As has been the case in the Gregory era, a good display in the last game against Luton meant an unchanged line up for this one. Royce was in goal behind Mancienne, Rehman, Stewart and Bignot. Ainsworth, Bailey, Smith and Cook were in midfield with Blackstock and Nygaard up front. Ray Jones was back to take his place amongst the subs sparking speculation that he may have signed on the dotted line. 

By the time we got into the ground the clock was just about ticking onto thirty minutes with our usual journey time of a little over two hours extended to a little under four and a half! The three R’s were very much to blame, rain, road works and rugby! The first action we managed to see Blackstock blocking an Alexander clearance only to see the Scottish keeper redeem himself. 

BBC Wales had already told us about efforts from Smith and Cook, the injury to Ainsworth and how we were on a hiding to nothing as our squad numbers were higher than Cardiff’s! Rangers seemed to be solid enough though and it was clear immediately that Stefan Bailey was being tasked to put the boot into McPhail whenever the opportunity presented itself. 

Cardiff created a decent chance with five minutes to go to half time when Paul parry found space in the middle and cracked in a fierce shot that Royce saw over the bar. Chances were hardly forthcoming though and neither keeper was unduly troubled before the half time break.  

Cardiff went closest after the restart when Scottish left back Kevin McNaughton burst forward and cut inside the wrong footed Mancienne.  Rehman stood off of him and he used the space to curl a brilliant effort over the stranded Royce only to see it crash back off the face of the bar.   

At the other end Bignot fired straight at Alexander before Chopra nicked a ball away from Damion Stewart before crashing it into the no mans land between the home fans the weary travelling R’s. Cardiff then managed to find the net only to see the merry flag waver pulling them back. 

Chopra this time turned provider and he slipped a ball through for Parry to control and fire past Royce. Parry looked offside at the time and TV replays backed this up. It seemed as though the anticipated Cardiff storm was about to hit Rangers having been something of a damp squib to this point. Gregory threw Ray Jones on in place of the quiet Blackstock in an attempt to change things up a bit. Many would have expected Nygaard to make way but such is the big mans defensive value at the moment it is hard to take him off. 

McNaughton belted another effort at goal, this time clearing the bar, before Rangers tried to respond at the other end through a blocked Smith effort. From the resulting corner Jones got up highest to glance a header wide of Alexander’s left hand upright. 

Cardiff were struggling to get going and this was due in large part to Bailey completely nullifying the effect of Stephen McPhail. The tenacious teenager was steaming into tackles all over the park and whilst he sometimes gave the ball away a little too easily it paled into insignificance in the face of his defensive work. 

Set pieces seemed to be Cardiff’s only way of generating a genuine chance and when a cleared corner was knocked back into the box Purse and Rehman chased the loose ball. Legs clashed and the former West Brom player collapsed to the floor screaming for a pen. The Ninian Park crowd also went up and many a ref would have caved but thankfully Mr Joslin stood firm and waved the appeals away. Rangers then made Cardiff pay with a classic breakaway goal. 

The ball was fed wide by Nygaard into the path of first half sub Ward and he carried the ball toward Ledley and McNaughton. Some lovely slight of foot saw him sneak between the two and deliver a beautiful cross between the centre backs and the keeper. All the Cardiff players seemed to abdicate responsibility and Ray Jones was on hand to snake out his left leg and poke the ball home from four yards. 

Bailey went into the book late on for chopping McNaughton down as Cardiff went in search of a scarcely deserved equaliser but it wasn’t to be. Rangers had managed to stop the home side, the division’s top scorers, testing Royce in the entire game. This was just about as solid as Rangers have looked all season and now they have shown they can do it there is no excuse not to keep doing it. 

This was all about grinding out the win; if the game had finished 0-0 then nobody from W12 would have been upset in the slightest, as it was the late winner sent everyone home with a massive smile on their face.  

The back four and keeper were excellent and restricted Cardiff to long range efforts most of the time. Bailey and Smith were tireless in the middle and such was the defensive mentality, Cook and Ward weren’t really able to get into the game. Saying that; the moment of class that Ward produced for the goal was a reminder of the ability that is stashed away inside the young Aussie. 

Nygaard, Blackstock and Jones all worked like dogs up front and Jones was rewarded with a tap in for the winner. Nygaard has been a different player since that late goal up at West Brom and he is our best header of the ball in our own box by a mile.  

A home game against Coventry City is next up and there is nothing stopping Rangers making it four wins on the bounce as the Sky Blues are no great shakes on the road having already lost six this season. Rangers are rocking now, Gregory has transformed a team that had hit rock bottom and started digging into one that people want to come and see play again.  

Man of the Match – Stefan Bailey. The midfield enforcer hit anyone that came within his line of fire and although he still needs to work on his distribution he served notice once more that he is a real talent.

simon@qprnet.com