Rangers overcame Stoke City in a war of a game at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday afternoon. In footballing terms this wont be a game that lives long in the memory but from a thuggery standpoint the Stoke players and fans have done little to enhance their glowing reputation.

Holloway only saw for to make one change to the side that battered Coventry City in midweek. Day remained in goal behind a back four of Bignot, Shittu, Santos and the returning Rose. An unchanged midfield four of Rowlands, Bircham, Gallen and Cook lurked behind the on form pairing of Cureton and Furlong.

Rangers started the brighter and in the first couple of minutes all the play seemed to be heading toward Ed de Goey’s goal. Soon after Ade Akinbyi was showing a glimpse of his early season form when he powered toward the Rangers goal only for Georges Santos to hang out a leg and turn the ball back toward Daisy. It would not be the last time this pair would come together in the box.

The balance of play in the middle of the park seemed fairly even at this stage but Shittu and Santos had their hands full with Akinbyi and Noel-Williams. Shittu prevented Akinbyi getting a free shot at goal whilst at the other end Marc Bircham smashed a fierce shot from distance that referee Evans thought had been deflected wide. Akinbyi then managed to get past the Rangers centre backs and get through one-on-one with Day but he could only hammer his shot straight at him, anywhere else and it would surely have been 1-0.

The game then exploded into life when Santos and Akinbyi chased a ball into the box. As the pair went shoulder to shoulder the Stoke striker went down clearly looking for the penalty, when it didn’t come his strike partner Gifton Noel-Williams found his way into the referee’s notebook. Worse was to come though and from the most innocuous circumstances.

Referee Evans awarded Rangers a freekick midway in the Stoke half but former Bolton and Leicester hard man Gerry Taggart ran the ball to the halfway line. Bircham went to retrieve the ball and as he grabbed it from Taggart’s hands the big Ulsterman swung an arm that caught Birch in the face. He went down as he is prone to do and referee Evans had little option but to send Taggart off for violent conduct. Taggart wasn’t having this though and chased after Bircham to have his say and goodness knows what else. Luckily for Bircham the first player he found was Santos and he wasn’t getting past him.

It took fully five minutes for order to be restored as the Stoke team lost their composure and discipline completely. Darel Russell also found his way into the book during the melee and to be honest, they should count themselves lucky that only one of them went off. At this point the knuckle dragging Neanderthals were in full cry and anytime a Rangers player went down near the touchline they were greeted by a hail of bottles and loose change. Bignot in particular got plenty and when he got up and Stoke fan tried to get onto the pitch to have a pop at him. Maybe the fans take their lead from the players, or is it the other way around?

Furlong found his way into the book just before half time and before the card came out you had to fear the worst and wonder whether the referee would look to even things up to make his afternoon a little easier. Luckily for us he didn’t although there followed a long period when Rangers got nothing as the crowd clearly rattled the man in the middle.

A protective cordon of stewards and coppers escorted the referee from the pitch at half time as the Burberry boys tried to have their say. Tony Pulis made a double change at half time to try and pep things up and it was one of the subs Karl Henry that drew a magnificent save from Chris Day. The midfielder found space twenty five yards from goal and he battered a shot goalward that forced Day to fly high to his right to tip it over the bar.

Rangers were coming under severe pressure and it almost looked as though Olly had told his players to tread carefully for a while just in case the referee had his red card poised once again. Any attacks they managed were fleeting as they seemed happy to soak up the pressure from ten man Stoke. Martin Rowlands shot high over the bar and Cureton headed a Cook cross wide as Rangers tried to relieve some of the pressure.

With twenty minutes left to play Rangers grabbed the only goal of the game through the magnificent Kevin Gallen. Playing in his now familiar midfield role Gallen had sauntered to the edge of the box and picked up Furlong’s left wing cross. As runs from Curo and Rowly created space Gallen picked his spot and steered a well placed effort into the corner leaving former Chelsea pin up Ed de Goey helpless.

Rangers were now sitting deep with Shittu and Santos camped almost permanently on the edge of the area. Gallen was dictating the play as the R’s kept the ball for long periods without really ever looking to push on and grab the second. Stoke on the other hand were struggling to create anything once they got the ball back. The quality of pass just wasn’t there and with players of the quality of Akinbyi and Asaba to aim at the pass has to be just right or they won’t get close to the goal.

With thirteen minutes left Olly took off Cook, Rowlands and Stoke Man of the Year 2004 Marc Bircham and threw on McLeod, Bean and Branco. Whilst Bircham was walking from the field Ade Akinbyi ran fifty yards to get in his face and try and provoke a reaction from him. Just because his own turgid display meant that Stoke had little chance of getting back into the game, he desperately tried to even things up. Pulis has slagged Bircham off to the press but perhaps he would be better served getting his on house in order first.

As soon as Birch got to the bench he was pelted with missiles and was forced to go and take refuge in the tunnel. If Rangers can have a £25k fine hanging over them for transgressions much less serious than this then surely the FA should be looking seriously at belting Stoke with similar sanctions.

There was still time for more controversy though. The ball was put out of play following a clash of heads between Branco and Stoke skipper Clive Clarke. When it came back in Gallen was about to knock it back to the keeper when big time John Halls tackled him. The ball ran to Furlong who tried a speculative forty yard lob but sent the ball wide. Halls took issue with Furlong over the matter. If he is stupid enough to tackle a player that is trying to return the ball then as far as I am concerned you deserve to lose your advantage, a typical example of the irrational thinking displayed by so many Stoke players.

The final whistle brought celebrations from the R’s fans, yet more missile throwing from the Stoke fans and a sixth win on the bounce from a team that is bang in form at the moment. The turnaround from the start of the season is incredible and it is almost a shame that we have a weekend off before facing West Ham as I would have strongly fancied us to turn them over.

There were some great displays from Day, Shittu, Bignot, Furlong, and Bean when he came on and in particular Kevin Gallen. He and Bircham are really combining well now and I think this was Gallen’s finest display of the season. At the time when we were playing keep ball he dropped deep to collect it off of the centre backs and used it cleverly. He also took his goal brilliantly.

By the time the West Ham game comes around I am hoping that Ainsworth is fit as Rowly really needs some competition for his place. It has done wonders on the left for Cookie and Macca and I think a threat to his place will kick him up a gear.

simon@qprnet.com

Kevin Gallen was outstanding in his midfield role and seems to be getting to grips with it now. He took his goal well, tackled hard and used the ball sensibly.