A sleeves rolled up, foot in, battling performance was the order of the day for Rangers as they racked up their fourth away win of the season with a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. The fluency of recent weeks wasn’t always in evidence but a steely determination most certainly was. 

Having seen Speroni of Palace turn back the tide on Tuesday night many assumed Magilton would be picking a similar side. There were two changes with Borrowdale and Faurlin missing out, one through illness, the other through reasons known only to the manager. Cerny started in goal behind Leigertwood, Hall, Gorkss and Ramage. The midfield four started with Buzsaky, Watson, Mahon and Taarabt and Routledge up with Simpson. This changed quickly though after kick off and Taarabt seemed to take the central role with Routledge right and Buzsaky left but they were, as ever, totally interchangeable. 

Rangers started the game brightly and Buzsaky was fed by Taarabt but could only lash a shot high and wide of Grant’s goal. Rangers were probing for a weakness and retaining possession pretty well at this point; as the game reached the ten minute mark Rangers converted a tidy start into the lead. Taarabt picked up the ball and when he found himself crowded out he dropped off before reversing an excellent pass into the path of Simpson. The on loan Gunner had found the gap between full back and centre back and despatched a clinical left footed finish across Grant into the corner. 

In the very next attack Taarabt was once again the creator as he slipped Routledge in this time. He sent a low right footed shot across Grant but this time his shot hit the base of the far post and skidded away for a throw in. it was a tough chance but one that should have been taken. Routledge couldn’t finish a steak dinner most of the time so it was little surprise that he missed the target. I often sit their baffled over how he has scored six this season, had he taken half of his chances he would be into double figures comfortably. 

Rangers were made to pay for this miss as Wednesday quickly got themselves back on level terms. Rangers were in possession and Hall sent a ball into midfield for Taarabt, he in turn tried to lay it off to Watson but left it short and Potter jumped on it and sent Johnson in behind the poor Leigertwood. The makeshift right back was left for dead and the Jamaican wide man finished the chance via the far post. It was a tidy finish but once again by getting caught trying to play their way out of defence Rangers had been hoisted by their own petard.

Wednesday were screaming for a penalty shortly after as Varney got the wrong side of Hall and threw himself to the ground. There wasn’t any contact and it should have been a booking. In truth Varney mugged himself off as surely had he waited a fraction of a second Hall would have tried to put him in a Boston Crab and dragged him over in his usual style. Hall didn’t last much longer, after flying into an ugly looking challenge on Varney he was left writhing around on the deck and his own ergonomically designed personal stretcher that he brings to all games was brought down the touchline for him. It wasn’t needed but he was soon off and Connolly was on. Almost immediately an air of calm seemed to descend on the back line as Connolly and Gorkss dealt with most threats coolly. 

Watson smashed an effort goalward from thirty yards that Grant managed to beat away. The ball looped up toward Ramage who was supporting from left back and he got a header on target but this was easily gathered. Varney went close to giving Wednesday the lead when he found space in the box but Cerny managed to flip his effort onto the post. 

As the half drew to a close Routledge passed up another excellent chance when through one on one with Grant. With the goal in his sights he managed to smash the ball straight at the keeper. His poor finishing has been exposed whilst he has been playing centrally, you expect better of a player in that area. The teams went to the tunnel with the scores level and whilst Rangers had perhaps shaded the play on chances, the home side were very much in the game and a stalemate was fair at that stage. 

Chances were at a premium at the start of the second half. Rangers were struggling to carve anything out of note, it wasn’t helping that Watson and Buzsaky both looked well off the pace. Watson obviously hasn’t had much football thanks to his propensity to have first use of the bath water; there is little doubt that he is an excellent player at this level but not at the moment. Buzsaky was quiet on Tuesday against Palace and similarly here, too many passes were being left short and it just wasn’t quite happening.

Potter should have worked Cerny when he fired in a free kick from twenty yards that failed to hit the target. At the other end Taarabt found space inside the box but went for a nigh on impossible left footed drive at the near post and could only find Grant’s side netting. Shortly afterwards Simpson went in search of his second when he created an opening for himself with some nifty footwork but he shot straight at Grant.  

Wednesday tested the strength of the woodwork for a second time in the game when former Ipswich man Tommy Miller fired in a fizzing low shot from outside the box that beat Cerny but hit the same post Routledge had found in the first half. Watson should have done better when Routledge flew past Spurr on the wing and crossed the ball. Watson had ghosted to the near post but he made minimal contact with the ball and it flew away to safety.  

Magilton made his second change of the game with a little over twenty minutes to play. Faurlin came on in place of Buzsaky and whilst not the same type of player the impressive young Argentinean immediately got Rangers moving with his incisive passing. Brian Laws also made three quick changes around the same time. Simek was forced off with cramp and his replacement, contract rebel Richard Wood was given dogs abuse when he came on. Miller went off from the middle of the park and Johnson, who had torn Leigertwood several new arses, was also taken off. That was an odd one as he was Wednesday’s best player by some distance so I wonder whether he had been feeling the effects of the bug that appears to have decimated the football world. 

Rangers’ ball retention was suddenly very good and the home side were struggling to get a look in. When they did manage to force a site of goal as the game entered the last ten minutes, Clarke shot and it appeared to have been saved by Cerny but referee Miller, a man who appears to base most decisions on pure guesswork, gave a goal kick. Three Wednesday players quickly surrounded him and bullied him into a change of heart. Perhaps they should hang around by his gate on Monday morning and nick his lunch money off of him too! The corner came to nothing as it happened but his next awful decision would result in the winning goal. 

Taarabt managed to work himself a shot at goal from the edge of the box but his effort was high and handsome. Everyone was turning to trot back toward half way when Miller bizarrely pointed for a corner. Faurlin trotted across to take it and whipped a ball in to the near post where Gorkss arrived on cue to plant a firm low header past Grant for his first goal since his move to Rangers the summer before last.

There were eight minutes to go now and the style of the two sides for the remainder of the game couldn’t have been more different. Rangers were happy to keep the ball, move it round the field and take the sting out of the game. The home side, whenever they managed to get hold of it, just pumped it at Leon Clarke and hoped someone would pick up the scraps. It was Clarke that spurned their only real sight of goal in the closing stages as he missed the target when well placed. The long ball bombardment was sheer folly with Connolly and Gorkss in imperious form.  

Rangers saw out the remainder of the game and four minutes stoppage time with the minimum of fuss. Magilton called this an ugly win, but you would say it was more David Wheater ugly than Steve Ogrizovic ugly! At times we played some decent stuff, the first ten and last twenty minutes were pretty tidy although the hour in between was more of a battle. Winning tight games is what gets you promoted, it is the games you win by one goal, not the games you win by three or four that ultimately decide what’s what in the shake up. Rangers have now shown they have this type of performance in the locker and it will have to come out several more times before this season is done and dusted.

simon@qprnet.com