Rangers and Ipswich played out a fairly decent 1-1 draw at Loftus Road on Saturday afternoon and in truth both sides will probably have come away from the game thinking they could have had more than a point. Rangers would have climbed off the bottom with a win but it wasn’t to be. 

Harford stuck with the majority of the side that had beaten Norwich last time out. Mancienne was now fit though and Sahar was missing, presumably Old Mother Sahar hadn’t given him a note giving him permission to play with those nasty Rangers boys. Camp was in goal behind Mancienne, Stewart, Cranie and Barker. Ainsworth, Bolder, Leigertwood and Rowlands were in midfield with Vine and Ephraim up front. Nygaard returned to the bench after a spell out through injury. 

The away side created the first chance of the game when young Irishman Billy Clarke headed straight at Camp from the edge of the box. At the other end Rowlands wasn’t able to get anything on a cross from Ephraim after the youngster drifted into a wide area. 

At the back Cranie looked to have picked up where he left off against Norwich and was calmness personified in everything he did. In front of him Leigertwood was doing similar and really looks to be settling into his role in the side, playing for two. It was Leigertwood that created the next chance, sending a ball in that the poor Ainsworth headed at the keeper. 

Vine had been fairly quiet in the opening period of the game but he went close with a left footed strike from twenty yards that had Alexander scrambling across his goal but the ball just faded wide. Leigertwood was in the action again soon after as he went steaming up field and Mancienne found him with a pinpoint pass. Legs drove the ball across the six yard box but nobody gambled and the chance went begging. 

Rowlands forced Alexander into a low save after being teed up by Vine before play switched to the other end and sub Gary Roberts produced a similar ball to that of Leigertwood shortly before with a similar result. Half time came with Rangers ruing some missed chances that should have seen them in front.  

The defence had looked fairly solid with Cranie in particular snuffing out the threat of Lee. The temperamental Irishman threw a hilarious tantrum at one point after a decision failed to go his way. Ipswich’s best source of joy looked to be down their right where the bulky Jonathan Walters was bullying HMS Barker out of every header.  

The away side started brightly in the second half as they attacked their large support massed in The School End. Cranie produced an excellent interception to deny Clarke after a bouncing ball wasn’t dealt with properly. The half was only eight minutes old when Ipswich hit the front through former Fulham midfielder Sylvain Legwinski. 

Ipswich took a throw from the left wing and there was no pressure at all as the ball was fed across to the Frenchman in the middle of the park. He took the ball on his chest before looping a fantastic volley over Camp into the net from twenty five yards. Even the R’s fans were applauding, it was a quality goal but Legwinski was afforded far too much time to control and get the shot away. 

Harford made a quick change and sent Nygaard into the fray in place of Mancienne with Rowlands switching to right back and Ephraim moving to the left wing. Nygaard immediately set about doing what he should always be doing; being a right pain the arse for the centre back he is playing against. De Vos and Wilnis immediately knew they were in a game and the R’s attacks now had a focal point. 

Nygaard got an early header in from a poorly placed Ainsworth cross. It was just about the only time that the veteran winger had managed to get a ball into the box so I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies. He didn’t last much longer though and Harford produced a baffling change with just over twenty minutes left. Moore was sent on and went left with Ephraim moved to the right. Personally I would have sent Bignot on and moved Rowlands back to an attacking role rather than wasting his talent at full back and testing the crowd’s patience with the cowardly Moore. 

Billy Clarke produced a horrendous miss for the home side as he contrived to miss what was virtually an open goal from less than five yards. That opened the door for Rangers and it was Nygaard that burst through it to bag his first goal since his stunner at Leicester back in March. 

A ball was played into the feet of Vine and for once his touch let him down and the ball seemed to squirm straight through him. This seemed to wrong foot the Ipswich defence and Nygaard came charging into the box and produced a fine right footed finish past the exposed Alexander.  

The away side should have been back in the lead when some slack marking allowed Jason De Vos a free header from a corner. The big Canadian, a scorer in this fixture last season, got the run on the R’s defence and arrived in the middle of the goal to plant what should have been a sitter past the post. It was a shocker! 

Rangers went back on the attack though and were claming a penalty when Bolder hit the deck in the box. For much of the game the only indication that Bolder was playing was his high pitched squealing but he suddenly came to life and played a neat one two with Vine and headed for the box. He seemed to stand on the ball and went down. He appealed, some of the crowd appealed but referee Swarbrick was never going to give it. He had given us nothing all day so a half hearted appeal for a pen was never going to get his pulse racing. 

Vine came close to scoring his second goal in the Hoops when he connected with an Ephraim cross from the right to send a volley fizzing wide of the far post. At the other end Camp produced a stupendous save to deny Ipswich sub Danny Haynes after the speedy youngster found space and planted a good header on target. 

The rest of the game passed without incident and both sides will rue some missed chances, with Rangers probably ruing a bit more given the precarious league position. This is the sort of game that Rangers really need to be knocking off, you cant dominate for long periods in this division and not grab a goal as it doesn’t take much for you to get punished as Ipswich showed. 

The Preston game will throw up a couple of interesting selection dilemmas for Harford, or at least it should. Changes need to be made at left back, right wing and up top. Barker either isn’t fit enough or isn’t good enough, Ainsworth has gone as far as I am concerned and should be used as nothing more than cover and Nygaard should start after a good showing, releasing Ephraim back to the wing. 

This was a steely display and the same will be needed at Deepdale on Tuesday. A defeat is unthinkable given the tough game coming at Charlton on the telly next Saturday. If we can pinch a win then all good but there is no way we can think of anything less than a point.  

Man of the Match – Mikele Leigertwood. The big fella is starting to show what a good player he can be. He covers the ground superbly and used the ball efficiently.

simon@qprnet.com