After the creditable draw at Cardiff the starting XI showed no changes. This was a bit of a shame I thought as a home game against a side struggling on the road might warrant a slightly more cavalier approach. Jones was in goal behind Bignot, Shittu, Evatt and Milanese. Ainsworth, Bircham, Lomas and Cook were in midfield with Youssouf and Nygaard up front.

Rangers started the game like a house on fire and with only four minutes played they had already had four attempts at goal. Bircham had two efforts, one tipped over and one wide before Nygaard and Youssouf both had a pop.

It was no surprise when Rangers took the lead in the seventh minute with what might be a contender for worst goal of the season! Lomas launched a long throw into the box and nobody managed to deal with it. The ball fell at the feet of Nygaard and he slung out one of his trunk like legs and managed to smuggle the ball past Steve Simonsen.

Youssouf was forced off early in the piece after kicking the bottom of a Stoke player’s foot and was surprisingly replaced with Stefan Moore. Youssouf had made a lively start to the match and Moore looked like he might do the same when he turned quickly on the halfway line and surged down the field to win a corner.

From Ainsworth’s short corner Lee Cook was sent tumbling by Dave Brammer and left Peter Walton with an easy penalty decision. Nygaard ran across to get the ball but was ushered away by Ainsworth. The winger put the ball on the spot but you could see from his body language that he didn’t really fancy it. His kick was an embarrassment and Simonsen was almost lying there waiting for it to hit him. You would have thought he would be a foot through the ball merchant.

From that moment on things took a downward turn and Stoke were suddenly back in a match they hadn’t got going in to this point. Hans Sigurdson forced Jones into an excellent low save, the ball ballooned up to Luke Chadwick but his looping header shaved the top of the bar with Evatt leaden footed beneath it.

Jones was forced into another save minutes later when the R’s defence somehow left Bangoura unmarked in the six yard box. His header looked like that of a man short of confidence but Jones was still forced to go full length to turn it away. Nygaard was almost caught out as he dallied whilst trying to complete the clearance.

Rangers’ best source of a goal as always seemed to be Lee Cook. He was giving Belgian right back Carl Hoefkens a torrid time whenever they managed to get the ball to him, unfortunately this was not half as often as it should have been thanks to some seriously below standard distribution in the middle of the park. Bircham was surrendering possession like nobodies business; this was a match that was crying out for the passing ability of Langley. The only thing he was kicking was his heels as he sat on the bench for the fourth game in a row.

At the start of the second half Cook created an opening for Ainsworth with a trademark jinking run. Ainsworth made a decent connection with the ball but Simonsen was equal to it as he went full length to his left. It certainly tested him more than the penalty had.

Jones saved bravely at the feet of Sigurdson at the other end and in truth Rangers should have had a freekick such was the lateness of the challenge. Referee Walton played a good advantage whether he meant to or not and a better ball in from Ainsworth could have created a clear opening for Moore.

The game looked to be going nowhere until it suddenly burst into life in Stoke’s favour. Sigurdson forced Jones into one of his customary double saves before Walton awarded his second penalty of the night.

Darel Russell played a one two on the edge of the area and burst in. Shittu dangled a leg at him and he needed no further invitation to go over it. The R’s players were screaming at the ref saying it was a dive but I don’t think it was. Shittu presented him with a chance to win a pen and he made no effort to go around him, that’s very different to a dive in my book.

Hoefkens stepped up to take the kick and gave Ainsworth a lesson in how to do it with a vicious effort that slammed into the net just inside Jones’ right hand post leaving the Welsh stopper helpless. Waddock now decided to bring Langley on in place of Bircham. With thirteen minutes to go this change was so reminiscent of Olly it was untrue. Bircham had been woeful all night yet it took a goal to prompt a change, if he had gotten into the game earlier maybe we would have managed to press on and get a second.

Langley hadn’t even touched the ball though before Rangers gave away a terrible goal. A ball into the box was met with a comedy effort at an overhead kick from Sigurdson but the ball was played back in. It was a simple ball for Shittu to clear but he ended up flat on his arse as the ball rolled to Sigurdson again and he slammed it past Jones.

Waddock then threw on Furlong for Ainsworth in one last attempt to get something from the match. The players suddenly struck on the idea of using Cook as a winger rather than an ornament and passed to him for the first time in almost thirty minutes. He launched into the Stoke defence, ghosting past four players before passing to Moore who fluffed his shot.

He then set off again and beat another three players before passing to Furlong who fluffed his shot. Lomas then managed to slide a lovely ball into the veteran striker but he failed to control and Simonsen could gather easily. As time ticked away Langley cracked a volley from twenty yards that failed to test the Stoke keeper.

The final whistle was rightly met with a chorus of boos. This was an awful display from both team and management. You cannot create so many chances and test the keeper so little at this level, every team you play has the ability to beat you and you have to kill them off when the opportunity presents itself.

Defensively we were shambolic in the second half, something which we have not been able to say in any of Waddock’s games to date. When it goes wrong it goes wrong in style and had it not been for another excellent display from Jones this could have been a battering.

Crewe visit us on Saturday and Waddock has intimated that he may change things up. I think he has to as he needs to get some creative talent in the middle of the park and find a striker that can take some of the chances we create for them. He also needs to do something about the right back berth as Bignot was shocking again. If he wants to make this job his then he needs to start delivering something a little more palatable for the boardroom to enjoy.

simon@qprnet.com