After the defeat on Saturday changes were expected but the number of them seemed ridiculous. Royce was in goal behind a back four of Ukah, Evatt, Shimmin and Milanese. A midfield four of Miller, Bean, Bircham and Brown supported Moore with Gallen seemingly playing just off of him. I say seemingly as he seemed miles away from him most of the time.

The game was an uninspiring event from the off with this new look Rangers side constantly playing each other into trouble and misplacing routine balls all over the place. Northampton gave Rangers an early shock when a Shimmin error allowed a cross that Scott McGleish nodded against a post. It would not have counted as the flag had been raised for offside but a warning had certainly been sounded.

Such was the lack of chances it was the first shot in anger that gave Northampton the lead. Olly had reshuffled the back four by swapping Shimmin and Ukah over with the former now at right back and the latter in the middle. No sooner had this happened than a long ball from the back was seemingly flying into Royce’s arms before it hit Ukah on the back of the head and fell into the path of Northern Ireland international Andy Kirk. He made no mistake as he lobbed the helpless Royce from fifteen yards.

Straight after the goal Olly switched to a more traditional 4-4-2 formation but to no avail as Rangers continually gave the ball away and failed to offer any sort of threat going forward. This was due in large parts to the awful performances of Miller and Brown. Miller in particular wandered away from his wing almost every time Rangers went forward and as such Shimmin was constantly without an outlet.

On the stroke of halftime Pukka Pies Pin Up Boy Andy Hall infuriated the R’s fans with the latest act in his war against the club. Having already booked Miller and Bean in ridiculous fashion he decided it was red card time. Evatt was in the process of shielding a ball back to Royce when he was pulled at by McGleish, in the resulting tumble Evatt seemed to fall on top of the Cobblers striker and this was enough for Hall to dismiss him despite the fact that Ukah was covering and got the ball before McGleish would ever have.

For those of you that are not aware of Hall’s catalogue of hate against Rangers allow me to refresh your memory. In a home game against Crewe in our play off final season he dismissed Clarke Carlisle and Stephen Kelly in a vital game. Each of the players had collected yellow cards for blocking quick freekicks with their backs whilst not looking at the ball. Last season against Preston he awarded them a penalty as they rolled the ball into the net and when this was saved proceeded to award them another one some thirty seconds later for a fictional handball against Gino.

The half time whistle went almost immediately with the R’s fans still furious at both the official and the team. Bignot was introduced at the break for the ineffective Brown as Olly maintained the back four.

Rangers were huffing and puffing yet achieving nothing as the half wore on and it came as no surprise when Northampton doubled their advantage. Josh Low crossed from the right and Scott McGleish got up to send an overhead kick at goal. It hit Bignot in the face and left Royce totally wrong footed as the ball hit the net. 

It was an uphill struggle now and even the introduction of livewire striker Shabazz Baidoo failed to spark the bumbling R’s into life. Mauro Milanese came close to getting one back when he sent a swerving freekick goalward only to see it deflected narrowly wide by the Cobblers wall. In truth this was Milanese’s only contribution of the evening and he looked well short of match fitness.

With a little under twenty minutes left Colin Calderwood through ex-Rangers misfit Eric Sabin into the fray. His pace was certain to stretch the game and in the dying moments he came to life. Initially he ran from the right and cut in before crashing a shot off of the foot of Royce’s post. Minutes later he burst past Ukah and the Nigerian felled him for a penalty. There was precious little contact but the Frenchman hurled himself down before he picked himself up and slotted the ball home from twelve yards.

A 3-0 defeat to a team like Northampton Town is an absolute disgrace. So far this season they had managed three draws and a defeat to Barnet scoring a mammoth three goals in the process. I didn’t think they were all that tonight but then they didn’t need to be such was the pitiful showing from their opponents.

The inquest must start with Holloway for picking a back four of a player making his full debut, a seventeen year old boy and two players that have just come back from injury and having no club respectively. A negative central midfield pair hardly inspires the side and the wide players may as well have sat on the bus for all the shape they gave to the side. The front two were often isolated and when they did get the ball they failed to hold it.

It seemed to me that we woefully underestimated Northampton and they pulled our pants down. Maybe the players didn’t carry out the orders they were given, maybe they went into the game with a lax attitude. There can be no excuses for the piss poor passing and the lack of movement and control on show. We have now failed to score away from home since Gallen’s deflected effort against Sheffield United last April and on this showing it may be some time until we get another one!

In the second half Bignot and Baidoo brought some urgency to the team although that wasn’t enough to shake them from their malaise. The referee didn’t help matters and it must be hard to play when someone as grossly incompetent as he is running things but there is still no excuse for how we played before Evatt was dismissed.

Sheffield Wednesday await us on Friday night and although they were forced into an extra half an hour tonight they managed a win and that will help their confidence. Our confidence however is lying in tatters and we had better hope that some of the crocks are back available for this. If you can put Santos, Shittu, Doherty, Rowlands, Ainsworth and Furlong back into this side it looks far stronger already and they are going to need all the strength they can get to avoid a humbling live on the telly.

simon@qprnet.com