There wasn’t much on show at Loftus Road on Saturday to get the pulse racing as Rangers and Sheffield United played out a pretty listless 1-1 draw. The pitch, which seemed to have Blackwell baffled according to his comments, didn’t really see much of the ball as both teams settled into a pattern of hoofing that is sadly all too common in this division. 

After the Burnley collapse and the Portugal training camp, De Canio sprang the odd surprise with his team selection. Camp was in goal behind a new look back four of Mancienne, Connolly, Hall and Delaney. Ephraim, Leigertwood, Rowlands and Balanta were in midfield with Vine and Agyemang up top. The bench had a decidedly defensive feel with two centre halves and a right back alongside Pickens and Blackstock. It had a slight “all we had left” feel about it. 

The game started pretty scrappily and didn’t improve a whole lot. Leigertwood should have done better when he met a Rowlands corner on the edge of the six yard box but his header was poor. He failed to get any height in his jump, a massive problem all afternoon, and his effort sailed harmlessly over the top. 

At the other end the R’s defenders were already getting a pretty good idea of what their afternoon was going to be like as The Blades launched a sustained aerial bombardment from open play and set pieces. Hall and Connolly seemed to be mopping most things up, despite some complaints about Hall’s distribution on the day; he had the happy knack of being able to snake out a long leg whenever danger appeared. 

Vine shot over after some lovely interplay between Ephraim, Rowlands and he sent him through on goal. Vine had a frustrating afternoon as he tried to go it alone too often and was irritating both his team mates and the crowd with some of his ball hogging. 

Rangers hit the front early in the half as they seem to do a lot these days. Agyemang trapped a ball and played it back into Rowlands who in turn sprayed a beautiful skimming pass out to Ephraim on the right flank. The young winger skinned Naysmith and fired in a low cross that was attacked at the near post by a gaggle of players. Angelo Balanta got their first having ghosted in from the left wing and he fired past Kenny to claim his first R’s goal in just his second start. It was beautifully worked and showed how easily we could have opened the away side up had we kept up that style for the rest of the afternoon. 

Camp had to be at his best after a corner, which United worked brilliantly all afternoon, fell to Beattie and the one time England man cracked in a low volley that was beaten away. As the ball skipped up Hall, Camp, Rowlands and Stead attacked it, Camp managed to palm it away and Rowlands got a kick in the chops for his trouble. 

Chances were few and far between. Rowlands fired a shot wide after being teed up by Ephraim before the excellent (there, I’ve said it) Steve Bennett brought the half to a close. Those hoping for slightly better fare in the second period weren’t going to be lucky! 

Balanta and Tonge missed a chance apiece after the restart and fairly soon the game settled into a pattern of Sheffield United aiming a long ball in the direction of Beattie, the R’s defence larruping the ball straight back down to Kenny and the whole sorry affair starting again. Beattie had an attempt at a volley from a corner that was so wide that John Barnes is now having it made into a suit!  

Rangers were having a problem in midfield in terms of ball retention as Rowlands was working like ten men trying to cover the ground that Leigertwood sadly wasn’t. This was further compounded by some woeful distribution from Leigertwood when he did get on it. Passes both short and long just weren’t good enough, I don’t know where the pre-Plymouth red card Leigertwood has gone but if anyone sees him can they point him back in this direction! Mahon was missed badly. 

Both managers decided to ginger things up with some changes. Connolly was limping yet again so Stewart came on in his place. Connolly looks like he will develop into a fine player but he needs to get some meat on them bones as he seems to take a knock every week. Balanta also came off as he was tiring badly and Blackstock replaced him. As usual he looked leggy and somewhat disinterested which is a pale shadow of the all action Dexter of last season. Cotterill, Hulse and Shelton came on for the away side as Blackwell shuffled his attacking pack. 

With a little over ten minutes left Rangers came unstuck as yet another aerial attack yielded a somewhat fortunate goal for The Blades. Kenny’s huge punt was attacked by Hulse and Hall and for once the R’s centre half didn’t get distance on it. The ball dropped to Mancienne but his clearance was awful and fell at Morgan’s feet and the United bruiser had a swing and saw the ball go through about fifteen pairs of legs and creep into the corner with Camp unsighted until the last moment. To be fair it had been coming and was deserved but nobody likes to concede a scruffy old goal like that. 

As the game entered three minutes of injury time Rangers had a final chance to snatch a winner. Geary unceremoniously mowed Delaney down as he launched a raid down the left. From the free kick Ephraim whipped in a dangerous ball that Kenny almost fumbled under his bar but sadly there was no pressure from a Rangers player to exacerbate his plight. 

The final whistle was a blessed mercy to be honest as it brought a dull game to a close. The ball will probably have qualified for air miles given the lack of time it spent on the deck as Rangers got dragged into the Sheffield United style rather than sticking to their own way of playing. Buzsaky was certainly missed as he can always make something out of nothing but he would have probably thought he was back in Holloway’s Plymouth side as he would have spent much of the afternoon staring into the sky. 

Defensively this was a sound display, one slight error led to a streaky goal. The main issue back there though was the consistent punting. Agyemang didn’t have his finest game but for a big player he certainly isn’t a hold up man and the style didn’t suit him. Vine needed to get a pair of eyes fitted to the top of his head as he spent so much time looking at the ball when he had it that he failed to spot the easy ball time and again. 

Ephraim and Balanta did well in wide areas, the former was a menace for an hour and the latter took his goal well. Rowlands worked his socks off in the middle, a real captains innings, but alongside him Leigertwood, as mentioned before, was poor from start to finish. 

These results happen. There was an awful lot of moaning coming away from the ground but when two teams separated by only five goals lock horns that it’s not unreasonable that the game ends in a draw. We are not a good team yet, we have good players and they will undoubtedly be a real handful next season but we shouldn’t forget this season’s goal, staying up. Twelve points and counting…

Man of the Match – Fitz Hall. Hall defended superbly all afternoon in the face of a severe bombardment and some decent strikers. His ability to snake out an Inspector Gadget style leg at timely moments dug us out of a few holes.

simon@qprnet.com