Rangers made it seven league wins on the spin with a hard fought win over West Ham. It was nice to have a proper full blooded London derby to watch after being starved of such things for so long. For the second time in this fabulous run Matthew Rose was the man who proved to be the match winner.

Holloway kept faith with the same sixteen that had seen off Stoke in the Battle of the Britannia before the international break. Day was in goal behind Bignot, Santos, Shittu and Rose. The midfield comprised of Rowlands, Bircham, Gallen and Cook with Cureton and Furlong up front. It was essential that Rangers started quickly to put a West Ham team, still packed with quality despite missing Sheringham and Etherington, on the back foot.

Bircham saw a shot charged down in the opening encounters following good work from Cook and Gallen and then The White City Express Matthew Rose saw a cross cleared behind following a rampaging run that would become his trademark for the day. Rowly then saw another effort well blocked from the resulting corner. West Ham were reeling a little and they tried to look to decidedly average strikers Zamora and Harewood for inspiration.

Zamora fired a cross wide of the near post after a swift break involving Harewood and Reo-Coker and that just about summed up his involvement. He was more interested in constantly fouling Shittu every time he cleared the ball and then theatrically falling to the floor every time Dan or Georges took the ball from him.

Reo-Coker was proving to be a real threat with some string running from the middle of the park. The compact midfielder seems to have a real flair for making late runs to link up with his strikers and he did just that when Harewood slipped him in to face Day. His finishing was not as good as his running though and he failed to test the Rangers stopper. They were made to pay soon after when Rangers surged into the lead.

Some good football saw the ball swept from right to left and arrive at the feet of Lee Cook. Cook bided his time and waited for the run of Rose who was once again coming up from full back like a train. Cookie slipped the ball inside the full back into the path of Rose and rather than produce a cross he took the shot first time and steered it calmly past the diving Bywater. It was a great goal and shows that Rose has more in his locker than his trademark left footed screamers from twenty five yards!

During the celebrations Furlong found his way into joke referee Paul Taylor’s notebook for an incident that ended with Tottenham flop Sergei Rebrov sitting on his arse in The Paddock. It was no surprise that Taylor decided to book Furs as he had nailed his colours to the mast early in the game and they seemed to be clearly claret and blue. He was quite happy to allow Shittu to be hammered at every opportunity but any attempt to fight fire with fire was quickly nipped in the bud by the honorary cockney.

The ball for the goal seemed to have given Cookie a lift and he was now starting to give Hayden Mullins a torrid time. At one point he seemed to be hemmed into the corner by three West Ham players before some slight of foot saw him skip between all of three them.

Half time probably came at a good time for The Hammers as they looked rattled and Pardew needed to pass on some words of encouragement to his charges. This he did and they seemed far more focused in the second half and started by keeping the ball very well as the midfield started to get the run around.

Rangers’ biggest threat seemed to be coming on the break and it had to be as they started to sink ever deeper as they struggled to repel the constant wave of West Ham attacks. One such break was started by the once again imperious Georges Santos. The big Frenchman won a tackle on halfway, swerved a couple of attempted tackles and then laid the ball off and charged up field. The ball ended up with Rowly on the right and his cross found Santos at the far post to head back across goal. The header was blocked away by Mullins and seemingly using his arm. It was no surprise that referee Taylor didn’t agree and a corner was all that was on offer.

The yellow cards were started to fly now as Bircham found himself booked for chopping down Rebrov as he charged goalward. Marlon Harewood tried his luck from the freekick but he smashed it straight at Day. Rowly then found himself booked for mowing down Reo-Coker. The England U-21 player reacted angrily and was probably lucky not to get booked himself. You think he would learn a lesson having been dismissed in the week for the U-21’s for a similar indiscretion.

Rebrov also found himself booked for a foul on Bignot before he tested Day with a couple of direct freekicks. His first one clipped the side netting without Day’s intervention and the second was well placed but moving so slowly that Daisy had time to finish his paper and put his fag out before sauntering across the goal to catch the ball in his cap. In an act of sheer desperation Pardew even threw on Budweiser Don Hutchison in the hope that he would be able to get something out of the game. The R’s fans were more concerned about him dropping his shorts to reveal his collection of beer bottle labels!

Late in the game the worrying sight of Shittu limping from the fray proved to be a sour end to the game. He had been simple magnificent for the entire game and managed to remain calm in the face of some serious provocation from Zamora. Olly had tried to take him off before and Shittu had flat refused to come off prompting a blast from the manager. I hope he has not done anything too serious after playing an entire game with a damaged cruciate ligament last season. He should know his own body better now and be able to judge whether something is serious or not.

Bircham also limped off and Curo pulled a hamstring so things will definitely change for the Tuesday night trip to Preston. This was a great win though and one that should not be soured by the late injury scares. Despite missing some decent players West Ham are a quality side and I fully expect them to be in the end of season shake up. Rangers played very well and defended about as well as I have seen this season. Seven wins on the spin is no mean feat but I am not going to go as far as declaring us contenders. Well not yet anyway!

simon@qprnet.com