The 4-4-1-1 formation from last week was retained but there was a slight change to the way the personnel were deployed. Camp remained in goal behind Mancienne, Cullip, Stewart and Timoska. Ainsworth, Bolder, Lomas and Cook were in midfield with Rowlands playing off of Jones. Stefan Moore appeared on the bench for the first time this season after apparently recovering from an injury that nobody knew about. 

Rangers started the game brightly and bossed the opening exchanges without managing to turn threat or possession into goals. Cook almost caught Lewis Price out when he sent a near post freekick on target when the keeper was expecting the cross. Price almost fumbled the ball into the net but it dropped wide of the post. From the corner Ainsworth had a shot that was clearly blocked by two arms but referee Lewis waved the appeals away. 

The awful pitch wasn’t helping the game any, there was simply no way the players could predict the bounce of the ball, it would either die as soon as it hit it or skew off at a crazy angle. It’s about as poor a playing surface as I have seen all season. 

Cook struck a shot from distance that was blocked away before Jones slipped him in for another chance that was struck straight at Price when he really should have done better. Jones was already having a frustrating afternoon as he found himself ploughing a lone furrow most of the time as Rowlands wasn’t close enough to offer any real support. 

Lee Camp had been a virtual spectator to this point but he suddenly sprung to like to dive full length to his left to tip away a header from former Chester striker Jon Walters. The chunky hitman managed to find a yard of space and must have thought he had scored before the England U21 keeper intervened. 

With a little over twenty five minutes played Ipswich took the lead and made Rangers pay for their failure to turn dominance into goals. Gary Roberts found some space on the left wing and he floated a ball into the box for Alan Lee to attack. The Republic of Ireland striker made no mistake as he sent a downward header past Camp.  

Martin Rowlands should have done better when he finally got into an advanced position into the box and neatly collected Cook’s centre. He brought the ball down adroitly with his right foot but his left footed shot didn’t carry sufficient power and Price was able to smother with the minimum of fuss. 

Alan Lee should have doubled the lead just before the break when he found acres of space but shot over the top. Referee Lewis awarded a corner, from where we were it just looked like a rank bad effort. Halftime came and the truth was that a level game would have been a fair result; Rangers certainly didn’t deserve to be behind but they only had themselves to blame with their failure to capitalise on a dominant opening twenty minutes. 

After the break Rangers never got started and Lee Camp was earning his money from the off. It was like the Alamo all of a sudden as the R’s back four seemed to have little answer to the home side’s attacks. Timoska was getting run all over the place by Jaime Peters and Lee was giving Cullip and Stewart a torrid time. Camp had already thwarted him twice, once going full length to his left, before Ipswich doubled their lead with a scruffy goal. 

Walters and Lee both converged on a through ball and both seemed to get tangled up with one another as they got to it before the following defender. Walters got the final touch and toed the ball past Camp. This was the final straw for many R's fans and the bickering amongst one another started along with songs about the chairman and perhaps more pointedly, about the formation. “We won’t win with one up front” was now emanating from the massed Rangers fans in the Cobbold Stand. If Gregory couldn’t see that this formation wasn’t working then he needed to be told in no uncertain terms. 

Within minutes the change was made with the hopelessly ineffective Ainsworth dragged off and Paul Furlong sent on in his place. He joined Jones up front with Rowlands moving to the right flank. Camp was still performing heroics to deny Roberts from distance before the substitute halved the arrears. 

A ball into the box fell to Rowlands and his shot seemed to be blocked away by a combination of foot and post before flying to Furlong in the six yard box and he made no mistake as he slammed home his first goal since the last game of last season at Reading. 

Ipswich went straight back on the attack and Camp denied Garvan with another brilliant save before Furlong then fired wide at the other end. Rangers had a threat up front now, something that had been lacking for the most part in this game, and the previous one against Plymouth.  

In the dying minutes of the game Furlong burst clear of the home defence and appeared to be towing an Ipswich defender along with him. Furs was string and didn’t go down under the challenge but could only lash a shot wide. Perhaps he should have just collapsed to the floor Alan Lee style to see whether referee Lewis would have been able to spot the infringement then. 

There wasn’t another opportunity for Rangers and injury time was spent glued to the mobile getting the scores from around the grounds to see whether we had been cast adrift. Luckily for us all the results were favourable yet again; perhaps it might be nice to take advantage of our rivals’ charity at some point! 

This was a game that Rangers couldn’t afford to lose, at the moment the manager doesn’t appear to be getting the balance between attack and defence right and it contributed massively to the defeat. There is no need for Lomas and Bolder in the middle, Lomas especially. He was shocking yesterday and at his whinging best. At one point he over hit a pass to Jones by fully fifteen yards then berated the youngster for not getting it! Jones cut a lonely figure up top for much of the game, he looked better and the team looked better when Furlong came on. 

You do have to wonder whether the fact that there is no pressure on Gregory is affecting results. Paladini has already said that there is a two year deal on the table for him regardless of relegation. Well isn’t that just dandy! Surely the chairman should be saying there is a new contract for you if, and only if you keep the side up. The words “old pals act” springs to mind.  

The home game against Sheffield Wednesday next week must yield three points, it is as simple as that. We are clinging on by our fingernails at the moment and a home defeat would be like someone stamping on one of our hands. 

Man of the Match – Lee Camp. Sensational display from the Derby man, if we can somehow sign him, no matter what division we are in, then we will have a solid platform to build on.

simon@qprnet.com