Another home win and another three goals for Rangers but this was far from a fluent display. Faced with a dogged Scunthorpe United side, the R’s struggled to get their passing and movement going for the most part and had to wait until late in the piece to wrap up what was, in the end, a deserved victory. 

After the jittery win against Blackpool on Tuesday night De Canio opted to stick with the same starting XI when many were expecting a change or two. Camp was in goal behind Mancienne, Hall, Connolly and Delaney. Buzsaky, Rowlands, Leigertwood and Vine were in midfield with Blackstock and Agyemang up front. The only change came on the bench where Stewart replaced Rehman. The visitors lined up with five strung across the middle of the park and Horsfield ploughing a lone furrow up top. 

Rangers, attacking The Loft in the first half, passed up the first chance of the game when Agyemang worked some space on the left wing and crossed toward Blackstock. The out of form striker found the ball coming to him at an awkward height and could only knee the ball toward goal and Murphy saved comfortably. The visitors then struck with their first chance of the game. 

A high ball was pumped up toward Horsfield and the both he and Hall battled for position as it dropped. Referee Bates, bordering on incompetent throughout, managed to pick a free kick to Scunny out of it. It was typical of his handling of that particular clash throughout the afternoon. He simply alternated giving free kicks against either player as he didn’t have the faintest idea what he was doing. Camp lined up his wall as the left footed Grant McCann stepped forward. His strike went across the front of the wall which Camp had managed to shuffle behind. His side of the goal was gaping and McCann found the corner. It was an excellent finish but I can’t help but Camp will be disappointed for leaving him so much to aim at. 

Rangers should have been back on level terms almost immediately but they were denied by a dubious looking offside decision. Rowlands crashed in a shot from twenty five yards which Murphy managed to save but couldn’t hold. Agyemang was alive to the situation and cracked the rebound home only to see the lino flagging. To the naked eye it looked a poor decision and given his display, which was every bit as poor as the referee’s, I reckon he probably got it wrong. 

Murphy had to be alert again shortly afterwards when Buzsaky, having one of his more quiet afternoons despite a comical man of the match award from the sponsors, crossed from the right. Agyemang met it and Murphy went full length to his left to claw it away. In truth Agyemang should have buried it from barely six yards but it was a good stop all the same. 

McCann tried his luck with another free kick, this time from further out, but his effort was easily claimed by Camp. He then had an attempt at a volley but his strike was well off target. Rangers then launched a counterattack that is almost becoming their trademark. Good work from Vine and Buzsaky saw the galloping full back played in and he aimed for the far stick but missed it by inches. Agyemang might have gambled on trying to get a touch on it but perhaps he thought it was in. 

Scunny went close again when Jim Goodwin broke from the middle of the park and hammered a bouncing ball into the side netting. Camp looked as though he had covered the strike just in case but it would have been a concern that we had allowed a side that have struggled for goals all season so many chances to have a shy.

Two minutes before the break referee Thorpe weighed in with another poor decision as he awarded Rangers a penalty. Mancienne won the ball in the middle of the park and fed Rowlands who in turn moved it on to Vine. Vine tried to go past Iriekpen but the former Swansea man seemed to get something on the ball, you can imagine his surprise when Thorpe pointed to the spot. It was typical of Thorpe though, the slightest bit of physical contact was penalised all over the park. Crosby and Murphy both got booked for protesting before Rowlands gave it the full Aldridge shuffle to sit Murphy down before rolling the ball into the unguarded net. 

It was clear after the break that Scunthorpe were perfectly happy with a point and they would do all they could to hang onto it. In the first half the midfield five had tried to get forward to support Horsfield but now he had precious little help on the odd occasions when the referee decided that he or Hall hadn’t fouled one another. He did force Camp into an easy save at the start of the half but that was about his lot. 

Rangers were struggling to break down the Iron wall, Rowlands was having to drop deep and take the ball off of the two centre backs and the space just wasn’t there to work in effectively. Lots of passes seemed to be getting picked off well before they found their target and it was turning into a pretty ugly game to watch. 

A rare moment of excitement saw a melee in the Scunthorpe goalmouth as the players waited for a set piece to arrive. A good fifteen players were involved, all of them swinging their handbags at one another so it was something of a surprise that Fitz Hall was the only man booked for it. Thorpe hadn’t really tried to diffuse the situation; he was more than happy to stand ten yards away whistling like a maniac!  

Rangers finally managed to find a way through the nine man Scunthorpe defence when Rowlands went over the defence and picked out the run of Leigertwood. The R’s man took a good touch but he managed to drag his shot wide of Murphy’s near post. Something had changed now though and suddenly spaces were appearing and chances were starting to come. Rangers’ patience was on the verge of paying off. 

Buzsaky got on the end of a Vine cross from the left and with thought of his midweek goal in mind, he tried to float a volley back across Murphy but it drifted wide. Then, with eleven minutes left to play, Rangers grabbed the winning goal thanks to some lovely play that opened the visitors up like a tin of peaches. 

Rowlands had once again dropped deep to collect the ball before knocking a crisp pass into the feet of Buzsaky who had found space after drifting in off of his wing. He knocked it into Agyemang, took it back and knocked it into Agyemang again. The big striker, who had looked brighter today after being out of sorts for the last few weeks, took one touch before riffling the ball into the roof of the net from ten yards. 

Rangers managed to survive a scare when Camp charged from his goal line to try and catch a high ball only to thunder into a gaggle of players and spill it. The ball pinged around before Sparrow finally managed to get a shot away only to see Matt Connolly hurl himself in front of it and block it away to safety.  

De Canio made three quick changes as Buzsaky, Rowlands and Agyemang were replaced by Mahon, Stewart and Lee as Rangers looked to close the game out. Four minutes of injury time were now being played, mainly thanks to some Scunthorpe time wasting when they were hanging out for a point. That was extended by the changes and in the fifth minute of the four Rangers bagged the third. 

A Scunthorpe attack was broken up and Mahon found himself high up the field on the left wing. He sent the ball across to Blackstock but he missed it and the ball somehow made its way to Vine. He took a touch to get the ball out of his feet and then clipped it expertly over the advancing Murphy.  

Rangers had won this game thanks to their patience. Scunthorpe had battled bravely for a point for much of the game but they were ultimately undone by some quality midfield play that they simply couldn’t cover. De Canio’s men resisted the desire to just batter it up front and they tried to play their football and were rewarded. There are going to be plenty more sides that will want to come to Rangers and try and just block things up so continued patience will be needed. 

The two home wins have guaranteed Championship football for us in my opinion. There are now two tough away games coming up with visits to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Ipswich Town over the next two weekends. We have given ourselves a buffer and hopefully we might see a slightly more attacking policy away from home as we turn for home this season. 

Man of the Match – Martin Rowlands. For the second time in a week Rowly takes it for yet another captain’s performance. Scored the pressure penalty and continues to drive the team forward as well as leading the defensive efforts. Player of the Season on the cards?

simon@qprnet.com