Rangers crashed to defeat at Stoke City on Tuesday night as they entered Tony Pulis’ Land of the Giants and came well and truly unstuck. Another slow start did for Rangers and they found themselves two down and with a mountain to climb with less than twenty minutes on the clock. 

There was just the one change to the side that had played so well and been denied by a Lee Grant master class last time out against Sheffield Wednesday. Camp was in goal behind Mancienne, Stewart, Timoska and Barker. Rowlands, Buzsaky, Leigertwood and Sinclair were in midfield with Vine and Blackstock up top. 

The difference in the physical stature of the two sides was evident as the game kicked off as the home side had some serious meat on the hoof. Two big centre backs, two big strikers and another big striker lined up on the wing. It was also clear what the game plan was going to be; get it forward quickly; win the throws and corners and load the box up. It took the home side only four minutes to find Rangers out. 

Stoke won a throw in on their right flank and Rory Delap hurled it into the box. The man is a freak of nature and has built a career on being able to throw the ball a long way, I assume that is the fascination with him as he is limited in the traditional aspects of the game such as using his feet. The ball was dealt with poorly by Rangers and somehow Fuller managed to find acres of space at the back stick. He hooked the ball back across goal and Creswell arrived to bundle the ball in from close range. 

That goal set the tone for the next fifteen minutes as Stoke won throw after throw and the freak hurled them into the box like tracer bullets. Rangers just couldn’t deal with it properly and as a result couldn’t clear the danger and assert anything like the pressure they would want at the other end. A lone Buzsaky strike blocked almost at source was the sum total of the Rangers attacking. 

Stoke were swarming all over Rangers through and Fuller almost made it two when he burst away from Stewart and Timoska before smashing a shot against the post with Camp well beaten. Eustace also went close and several more throw ins were dealt with in uncertain fashion before the home side deservedly stretched their lead to two goals. 

Fuller once again picked up the ball and set off for the Rangers goal. He and Stewart had a coming together and Rennie, as he did all night, favoured the home side in a 50:50 decision. During the chase Michael Mancienne tweaked his hamstring but incredibly Rennie and fourth official Hall wouldn’t allow Bob Malcolm on even though it was clear that Mancienne was done for the night. He also sent Stewart off after having treatment but not Fuller. It was only when a stink was kicked up that Fuller joined him on the side line. 

Play had been held up for getting on for three minutes before the resulting free kick was rolled short to Liam Lawrence and he battered an unstoppable shot past Camp into the top corner. Rangers were struggling badly, the free flowing football from Saturday wasn’t in evidence and they were being bullied all over the park. Vine and Blackstock were getting little change out of Shawcross and Cort and the support from midfield wasn’t forthcoming. 

Finally Rangers did managed to get their foot on it and try to play and Sinclair arrived in the box to meet a cross from Rowlands only to see Steve Simonsen produce en excellent save. Shortly after Sinclair went on a mazy dribble that ended with Cort sliding the ball out for a corner, or not as the lolloping Rennie would have you believe. For the umpteenth time in the half Rennie was some forty yards behind the play when a decision needed to be made so just made one up instead! He also got into an altercation with Buzsaky after he tried to manhandle the midfielder after a foul! Nothing would have pleased me more than to see the Kung Fu Magistrate dropped by the on loan Plymouth man.

Stoke passed up a great chance on the stroke of halftime when Fuller burst clear again but instead of passing to a better placed team mate tried to score from the acutest of angles. It was an incredibly greedy piece of play from the Jamaican but had probably been brought about by the air of superiority Rangers’ lack of performance was giving the home side. 

At half time De Canio clearly got stuck into the players. The players clearly looked undercooked in terms of how to deal with the long throws but at the end of the day, having seen at least ten come in then they should have been able to figure it out for themselves. Heading them away would have been a good place to start! Some more physicality was also called for and I was advocating withdrawing Dexter and sending Nygaard on just to get some real physical presence.  

The half started in the worst possible fashion for Rangers as their attempts at being more physical drew the wrath of Rennie. Shawcross received the ball and Blackstock came flying in and cleaned him out. From our position at the far end and having not seen a replay it looked like a certain booking. Rennie who was closer, although as per usual not as close as he should have been, saw it differently and showed the astonished striker the red card.

Being two goals down De Canio didn’t take a backward step and immediately sent Sinclair to play up with Vine rather than leave him isolated. As so often happens, the sending off galvanised Rangers and a little of Saturday’s swagger was back. A free kick outside the box was in Buzsaky’s range but the ball faded just wide of the post with Simonsen scrambling across. Sinclair then saw an effort blocked by Wright as Rangers cranked it up. 

The home crowd were certainly getting twitchy now and just after the hour mark Rangers were back in the game. Rowlands, working like five men following the sending off, slipped a ball into Vine. The striker brought it inside onto his left foot before curling a sumptuous strike past Simonsen. It was only his second goal in his ten game loan spell and he will need to work hard to improve this ratio if we are going to climb out of trouble. 

Stoke were all over the place now and offering nothing to get the crowd off of their backs. Vine robbed a Stoke defender in midfield and powered his way toward goal only to see his shot blocked before it had a chance to trouble the keeper. For all the pressure the sheer size of the Stoke players was worrying the R’s and Timoska in particular. 

Stewart had been solid against Fuller and Sidibe but Timoska was struggling to cope with them in the air. Another aerial bombardment caught the Fin in two minds and he tried to send the ball back to Camp but made a mess of it. Fuller nipped in and smashed the ball over the bar when he really should have hit the target.  

Thirteen minutes from time Stoke made the game safe with a third goal that in truth came against the run of play. Once again it was a set piece, this time a corner that did for Rangers. The ball into the box found Cort and he got up over Leigertwood to power his header past Camp. It was a typical goal from Cort who has scored a decent number of goals in his career thanks to his ability to attack the set piece deliveries. 

There really wasn’t much more action in the game other than a couple of late changes and the site of Akos Buzsaky limping up the touchline after being clattered by Delap. Hopefully it was just a collision injury and he will be fit for what is now a must win game at Blackpool.

Stoke are certainly an effective side, they have a way of playing and they have clearly been very well drilled by Pulis. Yes it is horrible to watch and it was no surprise that less than 12,000 were there last night. They won’t win many admirers with their style but they will certainly win a fair number of matches. 

This game will have provided De Canio with a massive lesson. He clearly believes in playing football with the ball on the deck but there are times when you have to abandon your principals and fight a team. He is of course hampered at the moment in terms of players and being able to shape the squad as he would like. I would think that his priorities come January 1^st will be a big, horrible, hairy arsed centre back and a striker that can turn our half chances into goals.  

Any team that has had us watched in the last two games will know that we can be bullied. Stop us playing and knock us about will be the orders for the upcoming opponents. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the five man midfield that turned out at Palace back in place for at least the next two away games. 

The next three games are now huge as they all come against teams that are around us in the table. Defeat at Blackpool combined with other results could see us bottom of the table, indeed a draw and other results could do the same. Palace at home and Scunthorpe away follow and I think we need to remain unbeaten in all three and if at all possible grab at least seven points. We may have to do that without Blackstock, Mancienne and Buzsaky though so it already sounds like a pretty tall order. 

Time to start earning that money Gigi.

Man of the Match – Damion Stewart. Stewart stood up manfully to the aerial bombardment from Stoke and if his colleagues alongside him had been as willing to attack the ball in the air then we might have done a bit better.

simon@qprnet.com