After the midweek defeat by Preston Holloway changed the side; partly through choice and partly through necessity. Royce was in goal behind a back four of Bignot, Evatt, Santos and Milanese. Ainsworth, Langley, Rowlands and Dyer were in midfield with Gallen and Furlong partnered in attack.

Furlong had the first chance of the game after just a couple of minutes when he headed an Ainsworth cross straight at Boaz Myhill. Royce then had to be alert at the other end to deny former Port Vale striker Billy Paynter after poor defending allowed him a clear sight of goal. Slack defending would be the hallmark for Rangers in the first period of the game as Santos and Evatt looked ponderous against the decent movement of Paynter and Fagan.

Langley then slashed a wild shot into the stand before Santos had an effort blocked after a corner from the same player. Royce showed an all too familiar moment of hesitancy soon after as he watched a ball bounce outside the box that he could have easily swept up if he had got on his bike a bit quicker. Fortunately it came to nothing as Paynter failed to score. Leon Cort, brother of Carl, crashed a free header wide of the post as Hull found space they should not have been allowed.

Furlong went close with a stinging freekick before Hull took the lead five minutes before the break. Santos had been injured in a challenge with Paynter as they chased a ball toward the by-line. Whilst he was off having his shoulder treated by Prav there was a defensive reshuffle. Milanese had moved into the middle and Dyer dropped back in at left back and the little man was undone by a long ball from the left. Ryan France came charging in from his right wing berth and exposed Dyer’s lack of height to head past the exposed Royce. Yet again a goal down against the run of play and you could almost sense the players giving up on the game.

Santos tried to play on with his left arm hanging limply at his side before he was replaced by Cook. Dyer slotted in at left back permanently and Milanese moved to the left sided centre back position for the remainder of the game. Harsh words needed to be said at the break as we had managed to dominate proceedings again without making too many decent chances and surrendering a soft goal. The words were clearly not heeded as Hull doubled their lead five minutes after the restart.

This time a ball from the right did for us and Billy Paynter pulled into the gap between Bignot and Evatt and planted a firm header past Royce. It was criminal defending again and Evatt has to mark people more tightly than this in this division. Bignot should also have been making an effort to disrupt the run but neither of them stepped up.

Just before the goal Gallen had limped out of the game, seemingly with a recurrence of his hamstring strain, and was replaced by Stefan Moore. The confidence seemed to be at its lowest ebb now and you began to wonder how many Hull would get rather than if we would be able to get back into the game. Then, in an act of incredible generosity, Hull gifted Rangers a way back into the match.

Langley took a corner from the left and it found the unmarked Ainsworth on the edge of the six yard box. He had an easy task to head the ball home and all of a sudden something seemed to change in Rangers. Gone was the hesitancy on show from Rowlands and Langley as they started to probe and create problems. Cook was going past his man at will, even Stefan Moore was chasing and harrying defenders into mistakes.

Moore almost created the equaliser when he chased down Sam Collins and seemed to rob him of the ball fairly. He turned it back into the path of Furlong and he slotted it away only to see referee Crossley award Hull a freekick. It looked harsh but it was good play by Moore and his pace seemed to be unsettling the Tigers rearguard.

Moments later though the scores were level as Ainsworth scored his second of the game. A ball was slipped into his path twenty five yards from goal and it sat up invitingly for him. He crashed the ball on the volley and it took a wicked deflection to leave Myhill a helpless spectator as it flew into the net.

It was game on now and Rangers laid siege to the Hull goal for pretty much the rest of the game. Cook was looking dangerous and he forced an ugly looking save from Myhill with an angled drive. It looked to be a simple task for him to gather it but he made a real meal of it. Unfortunately Rangers didn’t have anyone sniffing about to tuck home the loose ball. At the other end set pieces seemed to be Hull’s only form of threat and Cort once again got a free header away and once again missed the target. From open play they were creating very little thanks largely to the brilliant positional play of Milanese. He knows he has no pace so he makes sure he doesn’t have to do much running by always being in the right place at the right time.

Then Cook almost knocked the goal over with a thunderous drive that clattered back off the upright. The mercurial winger found space outside the area and his rasping drive was past Myhill and back past him again the other way before he could react. It was desperately unlucky and maybe Rangers had used their luck for the day with Ainsworth’s second.

With fifteen minutes left Hull were reduced to ten men when Myhill handled outside the box. Cook slipped a ball through and Furlong charged after it. The Hull stopper came to claim it and as he did he left his area with the ball in his hands. I don’t think he intended to but he did deny a goal scoring opportunity as if he had let it go Furlong was tapping the ball into an empty net. His body angle at the end shows that he was outside as he tried to twist himself back in. Things got a bit soppy as players piled in from both sides and a wrestling match for the ball ensued. Crossley showed Myhill the red card and Peter Taylor immediately withdrew Paynter to get sub keeper Matt Duke on.

From the freekick Langley stepped up and sent a shot past the wall and clattering into the other post. In the second half we had now scored two, hit both posts and had a goal disallowed. We had done more attacking in second half of this game than we had in the previous three and a half games combined and we were the better for it.  

Rangers carried on with their assault and Langley sent a shot wide after controlling a bouncing ball well on the edge of the box. Ainsworth then shot wide before Furlong hooked a volley into Duke’s arms after good work on the right from Langley.

At the final whistle Rangers will have considered themselves very unlucky not have won this one but given the first half display and the sluggish start to the second half they cannot be too disappointed with a point. After Ainsworth’s first the belief came flooding back and the back four were as solid as a rock, especially the out of position Milanese who marshalled the defence brilliantly and barely let a ball past him thanks to excellent positioning.

The main difference for me though was the fact that Langley, Rowlands and Cook really hurt Hull in midfield and Furlong and Moore were full of aggression up front and did not let The Tigers defence have any respite. We have to build on this for the game away at Stoke. It will be a tempestuous affair as they are the bitterest set of fans and players in this league. Hopefully some more players might be back and we can send out a side that has enough aggression to keep things tight and enough belief to unlock the door going the other way.

simon@qprnet.com