For the second successive season Rangers recovered from conceding an early goal at Southampton to run out deserved winners. Some kamikaze defending from the home side certainly helped the cause but for much of the game Rangers handed out a lesson on how to keep the ball against opposition that look to be suffering from a chronic shortage in confidence. 

De Canio decided to make a couple of changes to the side that had done for Bristol City so comprehensively last time out. Stewart and Buzsaky had both been away on international duty and with Burnley coming to town on Tuesday they were dropped to the bench. Camp was in goal behind Mancienne, Connolly, Rehman and Delaney. Lee, Mahon, Rowlands and Ephraim were in midfield with Vine and Agyemang up front. 

Rangers couldn’t have made a worse start to the game. A hopeful ball forward looked to be posing little threat as Connolly tried to see it back to Camp. Camp slid to collect but the pitch had been soaked to the point of saturation before the match and Camp slid straight out of the area with ball in hand. He could easily have been booked but he clearly didn’t mean to do it so the cards stayed in Mr Taylor’s pocket. Connolly should probably have just lumped the ball into the stand but on another day, on a pitch that didn’t require the wearing of flippers, Camp wouldn’t have travelled so far. 

Adam Hammill, on loan from Liverpool, sent a right footed ball into the box. Camp could maybe have come for it but someone certainly should have got something on it before it fell to Darren Powell in the middle of the six yard box. He managed to bundle the ball home with a little under a minute on the clock. The R’s fans were already fearing a long afternoon and hoping that there wouldn’t be a Cardiff City style capitulation on the cards. 

Rangers tried to respond but only managed to serve up a couple of shots that were easily fielded by Kelvin Davis. First Vine worked himself some space a fired in a low shot before Ephraim did similar. Davis calmly took both into his chest, low to the floor. At the other end of the field things seemed a touch more fraught with Rehman and Connolly having a bit of a getting to know you session and Mancienne seeming to be struggling against Ian Wright’s forgotten son, Bradley Wright-Phillips whenever he drifted to that side. 

Wright-Phillips should have headed home a second when he found himself unmarked on the edge of the six yard box. Incredibly he managed to miss the ball completely when it seemed easier for it just to hit him. Former loan Ranger Andrew Davies saw a header saved by Camp before Stern John came up with a contender for miss of the season. 

There seemed to be little danger as Ephraim drifted back into the left back spot to knock a ball back to Camp for him to clear up field. As he swung his foot the ball took a bobble and he under hit the ball badly. Euell nipped in and squared the ball for the unmarked John ten yards from goal. He should have just rolled it in but instead he went for power and almost succeeded in clearing the stand! Had there been many Saints fans in it then they would almost certainly have been sent scattering. 

That small opening was all Rangers needed to put their shoulder in and burst through. Firstly a corner was cleared to the edge of the box and Rowlands walked onto it and sent a searing volley flying inches wide of Davis’ goal with the Saints keeper beaten all ends up. From another corner Delaney attacked the ball well at the far stick but managed to head wide when he should have been testing the keeper. It would seem that the home side were almost as fallible at corner balls as the away in the opening period. 

Half time was fast approaching when Rangers levelled the game. Rowan Vine, Rangers’ best player to this point, picked the ball up on the left and galloped infield evading challenges as he went. As he got the edge of the box he slipped a perfectly weighted pass into the path of skipper Rowlands and he made no mistake as he coolly slotted the ball under Davis. It was classic Vine and classic Rowlands and just shows that when good players click there aint a whole lot you can do about it. 

Just as the PA guy was announcing the first half injury time Rangers hit the front. Vine sprayed a pass to Ephraim wide on the left and cut back onto his right foot before aiming a cross toward Agyemang at the back stick. It looked as though Jermaine Wright was going to get under it and head it away but he misjudged it and missed it. Agyemang made no such mistake and he despatched a side footed volley through the legs of Davis for his sixth goal in five games. This was déjà vu all over again as Rangers grabbed two late first half goals to lead.  

Buzsaky was stripped for action and warming up during the break and he replaced Lee who had been as neat and tidy as usual but didn’t really seem to be making many inroads. It didn’t look good for him as Wright looked like a fish out of water at left full back and he would only compound his defensive limitations later in the game. 

