outside the box. Both went for power and both found their efforts easily blocked. We are desperate for somebody with a bit of guile at a set piece, something we have lacked since Langley left for the valleys. Shorey then curled an effort over the bar for The Royals as the game started to settle down into a pretty tepid encounter. Neither side were particularly fluent in attack and the only real excitement was a couple of penalty shouts.

The flame haired Dave Kitson burst past the R’s defence and as he overran the ball he threw himself into Day in an effort to get a penalty. Referee Beeby was not to be hoodwinked though and showed Kitson the yellow card for his dive. Minutes later former Burnley winger Glen Little was hollering for a spot kick after a challenge from Padula. He seemed to have beaten the Argentine but Gino managed to snake out a leg to win the ball. Little slung himself over and provoked an angry reaction from Padula. The pair of them had a running spat for most of the game after this.

Furlong managed Rangers only real effort on target of the half with a bullet header that was easily gathered by American keeper Hahnemann in the Reading goal. Bircham then seemed to block two Reading efforts with his right arm much to the chagrin of the Berkshire punters. They were feeling pretty hard done by now as they thought they should have had three penalties. In truth any of them would have been harsh on Rangers, it made a nice change not to have a streaky decision go against us!

Some harsh words must have been spoken at the break as Rangers came out like a whirlwind in the second half. Within the first couple of minutes Miller had headed a Rowlands cross over the top and Cureton had sent an effort curling inches wide of Hahnemann’s left hand upright. Cureton then had another effort blocked before Miller played him in brilliantly for a free run at the Reading goal. The angle was tight and with no support he had to smash an effort at the near post which Hahnemann did well to repel.

Reading took the lead with twenty five minutes left, completely against the run of play. Santos conceded a daft freekick on the edge of the box when he climbed all over the back of sub Lloyd Owusu. Shorey stepped up to take the set piece and sent a curling effort into the goal via the top of Day’s right hand post. Having seen the goal several times I still don’t know whether he meant it or not. What he definitely meant was to put the ball into a good area and that he did. Gino used to do a similar thing before his set pieces went right off the boil in the latter half of last season.

With twenty minutes left Rangers were reduced to ten men thanks to the stupidity of Cureton. At the time it wasn’t clear what had happened to prompt Curo to kick out at Steve Sidwell. It later transpired that Sidwell had called Curo to leave it using a predetermined code used by the R’s players. It is cheating but I am not sure that it warrants the violent response it got. Referee Beeby had little choice but to send Cureton off and thus destroy almost any chance of Rangers getting back into the match.

Holloway immediately withdrew Padula, unluckily I thought, and replaced him with Leon Best, signed on loan from Southampton on Friday. The strapping eighteen year old immediately set about his task with purpose and his running style was reminiscent of a younger Les Ferdinand. No pressure! Twice he came close to linking up with Furlong after receiving the ball in the centre circle and driving at the Reading back four with pace.

Bircham and Harper went into the ref’s book for a spate of handbags following an off the ball incident. Furlong then went close with a header from a Miller cross but was somehow flagged offside despite being stood with two Reading players goal side of him. The lino on that side had been rather trigger happy all afternoon so it came as no surprise.

As a last throw of the dice Holloway replaced Miller and Rowlands with Ainsworth and Cook. It was hard on the players withdrawn as they had both played very well in the second half but their replacements were both into the game quickly with Ainsworth in particular bullocking his way past Shorey on two occasions.

The game was in its death throws now though and as Reading held the ball in the corner Bircham was lucky not to be the second player red carded of the afternoon. Owusu was protecting the ball and Bircham clattered into him with reckless abandon. If it hadn’t been so late in the game I think he would have had a second yellow so we should thank Mr Beeby for being so lenient.

As the game finished it was hard to be annoyed with the team. They had put in a massive effort and had it not been for the stupidity of Cureton I am almost certain we would have got something from the game. It was as well as we have played away from home in two months and in the end we were beaten by a slight fortuitous goal.

Defensively we were still shaky with all four members of the unit having a pop at each other at one point or another. The middle of midfield was lacking in presence and I am not sure that the Gallen/Bircham partnership is the one that will take us forward. In wide areas though, things were much brighter, with both Miller and Rowlands playing very well in the second half. Cureton was very lively at the start of the second half, but was daft. Furlong and Best already seem to have an understanding that may stand us in good stead in the weeks to come.

Plymouth away is the next test for us and one that we cannot afford to lose. There were enough positives to build on here and hopefully Olly can get his men fired up and end this diabolical run of away form to give the fans a slightly more merry Christmas!

simon@qprnet.com