Gregory made a couple of changes from the side that had been comfortably beaten at Wolves last weekend. Cole was in goal behind a back four of Timoska, Stewart, Shimmin (making his first start since August 2005) and Bignot. Rowlands, Bolder, Bailey and Smith were in midfield with Nygaard and Blackstock up front.  

You would have thought it was the home side chasing the play offs as Stoke weren’t able to get a foot on the ball in the opening exchanges. Adam Bolder skipped past Salif Diao and the former Liverpool midfielder brought him down. The ball was wide of the penalty area so Rowlands came across to whip the ball in toward keeper Simonsen. As everyone set up for a cross Rowly wrapped his foot round it to dip it past the wall and beat the Stoke custodian at his near post. The goal took Rowlands into double figures in a season in which he has only played twenty nine times. 

Stoke almost hit back when the two youngsters Shimmin and Cole got in a muddle and allowed a hopeful through ball to be headed into the path of Ricardo Fuller. Cole was out of the game and as Fuller slotted home what he thought would be the equaliser Sami Timoska appeared to hack the ball away. It was a superb intervention by the ever more impressive Fin.  

The visitors were starting to see more of the ball now having been buoyed by their foray into the R’s box. Lee Hendrie was forced from the action having been caught by Rowlands. Rowly picked up a yellow card for his trouble, the first of many that card happy Kettle would dole out during the course of the afternoon. He had set his precedent with this card and would do his best not to let his standards slip! 

Both teams were trying to get the ball down and play rather than resort to the aerial bombardment Rangers had employed as they sought Championship survival. Dexter Blackstock looked to have broken clear of the Stoke defence before Jon Fortune intervened and flattened him. Kettle got the orange card out for him and from the resulting free kick Rowlands curled a tame effort into the arms of Simonsen. 

Stefan Bailey was next into the book and he couldn’t have many complaints about it! Stoke robbed Rangers of the ball on the edge of their own box and launched a counter attack. Bailey came sprinting back like a man possessed and seeing that he was struggling he scythed Matteo down, it was like watching a young Adam Bolder at work! 

Rangers were playing some good stuff now and a lovely combination between the two strikers almost brought a second goal. Blackstock carried the ball into the area and flicked a lovely disguised pass into Nygaard. He rounded Fortune but then found Simonsen quickly off his line to block out the opportunity. 

Another Stoke break was brilliantly stopped by Rangers’ forgotten man Dominic Shimmin. Fuller looked to have got away from him but the young centre back somehow managed to snake a leg round the Jamaican striker and win the ball. Referee Kettle had other ideas though and ridiculously booked him! The fact that the ball changed direction completely should have given the ref some clue that the challenge was a good one but poor decisions are par for the course with this guy. 

Bailey and Bolder were playing well in the middle of the park; Bailey in particular looked to have taken great confidence from his brace in the reserves last Monday. One burst up field brought a crude intervention from Diao and he went into the book under the new FA directive “Touch Someone and it’s a Yellow Card”. 

Five minutes before the break Stoke almost grabbed an equaliser when Hendrie’s replacement, Lee Martin, cut in from the left wing and smashed a shot goal ward. It looked to have taken a slight deflection but it had beaten Cole all ends up and he was grateful to see it smash back off of his left hand post. 

On the stroke of half time Shimmin appeared to be fully in control of a ball as it ran toward the dead ball line. He should have hooked it out for a throw but he attempted a suicidal back pass and Martin was in on goal. What he met was Jake Cole coming off his line like a train and he took the lot out. Referee Kettle still managed to have a word despite their being no infringement. He was probably explaining that as he had touched a fellow pro that by the letter of the law he should be cautioned! 

Their end to the half had clearly fired The Potters up and after the restart they looked more like a side that wanted to try and get promoted. They should have equalised only minutes into the half when a corner ball managed to evade all the Rangers defenders and ended up with Dominic Matteo at the back stick. The former Leeds man should have tapped it in but he managed to hack it over the bar from little more than five feet! It was an incredible miss. 

Balls were coming into the box from all angles now and Damion Stewart was doing his level best to get some part of his anatomy on every one. The arrival of Cullip has lifted Stewart to a new level and now, even when he isn’t there, he looks a far more accomplished centre back. 

Fuller headed a cross straight at Cole before Timoska found his way into referee Kettle’s book for an ugly hack on Fuller. From the resulting free kick Rangers executed their Charge of The Light Brigade offside trap and caught most of the Stoke players out. Higginbotham nodded home but the flag was already up. 

Rangers were dealt a real blow with a little over twenty minutes left when Timoska was handed first use of the bath water. Martin tried to cut back across him and Timoska left a trailing leg out, Martin hurled himself over it in theatrical style. It seemed as though Kettle would book him for the comedy effort but instead he showed a second yellow to the Flying Fin and he was off. He got a rousing reception from the crowd as he left the field as people knew he had been done. 

The sending off prompted a reshuffle as Bailey dropped in at right back and Blackstock moved to the left of midfield leaving Nygaard alone up top. Griffin took advantage of the hesitancy caused by the positional changes to stride into midfield a belt a fierce shot at goal that was brilliantly parried away by Cole. 

With fifteen minutes left the fans rose to a man as Furlong stepped to the touchline and came on for Blackstock. After a decidedly rocky start at Rangers Furlong has become a hero in the fans eyes and the ovation he received as he came on was deafening. He slotted in on the left as Rangers tried to ride out the Stoke storm. 

Stewart and Shimmin were attacking everything now and looked to be getting the better of Sidibe and Fuller on most occasions. The crowd were in their feet again soon after as Bircham entered the fray for his Rangers swansong. Although his impact may not have been of Furlong proportions nobody will ever question his commitment to the club he loves. 

Disaster struck almost immediately though as Stoke equalised through Mamady Sidibe. The former Rangers trialist met a cross from Fuller six yards out and fired past Cole giving the young keeper no chance. As the game entered injury time referee Kettle upped the ante and managed to show an incredible three yellow cards to Rangers players in just four minutes! 

First Furlong found his way into the book after callously slotting the ball home after he had been flagged offside. Jake Cole was then booked for coming out of his box to take a free kick after Stewart left it for him. I note that Simonsen wasn’t booked for doing the same just seconds later, but then they could make the play offs and we couldn’t! Finally Smith was booked for not retreating ten yards at a free kick when Kettle hadn’t managed to get a wall back ten yards all day. You wouldn’t want this clown to measure you up for a new carpet! 

The perfect end to the game almost arrived as Rangers caught Stoke on the break and Bircham slotted the ball into the path of the galloping Furlong. He held off the challenge of Griffin and bore down on Simonsen’s goal. He got his shot away only to see the keeper save well. It would have been too much to ask I suppose but what a way it would have been for The Legend to end his time at Rangers. 

The final whistle brought dejection for Stoke, although as it turned out they would have had to have beaten us 5-1 to get into the play off places given Southampton’s battering of Southend. The R’s players were just happy that this season was over and they could now rest the weary bones and try and come back for next season focused and ready to do a hell of a lot better than this year. 

If you had told me in February as I trudged out of Roots Hall that we would end the season eleven points clear of relegation I would have had you committed! The players, management and fans have worked minor miracles to turn the season around and everyone must now make sure that the farce that was the first six months of this season never be allowed to happen again. 

Man of the Match – Damion Stewart. Stew Peas had another massive game, especially during Stoke’s second half bombardment of the R’s box. He helped Shimmin along and marshalled the back four with aplomb.

simon@qprnet.com