Rangers put up an astonishing rearguard action to grab three precious points against Watford. Some clinical first half finishing and some dogged second half defending saw The R’s run out 4-2 winners in a game that most people, myself included, had written off as a home stroll. 

There was no shortage of head scratching when the team was announced with no Buzsaky, Vine or Walton, all of whom were on the bench. Camp was in goal behind Malcolm, Stewart, Rehman and Barker. Ainsworth, Bolder, Rowlands and Balanta were in midfield with Blackstock and Nygaard up top.  

Watford had King and Shittu on the bench, both of whom would be automatic picks in every other side in the division, but their game plan remained intact, namely get the ball forward as quickly as possible and try to avoid midfield at all costs. In the opening exchanges it was noticeable that Ainsworth was dropping very deep to allow Malcolm to move across and supplement the centre backs, it also meant that in Ainsworth we had another good header back there to repel the onslaught. 

Watford had the first real effort of the game when Ellington headed wide and then Francis hit the target but the shot was tame and Camp gathered easily. In the interim Blackstock had managed to accidentally kick keeper Richard Lee in the head as the Watford stopper made a brave save at his feet. 

Rangers hit the front in the thirteenth minute from the penalty spot. Balanta, playing out of position on the left flank, turned inside and flighted a pinpoint pass into the feet of Blackstock. He drove into the box and Jordan Stewart ran across him and bundled him to the ground, referee Foy and his lino didn’t hesitate in awarding the pen, the only surprise was that Stewart didn’t even get a yellow. Rowlands placed the ball before despatching a fierce right footed strike past Lee into the bottom corner. 

Ainsworth picked up a gash to his eyebrow following a clash with Henderson and was forced off to have a Basil Fawlty headband fitted. In the meantime Ellington wasted another chance as he fired high into The Rookery when he should have done far better. Rangers were managing to stand firm in the face of some pretty incessant Watford pressure and just before the half hour mark they hit The Hornets with a sucker punch to double their lead. 

Barker chased a Rowlands ball down the wing and forced Doyley to concede a corner. Rowlands’ delivery came back to him and he mugged Doyley before firing in a cross that Blackstock struck. The ball looped up off Watford skipper Jay DeMerit and seemed to be drifting wide but Lee clawed it away just to make sure. Rowlands delivered again and this time Stewart arrived on cue to power a header if off the underside of the bar from five yards for his fourth of the season. There was absolute pandemonium amongst the R’s fans who couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. Rangers had probably only threatened the Watford goal three times and had managed to tuck two away. 

Lloyd Doyley was lucky not to be sent off for a crazy incident in which he thought he heard the refs whistle. As the ball steepled out of the air he just caught it, when Rangers tried to get it quickly to catch The Hornets out he threw it away. Referee Foy only booked him, probably for the time wasting rather than the catch but there are many referees that would have sent him packing. 

The Watford pressure resumed and the R’s defending continued unabated. Stewart was having a massive game at the back and was dealing with the aerial threat of Henderson well. Then five minutes before the break Rangers incredibly scored a third!  

Play was broken up in midfield by Bolder, having his most effective game for months, and the ball was fed in to Balanta who had drifted in from his position on the left flank. He took the ball on his chest before slipping a beautiful reverse pass to Rowlands who was galloping up in support. Rowly allowed the ball to bounce before belting an unstoppable left footed volley past Lee. This was the first time this season that shot shy Rangers had managed three in a game.  

There was still time before the break for Watford to go mighty close to pulling one back. The combative Lee Williamson got the ball twenty five yards out and bent a shot past Camp only to see it rattle back off the post, hit Camp and go behind for a corner. The half time whistle brought a chorus of boos from a crowd that must be sick of the sight of their underperforming side. 

The R’s defence needed the fifteen minutes to recharge their batteries given the amount of defending they had done and the about that they knew they still had to do. Boothroyd sent Shittu on at half time, as much for his ability in the opposition’s box as for his defensive abilities and it paid dividends within seven minutes. 

Stewart was forced to hack a cross into the stand and from the resulting corner from Williamson, Shittu rose high at the far post to nod the ball in the direction of Francis. The former Wimbledon man headed it toward the back stick but Rehman had spotted the danger and moved to clear the ball. He got there in plenty of time and made a good connection only to see his clearance fly across goal and clatter off of Camp and into the net for the most unfortunate of own goals. 

The Rangers fans were decidedly jittery now; months of hanging round the arse end of the table will do that to you! Had we cruised into a three goal lead then things might have been different but the fans knew that we were more than a little fortunate and were desperately hoping the players wouldn’t find a way to balls this up!  

Boothroyd sent Marlon King into the fray to bolster his attack and he came within inches of scoring with a rasping right footed strike that whizzed just over Camp’s bar. Henderson and McAnuff both tested Camp with shots, the latter’s forced the R’s keeper to beat the ball away with both hands such was the ferocity of the strike. Camp was doing a great job of coming for as many of the high balls as he could reach to try and take some of the pressure off of his back four. 

Shittu was also playing up top now as Watford became ever more desperate. Nygaard followed him back and was playing almost as a fourth centre half now, forming an almost impenetrable barrier with Stewart, Rehman and Malcolm. De Canio had already sent Vine on for Ainsworth when he made his second change with just under twenty minutes left. Buzsaky came on for Balanta and within seven minutes he had bagged number four. 

Malcolm took a throw on the right and all of the Watford players seemed to be dragged to right side, Rowlands picked the ball up and slipped it wide to Buzsaky who had stayed in the open space created by the withdrawal of right back Doyley. The Hungarian waltzed past Lee and steadied himself before firing left footed into the net via the feet of DeMerit. He then sprinted the full length of the pitch to celebrate with the now delirious Rangers fans. 

Surely there was no way back into the game for Watford now? Dan Shittu had other ideas though and with five minutes of normal time left he dragged The Hornets back to within two goals. Having taken a throw on the right he found the ball nodded back to him by Henderson in the box and he riffled an absolute snorter past Camp on the half volley.

Rangers still had a chance to score a fifth though when Blackstock, who had run tirelessly all game collected the ball in his own half and used the run of Buzsaky to skip away from what was left of the Watford defence. He looked to have done all of the hard work as he entered the box but he managed to drag his shot across the face of goal and wide. 

The R’s managed to negotiate the remainder of the four minutes of injury time without much further drama to notch the most unlikely of wins. People looking from the outside will assume that Rangers battered Watford but in truth, it was the other way round! The home side created twice as many chances but for the first time this season Rangers were ruthless in front of goal and their opponents wasteful.  

Credit must go to the whole side for the way in which they dug in and fought this one out. From back to front they all did a real shift and whilst it wasn’t pretty at times and more often than not, pretty fraught, in our predicament it’s points that matter, not performances. The players need to follow this up by beating Leicester City on Monday and then the table will look much rosier as the padlock gets taken off of the war chest.

Man of the Match – Martin Rowlands. Scored two, made two and ran himself into the dirt in the middle of the park.

simon@qprnet.com