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Rangers’ pre season campaign ended
with a third successive defeat on
Saturday as they went down 2-1 at
Loftus Road to Serie A side Chievo.
In a game that saw the R’s trying to
break down a typically resolute and
organised Italian defence they came
up short as they seemed to lack that
killer cutting edge.
Dowie had said that this would be
largely the side that would start
the season so those in the XI would
have been delighted. Those waters
will have been slightly muddied now
with the return of Lee Cook and the
arrival of Dani Parejo from Real
Madrid. Cerny started in goal behind
Ramage, Hall, Gorkss and Delaney.
Agyemang, Mahon, Leigertwood and
Ledesma were in midfield with
Balanta and Blackstock up front.
Chievo went close early on when
Gorkss had to show a clean pair of
heels to get back and hack an Iunco
effort off the line. Ledesma had a
crack from distance for Rangers,
Chievo were playing tight and deep
so there was little space for
Rangers to try and use the pace of
Agyemang over the top. Ledesma was
trying to get on the ball at every
opportunity and was being ably
assisted by the impressive Balanta
who was dropping deep to collect the
ball from the workmanlike pair of
Mahon and Leigertwood.
Delaney saw a header ruled out for a
foul following an excellent whipped
corner from Ledesma. Chievo quickly
capitalised on this and took the
lead through Erjan Bogdani. Gorkss
and Hall seemed to get squared up
and Iunco’s deft pass found the big
Albanian killed the ball brilliantly
on his chest and rolled it into the
corner before Cerny could get out to
stop the danger. This was Halls and
Gorkss’ first run out together and
as with most centre back pairings,
it will take a few games to get that
real bond going.
Blackstock headed a chance wide as
half time approached, shortly after
the break Hall cracked a superb
volley on the angle that dipped just
wide of the impressive Lorenzo
Squizzi’s goal. As the game reached
the hour mark Chievo made it two
after a poor lapse in concentration
at a corner.
A short corner caught Rangers out,
as it seems to every time we play no
matter who is playing or who is
managing, the ball was squared
across the edge of the box and
Simone Bentivoglio crashed it into
the corner leaving Cerny helpless to
intervene.
Dowie started to change things up
and Alberti was sent on in place of
Balanta. The youngster had turned in
a really good shift playing just off
of Blackstock. Alberti wasted no
time getting into the action and
within ten minutes he had won a
slightly fortuitous penalty. His
surge into the box brought contact
from behind and referee Webb pointed
to the spot.
Ledesma sprinted in from the wing to
grab the ball but Blackstock was
there first and told him to do one
in no uncertain terms. That looked
to have blown up in his face when
Squizzi easily gathered his first
poor effort. Webb decided there was
some encroachment and ordered the
retake, this time Dexter’s effort
was far better and it beat Squizzi
with ease.
Late on Hall headed a corner wide as
Rangers pressed for an equaliser but
in truth they were just a touch
short of the ideas or quality needed
to unlock a tight Chievo defence.
Dowie wont be happy by any means
that the team have lost three off
the reel and nor will he be happy
about how little work the opposition
keeper had to do. Chievo were tight
defensively and will probably be
more organised than the bulk of
teams we will face up against this
season but the odd long range pot
shot aside there wasn’t much to
shout about effort wise.
simon@qprnet.com |