Southampton also made a change at the break. Hammill, who had made their goal, got the hook and Marek Saganowski came on. Something else had happened at half time. Referee Taylor hadn’t been bad in the first half but he seemed to come out after the break with a hatred of all things Rangers and some of his nitpicking was beyond belief. 

Camp made an excellent point blank save from Wright-Phillips but the ref hauled play back as he was still trying to scribble Delaney’s name in his little book as the free kick was taken. Gorman and Dodd had clearly had a bit of a rattle into their players during the break but a bright start soon faded away to nothing as Rangers settled back into a routine of keeping the ball and defending stoutly. 

With an hour played Rangers killed the game off with a massive helping hand from some downright comical Southampton defending. Lee Camp collected a bouncing ball in the area and quickly launched a long ball in the direction of Agyemang. The ball looked to have a little too much gas though and Davis and Wright should have mopped up the danger between them but no. As Davis came to the edge of his area to clear Wright inexplicably kneed the ball past him and Agyemang couldn’t believe his luck. He strolled onto the ball as it rolled toward goal and Davis and Wright bickered about whose fault it was. He then stopped the ball on the line and performed a cheeky drag back and flick to score his seventh in five games! Billy Davies, Paul Simpson and Alan Irvine must be wondering what the bloody hell is going on!  

That goal was the cue for plenty of the Saints fans to the left of the away support to up sticks and leave. I thought my watch must have been slow as I am not sure I have ever seen so many people leave a ground with such a narrow margin between the sides. Mind you, they watch this mob every week and clearly knew there would be no way back into this. 

Southampton were being restricted to shots from range at this point. Two in quick succession ended up nearer the corner flag than the goal and then with twenty minutes left Yousseff Safri put the tin hat on it by getting himself sent off. Agyemang and Taylor battled for a Rehman punt up field and Safri moved in to lend weight to the battle. Safri won the ball but then decided to polish off the challenge by jamming his studs into Agyemang’s thigh. It was a disgraceful, cowardly attack and referee Taylor rightly dismissed him. Incredibly Viafara went into the book for protesting about it. When he sees the replay he will realise quite how ridiculous his protests were. 

Blackstock came on for Agyemang and it was a welcome sight to see the red hot striker trotting about by the corner flag later in the game. It was probably as much to keep some blood flowing through what could turn into a dead leg as to warm down. Blackstock almost created goal number four shortly after his introduction. 

Powell was fannying around with the ball in the corner and Blackstock out muscled him and breezed past. He waltzed past Davies and last seasons model would have slotted the ball home but such is the lack of confidence in him at the moment Dexter tried to square it to Mahon. The big midfielder had come charging forward in support but he was six inches too late arriving on the scene. 

Rangers looked as though they would see the game out without too much trouble when Southampton grabbed their second of the game to make injury time a nervy affair. Viafara launched a long cross from right to left and Mancienne failed to make a connection with it. Stern John turned the ball back and after it had bounced off of Mancienne he fired it past Camp into the corner.

The home side tried to pile on the pressure and Rangers were dragging everyone back into the box to preserve the lead. What the team possesses now though is the pace to counterattack and it could have been 4-2 as Rangers launched a late raid into enemy territory. Vine and late sub Leigertwood combined on the left flank but instead of keeping it in the corner Leigertwood sprayed the ball across the field to Buzsaky. The Hungarian went inside his man and tried to bend a left footer into the corner but the ball wouldn’t come back enough. A long hoof and a clearance into the stand later and it was all over. 

This was an excellent performance from Rangers albeit helped by some crazy defending from the home side. The way in which they kept the ball and used their pace to counter was terrific. When you have a player like Agyemang in for the form he is in also it is a great fillip for the rest of the players as everyone just thinks he will score every time he goes near the goal, and at the moment, he does!  

The back four was a little shaky for the first twenty minutes but once they had ridden the early storm they settled down well and along with Camp performed well. The midfield and attack also, once the balance of play had shifted toward Rangers they did their jobs to a man. 

Burnley on Tuesday night will provide a stern test of how well we are progressing. They have won seven games on the road this season and lost just four so it will certainly not be a foregone conclusion, two of those four defeats have come in the last three though so they won’t be invincible. With Buzsaky and Stewart to come back in we will also have a stronger side out so it could be a tremendous encounter. 

Man of the Match – Rowan Vine. When Vine is on form like this it must be nigh on impossible to contain him. His pace sends him flying past challenges and he has a lovely awareness of who is around him.