It is something of a rarity for Holloway to be able to name an unchanged line up these days. Truth be told, it is more the case that these were the only players he had rather than being the ones he wanted to select. Royce was in goal behind Bignot, Shittu, Milanese and Dyer. Ainsworth, Rowlands, Bean and Langley were in midfield behind Moore and Furlong.

Rangers started pretty brightly but there was controversy as early as the fifth minute. Rangers won a freekick on the edge of the area and Langley whipped a shot goalward. The ball flashed across the near post and hit the side netting, fooling most of the R’s fans into thinking it was in. Lewis Price had dived to his near post and Furlong had tried to hurdle him but inadvertently caught the keeper with a trailing boot. Jason De Vos was not happy and told Furs as much. His protests seemed to be enough to persuade weakling ref Matt Messias to show him the yellow card. The ever ungracious Joe Royle also claimed it was deliberate but that is about par for the course with him.

The game restarted with Price sporting a Steve Foster headband and it seemed to spur the home side into action. Shittu seemed to be having a slightly rocky time and was beaten for pace by Nicky Forster and Milanese was forced to send the ball behind for a corner. The resulting kick whistled across the goalmouth with the R’s defence statuesque in their attempts to clear. This would be a theme for the afternoon as Currie’s delivery undid them time and time again.

Rangers should have taken the lead when Shittu was presented with a simple headed chance by his standards. Langley’s ball into the box had plenty of pace but Shittu tried to give it the full neck twist treatment and the ball hit him on the side of the head and flew into the crowd.

Undeterred Rangers carried in trying to play. Langley and Rowlands were far more effective than they had been at Stoke and it was the former that started the move for a beautifully crafted opener. Langley turned on the touchline and played a great ball into the feet of Stefan Moore. He carried the ball forward and slipped it wide for Ainsworth before charging into the box. Ainsworth’s delivery was perfect and Moore arrived at the near post to head past Price. It was a great goal and showed that Moore is a much better player than the form we have seen so far.

Ipswich responded though and it was set pieces that were causing all the problems. A fairly small side by Olly’s standards was getting bullied in the box and time and again Currie sent in balls that caused mayhem. Royce saved well from De Vos and Forster and Furlong had to be alert to nod another devilish ball over his own bar. It was inevitable that the equaliser would come down the same route and so it did just after the half hour.

Shittu should have cleared the ball into touch but he allowed Billy Sharp to rob him and cross the ball and Milanese had to put it behind. Currie’s delivery to the near post was perfect and De Vos lost his marker to beast a header past Royce. It was a well worked corner but someone had slept in on the marking and I suspect it may have been Shittu.

Four minutes before the break Rangers hit the front again with Furlong getting on the score sheet. Once again Ainsworth was the provider, his cross from the right was deflected and looped high over Price to the far post where Furlong was on hand to bundle home from a yard. Two in two now for Furlong, shame he will now miss the Coventry game through suspension for collecting five yellows. He does seem to be playing his way back into the form that saw him on fire last season.

After the break Rangers could have scored a third when Marcus Bean went on a barnstorming run through the heart of the Ipswich and seemed destined to notch when a leg snaked out to block his effort. Langley then forced Price into a good save from a twenty five yard freekick as Rangers continued their quest for a third.

Furlong then forced Price into another save as he crashed in a shot from an Ainsworth cross. He then showed his defensive worth at the other end as he got in front of Jimmy Juan to poke the ball away from the young Frenchman who looked to have the goal at his mercy.

Stefan Moore then had a great chance to wrap up the game as he found himself running unopposed into the Ipswich half. He was heading for De Vos but for some reason decided to shoot early rather than commit the rather cumbersome centre half and he only served to drag his shot wide of Price’s goal.

In an effort to try and nullify Ipswich’s obvious aerial threat Evatt and Santos had been thrown on in place of Langley and Dyer. Soon after, Rowlands was forced off with cramp and this seemed to stunt our momentum. Rowlands had covered every inch of the Portman Road pitch in the second half and along with Beany was shutting down their midfield for fun. With Cook replacing him things seemed to go awry and the pressure became more and more intense.

It was now like the Alamo in the R’s box as high ball after high ball came in and was headed clear. Evatt must have got his head on four or five good clearances before a Jim Magilton pass proved a ball too far for Rangers. Danny Haynes, a seventeen year old making his home debut, drifted in from the right to meet Magilton’s perfect pass with a fabulous header that left Royce without a prayer. Milanese seemed to be the man at fault as he could not keep tabs on his man and trailed in a yard behind the youngster.

The final whistle followed soon after and although this may have felt like two points dropped at the time, I think if anyone had offered you four points from any team at the start of the season you would have taken it. The long and short of this game was that we had no answer to the quality of delivery from Currie and the height and belligerence of the players attacking those balls. If we had been able to have anything like that quality from our deliveries things could have been different.

simon@qprnet.com