Gregory came into the game without a single wide player to pick from and full backs thin on the ground so he managed to pick a 4-4-2 from four centre backs, three central midfielder and three strikers! Royce was in goal behind Rehman, Stewart, Mancienne and Timoska. Baidoo, Lomas, Bircham and Smith were in midfield with Jones and Blackstock up front. 

The game was being played in a howling wind and it was clearly having an effect on the ability of the players to judge their headers. Both teams had adopted some fairly direct tactics; Southampton also found themselves in a 4-4-2 with no recognised wide players so it was hardly a surprise. Royce was all over the place from the off and an awful attempted double punch ended with Rasiak nodding the ball just wide of the Rangers goal. 

Kelvin Davis in the Southampton goal was a virtual spectator; the only problem he had to contend with was the wind blowing his newspaper away! Royce at the other end was being forced into action though as the Saints midfield were getting the better of Bircham and Lomas in the first twenty minutes. Both Mario Licka and Jermaine Wright forced Royce into low saves. One such save came about when Bircham was down after hurting himself fouling Licka. He was forced from the fray and replaced by Bailey who immediately gave the midfield a far more combative air with a couple of early reducers on Licka in particular. 

The R’s defence were slowly coming to terms with the wind and the aerial prowess of Rasiak and Jones and started to get a foothold in the game. Rehman looked as calm as I have seen him at right back and on the left Sami Timoska was having a stormer despite having looked a bit out of his depth last week. The pony tailed Fin had rattled into a few challenges and certainly got the fans in the Ellerslie Road stand well on his side. 

Blackstock fired a shot well wide of the Saints goal before Stefan Bailey carved him out a brilliant chance which he should have slotted. The young midfielder powered through the heart of the Southampton midfield before slipping a lovely ball into the path of Blackstock with the outside of his right foot. Blackstock should have side footed home but instead he tried to flick it past David with the outside of his foot and ended up poking it wide.  

Kenwyne Jones almost made his old youth team strike partner pay for that miss with a shot from a tight angle on the stroke of halftime that Royce stood up to and blocked well. It had been a pretty ugly game so far and with the wind there was little prospect of things improving in the second half. 

Now that Southampton had the wind at their backs it became more difficult for Jones and Rasiak to win their headers and Mancienne and Stewart started to dominate their opponents. Saints’ best chances seemed to be coming from the freekicks of Gareth Bale. The Welshman with the huge hair had been given the run of the left flank as Baidoo had done precious little to occupy him defensively and in truth he was probably bored! Mind you, for all of that it seems to me that you don’t get much for £8m these days! 

Darren Powell headed a Bale freekick wide in what was the only decent chance of the opening fifteen minutes of the half. Neither team had the midfield creativity to unlock the others defence and it was getting dull to say the least. When you looked to the R’s bench there wasn’t much in the way of inspiration there either. The only possible changes would have meant showing Blackstock wide to get Furlong or Nygaard on for the totally anonymous Baidoo or Jones. 

Jermaine Wright lashed a shot into the top tier of the stand before Blackstock registered Rangers first shot on target of the game with a hooked effort that was cleared off of the line. At the other end Royce’s dodgy handling almost cost a gaol when he spilled a Wright shot into the path of Rasiak but the gangly Pole couldn’t trap the ball and it rolled out for a goal kick. 

With eight minutes left Southampton finally took the lead in contentious circumstances. Gareth Bale sent a corner under Royce’s bar and the keeper decided to come and catch for just about the first time in the game. He had punched almost obsessively all afternoon and had he done so this time the danger may well have been averted. As it was, sub Bradley Wright-Phillips bumped him and he spilled the ball onto Rasiak’s toe and he poked home from almost under the bar. There weren’t too many complaints but there certainly would be barely a minute later. 

Rangers won a throw and Lomas came across to launch a long one into the box. Kelvin Davis tried to claim it and as he did he crashed into Stewart who was making no attempt to challenge him at all. The ball was spilled straight to Blackstock who buried it from inside the six yard box for what seemed a perfectly legitimate equaliser. Referee Kettle seemed to signal to halfway for the goal but it turns out he was signalling a freekick. He had decided that Stewart had fouled Davis which was clearly bollocks! Without wishing to sound bitter, which it clearly will, Kettle had let an awful lot go for Saints all afternoon whilst seemingly pulling Rangers for the merest thing.  

Rangers kept plugging away and were awarded a freekick when Lundekvam handled a through ball on the edge of the box. Referee Kettle somehow decided that the offence had happened five yards outside the box, the only thing I can think is that he was so far off the pace that he had to have a guess. From the ball into the box Southampton managed to clear and the ball was knocked wide to sub David McGoldrick and he sent a lovely ball over Timoska and Mancienne for Wright-Phillips to gallop onto. The son of female steward hating Ian Wright turned Mancienne inside out, not many have done that recently, and buried the ball past Royce to spark a mass exodus from the ground. 

On the balance of play Rangers got what they deserved. You simply cannot register one shot on target and expect anything from a game, especially not when the opposition have hit the target eight times! Despite that I firmly believe that had the referee allowed what was a perfectly good goal to stand we would have had a share of the spoils. It was a clear case of double standards from a quite awful referee who knows that he will never stand a chance of making it to the big time. But as I said at the start, I believe you make your own luck and the performances in the last couple of weeks, despite what the manager might think, have not been good enough to warrant any luck. Yes we were pretty solid at the back but we were totally bereft of ideas going the other way and that simply won’t do. If ever you wanted an indication of what life without Cookie might be like then you don’t have to look much further than this. 

Man of the Match – Sampsa Timoska. Sami was excellent considering this was his full debut and he was out of position. He tackled hard, tried to get forward when he could and one second half tackle when he sprinted fifty yards from the opposite wing was sensational.

simon@qprnet.com