Waddock changed things after the Carling Cup game as expected and went back to a far more experienced line up. Paul Jones was in goal behind Rose, Stewart, Rehman and Milanese. Gallen, Lomas, Ward and Cook were in midfield behind a front two of Blackstock and Ray Jones.

Rangers started the game brilliantly and turned in five minutes of champagne football. Gallen had a shot charged down by the arms of Alex Bruce before Nicky Ward laid siege to the Ipswich goal single handedly. He sent three shots at goal in quick succession, the first two were blocked but the third was a blistering drive that had beaten Lewis Price but just flew over the top.

Ipswich created their first chance when Milanese needlessly fouled Noble and the same mans freekick was fumbled by an out of sorts Paul Jones and bounced off the head of De Vos. Luckily it didn’t end up on the target and the danger was cleared.

Despite having plenty of ball Rangers didn’t seem to be creating much in the way of clear cut chances for Jones or Blackstock. Ray headed well over from a Cook cross before Jones made a chance for his strike partner that should have led to his first goal for the R’s. A neat ball over the top saw Blackstock one on one with Price but he almost had too much time and got caught in about five minds. In the end he shot straight at the Ipswich keeper and he saved easily.

Ipswich should have scored when Rehman was inexplicably left four on one at the back as the rest of the defence went AWOL. It was an easy task for Alan Lee to slip the ball to the impressive Billy Clarke but he almost struck his shot too well and it crashed back off the face of the bar. The half ended with Jones just failing to make contact with a Cook cross and it was anybody’s guess how this had managed to remain goalless.

Magilton’s words of wisdom at half time were obviously more effective than Waddock’s as from the start of the second half it was Ipswich that were totally dominant and they would remain so for the rest of the game.

Mark Noble made a poor choice when he jinked into the box and tried to score at Jones’ near post rather than look to pick out a team mate. It was a big let off for Rangers and they went to the other end and scored against the run of play. Cook and Blackstock combined on the left and the striker swung in a back post cross that Gallen attacked from the right wing. He sort of controlled it and then managed to poke it over the line with his left shin.

The lead didn’t last for long though as Ipswich were back on terms within four minutes thanks to a terrible penalty decision from Lee Mason. Gavin Williams ran toward the box and as Stewart thought about the challenge he hurled himself to the floor with a comedy pratfall. Mason bought it though much to the horror of the R’s players.

On loan Charlton man Simon Walton stepped up to take the kick and smashed it straight through Jones and in. Cue mass panic in the R’s defence as it all went to pot and Ipswich were now all over them like a five dollar suit. Stewart in particular seemed to have lost the plot and was just hacking the ball anywhere when a simple pass would have done.

A few minutes later Ipswich hit the front as our new zonal marking system fell to bits. Ipswich first went close with a brilliant corner routine that saw Noble pick out Williams who smashed a volley against the post from the edge of the box. Gallen hacked the ball behind and Noble then went across to send in another corner. This time the ball was touched at the near post and De Vos strolled in unattended at the far post to poke the ball home from four yards.

The nature of the zonal marking system means that if the ball isn’t in your area and nobody spots a run you are in all sorts of bother. Better teams than us proved that last season, look at the problems Liverpool had at set pieces. It’s not easy and I wonder whether we really have the personnel to make it work.

Waddock changed things with what looked like a pointless substitution of Bircham for Lomas and he then went to a 3-4-3 when Baidoo took the place of Milanese. This only served to make things even more shambolic at the back as Ipswich kept piling forward and not allowing Rangers any kind of decent possession.

With just under five minutes left Ipswich made it 3-1 when sub Dean Bowditch headed past the hopelessly exposed Jones and spark a mass exodus from the ground. In truth it was little more than Ipswich’s second half showing deserved such was their total dominance.

This was a dire second half showing after what was a real end to end game in the first half. Magilton had clearly told his men to get after us in the second half and shut off the space. This meant we started sending the ball long far too early and despite the size of Blackstock and Jones they weren’t going to get too much change out of an animal like Jason De Vos. He gave the two young strikers a bit of a lesson and they will have the bruises to prove it this morning.

Defensively we were a shambles all night. Rehman was almost playing on his own at times and with Jones having a decidedly average night he wasn’t on hand to play his four or five get out of jail free cards. The midfield let Ipswich play all night, Lomas was shocking and Gallen was a fish out of water on the right side. Ward did well first half but faded in the second as the ball was bashed over his head time after time. He also wasn’t as strong in the tackle as he has been.

Jones and Blackstock both worked hard without much service and even though Blackstock created the goal he will be disappointed to have missed out on opening his account again.

The break should allow the injured lads to get back to fitness and with Rowlands and Ainsworth back in the midfield should be more solid and more creative. If we could also get Nygaard back in that would take some of the pressure off of young Jones and Blackstock, I wouldn’t be opposed to Gallen moving up top as I don’t think it’s fair to rely on two kids so early in the season.

Man of the Match – Nick Ward
The young Aussie was at the hub of everything that was good about the R’s performance early in the first half. Unfortunately he faded as badly as his team mates.

simon@qprnet.com