With a few players back from injury Gregory actually had the rare opportunity to change some personnel as well as the formation. It was back to a 4-4-2 with Royce in goal behind Bignot, Stewart, Mancienne and Milanese. Rowlands, Smith, Lomas and Cook were in midfield with Blackstock and Jones up front. Rehman was dropped to the bench along with Bircham. 

Rangers started well and Ray Jones was forcing Nick Colgan into a decent save within the first five minutes. A ball into the box was fed to his strike partner by Blackstock and Jones cracked a fierce left footer on target that was brilliantly blocked. Colgan was in action again shortly after to deny Rowlands before he blotted his copybook with an absolute howler for the only goal of the game. 

Barnsley were on the attack and a ball aimed up toward Nardiello was cleared to safety but not before Milanese had felled the former Manchester United man with a ridiculous shove in the back. Referee Booth didn’t see it, luckily, and Rangers were on the break. The ball was eventually moved across the area to Rowlands who turned inside his man onto his left foot. He didn’t strike the ball cleanly and it looked like a routine save but Colgan somehow allowed the ball to go straight through him and in.  

Barnsley had provided little in the way of a threat, especially with Madonna’s young adopted son, Davy Banda up top! Leon Knight had done nothing to this point but suddenly he sprung the offside trap and looked to be in one on one with Royce. From nowhere, Stewart, complete with Zorro mask roared in and toed the ball away but the danger still wasn’t clear. Knight got the ball again and shot goalward only for Stewart to appear again and hack his shot to safety. Stew Peas is by no means the perfect defender but he does more good then bad these days and looks to be turning into the new Georges Santos!  

Rowlands went into the referee’s book for a wild challenge on Barnsley winger Brian Howard and was a little lucky not to get himself sent off later in the game after he got involved in a second half ruckus after a Smith challenge. Referee Booth was picky all afternoon and wasn’t interested in letting what was already a pretty poor game develop any sort of rhythm. 

Howard was forced from the fray four minutes before half time after a challenge from Ray Jones. The big striker went up for a header on halfway and Howard didn’t jump with him. As a result Jones went straight over the top of him before landing on him with an almighty thump and seemingly popping his shoulder out in the process. Jones was booked (despite it not even seeming to be a foul) and Howard left the field on a stretcher to be replaced by Kyel Reid. 

Rangers went close at the start of the second half when the tireless Blackstock flicked on a Milanese throw. Ray Jones seemed to attack the ball with a hand but missed it, fortunately for him as he would surely have been carded again and sent off. At the other end the visitors seemed to be growing in stature and Reid in particular was giving Bignot a tough time. 

Nardiello should have done better when he turned Stewart after the big Jamaican had got far too tight to the Barnsley man. He powered upfield but the chance was squandered. He missed an even better one minutes later when he found space between Mancienne and Stewart but barely reached Royce with an awful strike. 

Play swung back to the other end and Dexter Blackstock came close to a goal that his performance deserved. He got the ball out from his feet before firing a low shot across Colgan and just past the far stick.  

Cook should have done much better when he jinked his way into the box but he tried to shoot when Jones and Blackstock were both well placed to his right. Cook had been quiet for long spells of the game and seemed to be feeling his way back in somewhat. 

Cook sent in a beautiful curling freekick to the far post which just evaded the right boot of the sliding Smith. Colgan was then forced to produce a save at his near post after Cook had slipped Blackstock in. The R’s striker struck the ball fiercely but should really have gone across the keeper where Jones was lurking to snaffle any rebound. 

With almost seventy minutes played Rehman replaced Milanese with Bignot moving to left back and the former Fulham man going in at right back. Reid proceeded to lead the leaden footed Rehman a merry dance and he must have fouled him five or six times in the twenty odd minutes he was on the pitch. 

Smith was joining him on the bench a few minutes later after he went into the book for an ugly swipe at Neil Austin that resulted in some handbags. Gregory withdrew Smith and sent Bircham on in his place immediately. It was Smith’s fifth yellow of the season and means he will sit out the Norwich game, which luckily for Rangers is the one game that falls between his two loans spells. He will actually be suspended for Chelsea’s game with Fulham on December 30^th; I bet Jose will be crying into his fruits of the forest granola this morning! 

The visitors were plugging away but not getting any joy as Mancienne, Stewart and Royce stood firm against them. Royce was doing some great work sweeping up behind the centre backs and his positioning when coming off of his line was outstanding all afternoon. 

Furlong came on for Jones for the last ten minutes as Rangers looked to run the final moments of the game out. Bircham and Lomas were doing a good screening job preventing The Tykes from creating any real clear cut chances and Rangers almost clobbered them on the break. Blackstock was once again the man that went close as he turned inside the otherwise excellent Bobby Hassell and lashed a right footer at goal that Colgan once again tipped to safety. 

The end of the four minutes of injury time was met with a cheer of relief as Rangers finally put a stop to the crippling run of defeats. It wasn’t pretty, at times it was tough to watch but at the end of the day a win is a win is a win. No doubt some will moan that there was no champagne football on show but sometimes it’s not about that and this was definitely one of those times. 

Two tough away games at Birmingham and Norwich will probably provide little in the way of Christmas cheer so these three points become even bigger. Another eight ugly wins will see us safe so let’s start chalking them off!

Man of the Match – Dexter Blackstock. Despite extending his goalless run to six games seven games, Blackstock was outstanding. He ran his heart out and was unlucky not to have scored at least once during a fine afternoon’s work.

simon@qprnet.com