After two decent away performances Holloway was forced into changes thanks to injury and illness. Royce was in goal behind Bignot, Shittu, Santos and Dyer. Ainsworth, Doherty, Bircham and Cook were in midfield with Moore and Furlong partnered in attack. There was a place on the bench for teenage striker Shabazz Baidoo.

It was clear from the off that this wasn’t going to be much of a spectacle for either the fans in the meagre crowd or those lucky punters watching on Sky. Chances were a precious commodity as neither team seemed to have the necessary guile to break the other down. Palace saw a shot deflected over the bar and at the other end Furlong sent a wild volley flying into the top tier of the School End. Freedman then had a moment of indecision in the box; he could have shot or crossed but managed to do neither.

Palace took the lead after fourteen minutes through German winger Marco Reich. Rangers twice played balls into Furlong which he failed to deal with and Emmerson Boyce sent a pass up the left to Freedman and he in turn released Morrison. The “Irishman” broke to the left and as Shittu tried to track him he knocked Bignot out of the way, this meant that Bignot’s man, Reich, was left a free run to the middle. Morrison’s cross went behind Santos and Reich volleyed home with aplomb. It was a great finish but it really came about through some poor defending.

Only two minutes later the same player made it 2-0. Doherty gave away a freekick on the edge of the box and Stefan Moore lined up Royce’s wall for him. Lloyd Dyer was standing on the left end of the wall with a two foot gap between him and his nearest colleague. Reich stepped up and curled the ball through the gap leaving Royce helpless.

Rangers hit back immediately though through Ainsworth. Lloyd Dyer linked well with Cook on the left (just about the only time in the game incidentally) and swung a cross into the six yard box. Pyjama wearing keeper Gabor Kiraly failed to attack the ball and Ainsworth was piling in behind him to head the ball home. It was a good reply and you hoped that this would see Rangers kick on but it was not to be.

Toothless would be a fairly accurate description of the R’s attack and Moore in particular was doing nothing. He almost flat refused to get into the box and then when he did get a sight of goal he wouldn’t shoot. The only time he did was an effort from forty yards on the volley! I am not sure what had made him think this was even a quarter chance given what he had turned in before.

Clinton Morrison should have restored the two goal cushion when he got in behind Dyer but he pulled his shot wide of the far post and just too far in front of the advancing Freedman. Rangers won a freekick on the edge of the box but Palace managed to charge down Furlong’s rather predictable blast after Bircham had rolled it to him. Might be time for a fresh one here chaps!

When halftime came the only players that could really say they had done anything were Ainsworth and Santos. The former had terrorised Boyce and the fullback was booked after baulking one rampaging run. Santos on the other hand was going through his full repertoire from the sublime to the ridiculous. He followed one terrible eighty yard hack with a brilliant piece of skill to lift the ball over an advancing attacker.

As the second half started Marc Bircham decided it was time for him to make some form of contribution to the game. He combined well with Moore on the edge of the box but his shot was easily gathered by Kiraly. This was just about his first and last involvement in a game that he will want to forget sooner rather than later.

The Hungarian keeper was lucky not to be sent off when he struck Furlong in the gonads. Referee D’Urso booked both men for the incident; maybe he thought Furs had attacked him with his Hampton! Chances were few and far between as neither side managed to get any sort of fluidity in the game. Palace always seemed the more likely to score though as the pace of Morrison was troubling the back four. Both Bignot and Bircham were booked for hauling him over and can both count themselves fortunate not to have been sent off for more fouls on the same man. Mind you, we know D’Urso struggles with adding up the number of cards he gives to players so perhaps discretion was the best option.

Morrison fired high over the bar when well placed before Holloway finally decided to make some changes. With a whopping thirteen minutes left the abysmal Moore and the out of condition Doherty were replaced with Baidoo and Langley. This was now their time to make an impact and I am sure they were glad to have got so much of it! These changes should have been made at least fifteen minutes before they were.

Baidoo immediately showed why he is so well thought of by the club as he set about Fitz Hall in a style he had been unaccustomed to whilst facing Moore. He kept trying to make runs in behind but the right ball never seemed to come. His moment of glory seemed to have arrived when Dyer swung a ball in from the left and Baidoo saw the ball flying toward his forehead. As he was about to make contact Ainsworth ran across his path and pinched it off of him and headed wide. He then fired into the side netting from a Langley cross as he tried his damndest to get the equaliser.

In the dying moments Santos was thrown up front as Holloway brought Evatt on for Bignot and went to three at the back. This never seems to work so I am not sure why we persist with it. All it does is confuse the hell out of everyone and needless to say Palace hit us on the break to score a third.

Snidey git Wayne Andrews hammered a shot at goal that Royce did well to parry. The ball went back to the former Essex and Lancashire County Diving Champion and he played the ball to Tom Soares who looked a good yard or two offside. The flag didn’t go up, which was in keeping with a diabolical display from the lino, and he stuck the ball in the net. That was enough for most of the crowd, including me, as the ground started to empty quickly.

Let’s make no bones about it, this was bloody awful. Devoid of ideas; lacking in passion and more importantly, lacking in leadership. With no Lomas in the side nobody took hold of the team and that seems to include the management. Dyer was all over the place yet nobody helped him. Moore was doing nothing yet no rocket was forthcoming. The midfield, apart from Ainsworth, was miles off the pace yet nothing was done to rectify this until it was too late.

Very, very poor all round.

simon@qprnet.com