Olly named a big old side for this one. Royce was in goal behind Bignot, Evatt, Shittu and Dyer. The midfield four was Gallen, Lomas, Santos and Cook with Nygaard and Furlong in attack. There was no place on the bench for Langley, who picked up an injury in training on Friday, or more frustratingly Baidoo after yet more goals for the reserves during the week.

The opening half of the game was diabolical with neither side managing to threaten the opposition’s goal anything more than fleetingly. There were plenty of furrowed brows amongst the R’s fans, not just at the performance but due to the blazing sunshine that is scarcely seen in Lancashire and had taken many by surprise!

Marc Nygaard managed to get the ball in the back of the net only to be denied by the lino’s flag. He ran onto a through ball from Cook and rounded Carlo Nash (the man with hair by Mazola!) and slotted the ball home. It was a terrific finish and typical of much of the big mans work in the afternoon as he showed that he has (here comes the cliché folks) a great touch for a big man!

Rangers were starting to eek out some chances after a prolonged period of boredom and Lee Cook should have done far batter when good link up from Furlong saw him played in on the left. He had Nygaard at the far post but instead went for the shot and Nash gathered the ball easily. At the other end Preston finally managed a shot in anger when former Stoke man Lewis Neal shot straight at Royce.

Preston should have gone ahead soon after when Neal skipped past Bignot and squared the ball into the path of Dichio. The Hammersmith Horse, his pockets still stuffed full of the Lira he screwed Rangers over for, tried to be clever and flick the ball home instead of going for the side footed finish. He made a complete arse of himself and the ball trickled a mile wide of Royce’s goal.

Half time was as welcome for the fans as it was for the players and it gave everyone a chance to chat about the incidents they had seen. We then had another fourteen minutes of waiting patiently for the players to come back out. When they did things seems to have picked up a little.

The games first controversial moment came with only a couple of minutes of the half gone. Dan Shittu pumped a long ball upfield and Furlong got the better of Mawene and bore down on goal. The French centre half then rugby tackled Furlong as he entered the box. It might have been a pen, it definitely was a foul and it most definitely was a professional foul. The ridiculously named Mike Pike was too far from the incident to make a decision and waved play on. Furlong was perplexed as he sat in a heap on the deck. It just about sums his luck up this season and when you compare it to the sending off of Evatt at Northampton you have to wonder what you have to do to get a decent decision.

Shortly after, Patrick Agyemang exposed the alarming lack of pace possessed by Ian Evatt. The former Wimbledon man blazed past Evatt as if he weren’t there and only a timely intervention from Shittu prevented a calamity. Just over ten minutes into the half disaster struck as Steve Lomas’ hamstring went ping and he was forced off. Doherty replaced him and started to use the ball intelligently and dictate the pace of the game. Although we had some better quality on the ball we were missing the leadership of Lomas as this would hurt us later on.

Nygaard showed his defensive mettle when he calmly trapped a ball on his own goal line, dribbled along it and cleared into the stand when Preston threatened. Then at the other end he should have scored when he ran onto another long ball from the back and showed a rare turn of pace for such a unit. His shot was firm but lacking direction and Nash wasn’t troubled.

Just after the hour mark Rangers took the lead through Shittu. Rangers won a left wing corner and Gallen sent an in swinger to the far post. Shittu, Santos and Evatt were all lying in wait and it was the former that rose highest to nod home for his second goal of the season. That makes him our joint top scorer…

A couple of minutes later it could have been two when Nygaard held the ball and then nutmegged a brilliant ball into the path of Gallen. Gallen was strong as he held off Lucketti and had he gone down under his challenge he may have got a pen. He was honest though and just off balance enough to send him wide and make Nash’s save an easy one from a tight angle.

As is so often the case, Rangers were starting to sink deeper and deeper as Preston looked for the equaliser. Agyemang came close to goal of the month when he tricked his way past three R’s defenders before firing a curling shot wide of Royce’s goal. It was noticeable that there was little in the way of leadership out there with Lomas sitting in the dugout. It needed a player to get hold of them and drag them to a higher position but there was nobody capable.

As the game entered the final ten minutes Preston finally managed to work Royce in earnest. First he produced a brilliant diving save from Manchester United loanee David Jones. Then minutes later he denied the same player again as he once more tried his luck from distance.

With half of the three minutes injury time elapsed Rangers surrendered possession on halfway and Preston won a corner. The ball was swung in from the right and Royce came to punch and seemed to collide with Shittu and get no distance. The ball went as far as Neal on the edge of the box and he nodded it back in. Royce came for it again and got nowhere near it. The ball sailed over him and looked certain to be blocked on the line before Mawene, who should have been drying his hair at this point, touched the ball home from a yard.

It was a cruel blow and one that Rangers simply did not deserve. Preston had played for about ten minutes but we had just invited pressure on ourselves. They won another corner in the fourth minute of the three minute injury time and Nash came forward for this as well. Royce gathered the ball and looked to hammer it at the vacant goal only to be obstructed three times as he tried.

At the whistle you would have thought Preston had won the cup rather than salvaged a point from an average game against an average side. In truth we should have put them out of sight and had we turned possession into chances we may well have. The midfield was lacking in creativity and as Cook was having a mare there was simply no ammo for the front men.

Let’s hope that we see a more offensive side in the game against Plymouth on Tuesday. They are a poor side away from home and should be there for the taking. If the team is as lacking in pace as and creativity as this one then we could be in for a pretty dull evening.

simon@qprnet.com