Rangers fell to a third consecutive away defeat with a 2-1 reverse at the Boleyn Ground against West Ham United. In a game that was fractious throughout Rangers can count themselves a little unfortunate to have been on the end of a shocking refereeing decision from Martin Atkinson.

After the lacklustre showing against Millwall in the week Olly was able to shuffle his pack with key players returning from injury. Day was in goal behind a back four of Simek, Santos, the fit again Shittu and Rose. Cureton slotted into the right wing berth alongside Bircham, Gallen and Cook. Thorpe made his first start since August alongside Furlong in attack.

Rangers made a bright start to the game and had a couple of decent early chances, or they looked decent from my diabolical vantage point under the ground behind the goal! Santos headed a chance straight at Bywater before Furlong sent a tame shot into the keeper’s hands. At the other end the electric pace and physical presence of Marlon Harewood was causing all sorts of problems. He is clearly a different animal at Upton Park as he showed none of this ability in the game at Loftus Road a little under a month ago.

Harewood stung Day’s palms with a fierce drive from the edge of the area and minutes later former Spurs winger Matthew Etherington did the same. Two good stops from Day and he needed to be alert as Rangers were struggling to win the second ball despite being able to repel almost every first ball that came in.

Just before the half hour mark Thorpe’s comeback game was curtailed by injury. Czech hatchet man Tomas Repka, a man that finished last season with more cards than Hallmarks, went straight through the back of the striker and he was forced from the field. Gareth Ainsworth replaced him with Cureton moving to a more familiar role alongside Furs. Ainsworth’s impact was immediate and you could see that the team were visibly lifted by his enthusiasm.

Despite this Rangers found themselves behind after thirty six minutes thanks to a highly dubious penalty. Former Manchester United gargoyle Luke Chadwick cut in from the right and attacked Shittu. The big defender dangled a leg and Chadwick didn’t need asking twice to theatrically hurl himself to the ground. The reaction of the Rangers players spoke volumes about the validity of the claim as to a man they went to confront Chadwick. Even Matthew Rose was getting involved so you know it must have been bad!

Harewood was handed the task of taking the spot kick and he made no mistake with a brilliant strike past Day’s left hand. A clinical pen if ever there was one and moments later Harewood was hitting the deck looking for a penalty that would have been even softer than the last one. He and Rose chased a ball and the bigger man went down as soon as Rose’s shoulder met his own. Thankfully this time referee Atkinson saw through the charade, shame he couldn’t have been so keen eyed earlier.

Half time couldn’t come soon enough for Rangers as they were reeling under the incessant pressure coming from The Hammers. The second half didn’t start much better and the men from the west couldn’t create anything of note. This was due in no small part to a towering performance from Callum Davenport. The former Coventry man on loan from Spurs was majestic at centre back and I would think he will be fast tracked into the Spurs line up as soon as the loan has finished.

The game had entered something of a lull now as both defences were easily getting the better of their attacking opponents. It took a Gallen effort for Rangers to get a shot on goal in the second half. A ball bouncing ten yards outside the area seemed to be no threat until Gallen met it on the volley and forced Bywater into a fine save at his near post.

Olly made his second change of the game when the anonymous Lee Cook was replaced by Kevin McLeod. Aside from a bright first ten minutes he had not been able to get into the game and the only surprise was that the change took so long to come. Macca made a great impact and had scored the equaliser barely ten minutes after coming on.

West Ham conceded a throw on the right and Bircham hurled a long one into the box. The ball was met my Santos and his flicked header looped all the way to the back post and may well have been sneaking in before McLeod arrived to hammer the ball home from no more than a yard. Suddenly Upton Park was even quieter than it had been for the rest of the afternoon. Aside from the famous Cockney wit pouring from the East Stand there was hardly a peep from the Hammers fans aside from the odd chorus of their only song.

Following the goal West Ham cranked it up a gear and it took a five minute spell of Shittu against the rest to maintain parity. First he produce a magnificent challenge to deny Zamora at the far post and then threw himself into three brilliant headers on the trot to try and repel the claret and blue tide. It couldn’t last though and with just under five minutes left West Ham grabbed the winner.

Etherington burst down the right and sent a ball into the box, it was partially cleared but only as far as Don Hutchison and his poked ball ran through to Harewood. He had plenty of time to take aim and he sent a thunderous shot screaming past Day into the top corner. It was a brilliant finish and one that was worthy of winning a game. In a last desperate attempt to get something from the game Olly threw Georges up front and he became the focal point of every attack.

It was to no avail though and in the end West Ham won a game that they had largely dominated so there can be few complaints. Too many players didn’t perform, the midfield was virtually non existent and as such the service into Furlong and Cureton was severely lacking. Ainsworth aside there seemed to be very few that were willing to roll their sleeves up and battle for the cause. Shittu and Santos did what they could but the amount of balls coming back into the box from our clearances will worry Holloway. Maybe we were defending in too many numbers and there were not enough men to pick up the scraps, if we were the credit to West Ham for making us.

Wigan are up next and a week with no game will let injured players rest and get those aching limbs back up to speed. Just as we felt the West Ham backlash after their defeat at Cardiff we may well be getting the same after Wigan’s defeat by Plymouth so we have to prepare for another battle.

simon@qprnet.com