Normally after a display like that I would have come out of Loftus Road spitting fire, but not yesterday. Yesterday was about Ray. It was impossible to know how hard his loss has hit the players but by 3.45 we had a pretty good idea as the team turned in one of the most disjointed displays seen in years. 

The afternoon had started with the official club texts coming through to confirm that Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone had sealed a deal for the club, mind you, knocking out £900k on Mikele Leigertwood on Friday had already sent the white smoke up over W12.  

Ten minutes before kick off the office staff at Rangers lined the touchline whilst Puff Daddy’s I’ll Be Missing You blared out. The ground broke into spontaneous applause, Saints fans included, and it lasted for the entire song. Once the players were out the club laid wreaths in the centre circle before Ray’s family came out and a thunderous minutes’ applause filled Loftus Road. The crowd sang “There’s only one Ray Jones”, or certainly those without a huge lump in their throat did. It was beautifully done. 

Attentions now turned to the game and Gregory picked what looked like his strongest available XI. Camp was in goal behind Curtis, Mancienne, Stewart and Barker. Rowlands, Bolder, Leigertwood and Ephraim were in midfield with Sahar and Blackstock up front.  

The opening period of the game was a pretty uneventful spectacle. Neither team were really fashioning any chances but the away side looked the more likely. Rasiak and Wright-Phillips were showing some lovely movement and it was all a bit much for Stewart and Mancienne. Stewart was ball watching as usual and got caught out from something as simple as a throw when BWP moved off behind him and he didn’t have a clue where he had gone. 

Rangers conceded a soft corner in the 18^th minute when more poor defending saw a ball needlessly knocked behind. From the kick Wayne Thomas found space and fired in a left foot fizzer that Camp had to flip over the bar. From the next corner Safri picked out Rasiak coming in six yards out and he buried his header past Camp. Poor defending from Rangers, Leigertwood was the man beaten to the ball and I am sure the fans that have already written him off as shit will use this as another stick to beat him with. The truth of the matter is that the way we defend corners doesn’t work and it has to be changed. 

We tried to respond and the classy looking Ben Sahar brought a ball down and turned before firing at Kelvin Davis from distance. Rowlands was next to have a pop when he tried his luck with a thirty yard free kick but it was practically a back pass and Davis gathered easily. 

Rowlands was appealing for a penalty minutes later when he tried to go past Jermaine Wright and the midfielder cum fullback appeared to get hold of him. Rowlands went down and the ref pointed for a goal kick. Wright then had a pop at Rowlands and at that point the ref decided to lecture Rowly about it. If he wanted a word he should have had one straight away, not wait until someone starts whinging.  

Stewart tried his level best to give a goal away when he badly under hit a back pass to Camp and allowed rangy Pole Rasiak in. Luckily Camp stood up for as long as he could and Rasiak ended up firing the ball straight at him. It was typical of Stewart’s display which was Sunday League standard at best.  

On the stroke of halftime Rangers were two down and lucky not to be down to ten men. Southampton broke away after Stewart had gone on a buccaneering run up field. Rasiak slipped the ball through to Viafara and Mancienne went diving in and got nowhere near it. Viafara tried to round the exposed Camp and the R’s keeper clattered him on the edge of the box, the ball rolled into the path of Rasiak and he knocked it into the empty net. Referee Thorpe did Camp a favour by playing the advantage and only cautioned him for his indiscretion. Another ref, I am thinking Andy Hall, would have stopped play and sent him packing. 

Having just survived Camp should have been sent off in injury time. This time he had ended up having to come out of his area again as Stewart and Mancienne made yet another hash of their responsibilities. He had seen off Wright-Phillips but the ball went to Surman and he tried to chip Camp. Camp stuck up an arm and committed the most blatant of handballs, it should have been a straight red, it was at least a second yellow but somehow Thorpe missed it completely.  

It was a massive let off but Saints weren’t deterred and four minutes after half time they went 3-0 up. Nathan Dyer, who had torn Barker a new arse, skipped past the R’s left back and flighted a cross into the box. Once again, the centre backs were off duty as Wright-Phillips headed home. 

Rangers took the third goal as something of a wake up call and at last started to play a bit but there was simply no end product. Ephraim and Leigertwood both shot wide and Rangers worked the ball from left to right and back again incessantly without ever getting a decent ball in. 

At the other end Southampton couldn’t help but create chances. Rasiak strayed offside but still flight a delicate lob into the net from distance before yet another horrendous error from Stewart almost gifted him the match ball. The big Jamaican tried to head the ball back to Camp but undercooked it and Rasiak pounced. The flighted the ball over the stranded keeper only to see Stewart step on the gas and brilliantly hook the ball off the line. It was a piece of recovery play that Stewart had made his hallmark in his time at Rangers, perhaps if he could just cut out the succession of errors that cause his recovery play then we might have a decent player on our hands. 

Camp was in the game again minutes later when Rasiak was gifted an unchallenged header and the keeper turned it away. Nygaard and Nardiello were sent on for Blackstock and Sahar and as usual, some twats decided to boo Nygaard on. The bloke might be limited but he deserves support, as does every player in the shirt. He may be fortunate in that a lot of people have already decided that Leigertwood will be the new whipping boy. 

Burley threw Stern John on and he would have scored had Stewart not slid in to deny him at the last. Once again a recovery tackle was needed as the back four were caught horribly square. From the corner it was free header time again and John should have hit the target.  

The final whistle couldn’t come too soon and bring the curtain down on a horrible afternoon at Loftus Road. I am willing to give the players the benefit of the doubt and say that this performance, at the end of a heartbreaking week, was a one off. The players need to be in no doubt now though that they are playing for their places, there will be money to spend in January, and there is a high probability of some high value loans coming in. The manager also needs to be aware that his job is in the balance, if he gets the chance to splash some cash and wastes it, then I don’t think Flava Flav and The Bolt will hang about. 

This was Ray’s day though.  

Man of the Match – Lee Camp. It would have been a cricket score had it not been for Camp, but even he was lucky not to have been looking for his bottle of Bubbleship Matey when the second half started.

simon@qprnet.com