Olly was forced to change his side after Saturdays draw at Hull, although he didn’t make as many changes as people had feared. Royce was in goal behind Bignot, Shittu, Santos and Rose. Ainsworth was in on the right of midfield with Rowlands moving to the left flank; Doherty and Bircham were paired in the middle. Gallen and Furlong continued their partnership in attack.

Rangers started the brighter of the two sides and it was clear early on that they had singled out Mark Fish as the weak link. Furlong sent a header wide in the opening exchanges and then Ainsworth had a shot blocked after a buccaneering run through the heart of the Ipswich defence.

At the other end Ipswich’s new look strike force of Forster and Parkin was being firmly shackled by Shittu and Santos with the latter in sensational form. He was at his horizontal best as he tackled hard and calmly ran the ball out of defence. Forster did manage to break through the lines at one point but instead he fired straight at a grateful Royce, Santos was then on hand to finish the job.

At the other end Furlong wasted another chance when he smashed a wild shot well over Price’s crossbar and it seemed for a while that all of the excellent passing and incisive movement wasn’t going to result in a goal. That all changed though ten minutes before half time when Kevin Gallen grabbed his first goal of the season.

Bignot slung a ball in from the right and Furlong rose to challenge two Ipswich players before knocking the ball to the feet of Gallen. Gallen took a touch before holding off Fish and swivelling to turn a low shot past the helpless Price. It was a top finish from a player that already seems to have had an inordinate amount of stick this season.

Marc Bircham was denied one of the seasons most blatant penalties soon after as he tumbled under a late lunge from Wilnis. The linesman was no more than fifteen yards away but somehow he failed to flag. The referee didn’t give it either but that was no shock as he gave us very little all evening.

There wasn’t long to wait for the advantage to be doubled as it seemed that Rangers would run roughshod over The Tractor Boys. Furlong challenged the hopeless Fish and the ball once again found Gallen. He held off Wilnis before feeding Ainsworth. He took his time and picked out a great ball to the far post where Martin Rowlands was waiting to volley home his first of the season.

Ipswich had clearly had a rocket from the giant headed Royle at halftime and they came out a much brighter side. Royce pulled off a Hollywood save from a Magilton freekick soon after the restart before Furlong missed a simple chance from the edge of the box as he shot straight at Price. Only moments later two defensive errors gifted Ipswich a 54th minute lifeline.

Shittu badly misjudged a header and allowed Sam Parkin to run the ball into the box; he broke the weak challenge of Santos and had plenty of time to curl a shot into the top corner. It was inevitable that Parkin would score; he always scores against his boyhood idols. Every time he does I always wish he would show a bit more class but he never does!

There followed a spell of about ten minutes when it seemed that Ipswich would surely equalise. Nothing stayed clear, passes were all going astray and the central pairing of Horlock and Magilton were starting to get on top of Doherty and Bircham. The storm had to be ridden out and it was time to dig in. Dig in they did and soon enough the balance of the play had swung back to the other end as Rangers started creating again.

Gallen fired a shot wide of Ipswich goal from the edge of the box before Doherty had a searing volley headed over by Wilnis when it seemed destined for the top corner. Furlong then missed yet another chance from the edge of the box before he finally got the ball in the net.

Stefan Moore had now replaced Ainsworth and he managed to barrel the ball past Price and it trickled slowly through the six yard box. Furlong swooped in and rolled the ball into the empty net and the ref seemed to give it. The lino then intervened and the ref changed his mind and chalked it off. From my vantage point it looked as though Furs had come from behind Moore when he played the ball but I would need to see a replay to be sure.

Furlong soon missed another chance when he headed wide from an excellent cross from Rose. It had me commenting how much stick Gallen would have got had he missed as many chances as Furlong had in the two games so far! He seems to be working well outside the box and probably just needs his bit of luck to get him under way for the season. There was a final scare though when Bignot was forced to hack a Parkin effort off the line after he had got the better of Royce.

The final few minutes of the game were tense as a ridiculous four minutes of injury time were added by the over officious official. He even found time to book Doherty and Horlock for a minor spat in this period and added even more time on! When the final whistle went it was met with a feeling of relief and left many wondering how Ipswich had managed to get away with only having their goal line breached twice.

This was a very good display and even when Ipswich came on strong in the second half you never really thought they would get back on level terms. Royce was in good form in goal and Santos had a blinder in front of him. Doherty, although he gave the ball away too often in the first half, still managed to keep it when necessary and took a lot of the sting out of the game late on.

Up top Gallen and Furlong linked well although the latter will be amazed that he hasn’t come away with the match ball. His mate though only had one clear cut chance and he tucked it away well. Let’s hope they manage to link as well against Sheffield United as we are sure to create a hatful of chances for them yet again.

Olly will be delighted with the start we have made, two games, two good displays and four points on the board. I would definitely take a point at the weekend against Colin’s Sheffield United side but I think if we play like this again then we could well take all three.

simon@qprnet.com