Rangers made it three wins from four festive games with a fairly routine win over a poor Leicester City side at Loftus Road. Holloway’s men, complete with their two new strikers, never really posed much of a threat to De Canio’s charges. If you had offered any of us nine points from twelve in these games they would have had their hand snatched off. 

After the hard fought win over Watford at the weekend, De Canio tinkered with the side and made two changes in personnel and changed the formation. Camp was in goal behind a back four of Malcolm, Stewart, Rehman and Barker. Ainsworth, Bolder, Rowlands and Vine were in midfield with Buzsaky playing in a withdrawn role behind lone striker Blackstock. There was a first place on the bench for new midfielder Gavin Mahon.

In a cagey opening spell both sides exchanged chances, Bolder forced Foxes keeper Paul Henderson into a save whilst at the other end, Iain Hume whipped a free kick wide from twenty five yards. It already had the look of a cagey game with both sides having plenty to lose with the bottom of the table as tight as a drum. 

Rangers made the breakthrough just after the quarter hour mark thanks to yet another quality set piece delivery from Akos Buzsaky. Rangers won a left wing corner and Buzsaky sent an out swinger to the near post where Damion Stewart arrived on cue to power his header past Henderson for his fifth goal of the season. The big Jamaican attacks the ball so well and this wasn’t far from a carbon copy of his goal at Watford on Saturday.  

You could see the confidence visibly draining from Leicester already. The ever spiky Barry Hayles was his usual pain in the arse self and came close with a shot shortly after Rangers scored but he failed to test Camp. At the other end Blackstock nodded over the bar and Vine shot wide as the home side looked to crank up the pressure on the beleaguered Foxes. 

Rangers grabbed their second of the game before the game was half an hour old. Rowlands collected the ball in midfield and found Vine on the left flank and he strolled away from young Stearman. His ball to the back stick cut the remaining Leicester defenders out and Blackstock met it and looped a header over Henderson. The ball wasn’t going in though so Adam Bolder made sure and the skipper nodded his second of the season from almost underneath the bar.  

Holloway had seen enough and immediately made a tactical substitution; he withdrew young left back Joe Mattock and sent his latest signing, former Luton and Derby bruiser Steve Howard into the fray for his debut. The Foxes didn’t need to change their tactics of aiming it forward from all angles in the classic Holloway style. 

Buzsaky hit the target with a free kick but the strike didn’t carry enough pace to really trouble Henderson. The teams then exchanged missed headers with McAuley missing the target for Leicester and Blackstock likewise for Rangers. Howard had already brought something new to the party but I thought the R’s defenders dealt with him pretty well. They weren’t going to get much joy winning the first ball so they set themselves up to make sure they were first to any flicks or knock downs to snuff out the danger. 

Holloway clearly got stuck into his players at the break, and rightly so in my opinion, as they started the second half at a good tempo. They won an early corner when Bob Malcolm came across from right back to block out Hayles when he looked set to pounce. Stearman missed the target from the set piece before the woodwork came to Rangers’ rescue.  

There didn’t seem to be much danger when Steve Howard got on the ball thirty yards from goal. There was no chance of him running it but suddenly things opened up in front of him and he absolutely creamed a shell of a shot against Camp’s left hand post with the keeper helpless to intervene. It was a massive let off for Rangers and they made the most of it by grabbing the third of the game within minutes. 

Vine got the ball wide and sold Chambers such an outrageous dummy that the full back was left searching for money to buy a ticket to get back into the ground! Vine looked up and picked out Blackstock in the middle who came rampaging in to power a header into the roof of the net via Henderson’s hands. It was only Dexter’s second goal of an injury and suspension hit season and it was greeted by the loudest cheer of the day. He is still a massively popular player despite this season’s troubles in front of goal and I hope that he will still have a part to play when the revolution kicks off in earnest. 

Leicester were back in the game minutes later though thanks to an Iain Hume special. Stewart was harshly penalised for a foul and Hume stepped forward to take the free kick. Camp seemed to take a step to his right as the kick was taken and as such he couldn’t get anywhere near the ball as it curled past the R’s stopper and into his top left hand corner. 

Both managers made changes with De Canio giving a debut to Mahon in place of Ainsworth. The big midfielder didn’t really get much of a chance to do anything other than come close to decapitating a Leicester player on the edge of the Rangers area! Having the extra insurance of him and Bolder together in the middle of the park meant that Buzsaky, who had been the string puller in chief all afternoon, was allowed to link more with Rowlands and Blackstock. Buzsaky had been terrific so far in the game, displaying his tight control and excellent range of passing time and again. 

Howard should have done better with a header for the visitors but he missed the target by some distance. He looked a little short of confidence and fitness to me, perhaps the regime at Derby wasn’t quite as stringent as a big ol’ unit like him needs it to be? 

With fifteen minutes to play Bolder left the fray with Nygaard coming in to replace him. They seemed to stick with the 4-4-1-1 they had been playing all afternoon but now Nygaard was the link between midfield and attack, mainly for his aerial ability in his own box I would have thought. 

Buzsaky forced Henderson into a decent low save with another direct free kick before Camp made a superb save after Hayles had set up Fryatt. The former Walsall striker looked odds on to score as he met Hayles’ ball from no more than six yards but Camp produced a terrific stop to beat the ball away. 

Rangers were content to see the game out now as it entered its last knockings. Buzsaky was dancing about in midfield dragging defenders all over the place. He was now stationed on the right flank and was giving Stearman a hard time, Hayles came back to help him at one point but just ended up getting booked for an ugly hack on the talented Hungarian playmaker.  

Steve Howard nodded a late chance straight at Camp but in truth The Foxes looked plum out of ideas by now and it was a case of just seeing out the four minutes of injury time. The final whistle brought a very satisfactory Yuletide period to a close for Rangers and, as I said previously, I think if anyone had offered nine points from twelve beforehand then they would have had their hand snatched off! 

Rangers were quietly efficient and didn’t really get into much bother against Leicester. The visitors looked plumb out of confidence and had they not managed to get one back just after Rangers scored their third then this could have been a battering. The goal just checked the momentum somewhat but at the end of the day you have to be pleased with 3-1. 

The management and the current crop of players have managed to get themselves into a position where they can now welcome some new faces to the squad and kick on. If the signings made in the window are sensible and are able to bed down quickly then there is every chance that Rangers could power away from trouble in the next six weeks. Similarly if they don’t settle down quickly then it could get a bit hairy coming into the home straight.  

I am confident in the managers and the boards ability to get us what we need, of course having a massive wallet always helps in these delicate matters! A couple of strong defenders are essential as the team have shown they can score goals in the last couple of games. A couple of attacking players to ginger that department up a little more and we could have some fun as the season turns for home. 

Man of the Match – Akos Buzsaky. The Magical Magyar revels in his withdrawn role behind a lone striker. He is close enough to the oppositions defence to just pull them to pieces with his close control and incisive passing.

simon@qprnet.com