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Rangers’ pre season campaign got
underway on Saturday afternoon with
a fairly comfortable 3-1 win at
Stevenage Borough. Twenty two
players got a trot out as Dowie took
an opportunity to have a good look
at the bulk of the squad. There was
some good, some bad and some as to
be expected as the boys began to
blow the summer cobwebs away.
As the fans started to filter into
the ground the most noticeable
thing, aside from the howling gale
blowing diagonally across the pitch,
was the number of plastic cones
littered about the place. A Dowie
warm up is something akin to the M1
road works it would appear, only
with people actually doing stuff
within them rather than sitting on
their arse in a caravan having a
brew!
Dowie went into the game with Camp
in goal behind Ramage, Rehman,
Stewart and Barker. Ainsworth,
Bolder, Rowlands and Ephraim made up
the midfield four with Agyemang and
Di Carmine up top. The game started
as the early pre season games
usually seem to, five yard passes
going all over the shop and nobody
quite managing to get to grips with
the game for the first ten minutes.
The back four looked shaky to say
the least, the Rehman/Stewart
partnership, so often a pair that
play in almost total silence, looked
to have stuck to the same formula
that hasn’t served them well in the
past with neither of them willing to
attack the ball properly or take
responsibility for picking up
runners. Stewart was sporting a new
beard that made him look like a
Jamaican Pharaoh, Rehman and Barker,
whilst not having a new look
themselves, did move as though they
had spent the summer in embalming
fluid! At right back Ramage looked
like a player that had barely played
in anger for twelve months. He will
definitely need a couple of decent
outings to get the legs going
again.
Defensive hesitancy all round saw
Stevenage find the net only to have
it ruled out for offside. A ball
from the right saw Barker lose his
man and the centre backs fail to
track theirs onto a knockdown. It
looked a tight decision but there
wasn’t much complaining going on.
There was something of an inquest
when the ball went out of play next
between the defence but it didn’t
really improve things much.
Thankfully Rangers were looking a
lot sharper going the other way.
Ephraim was seeing plenty of the
ball and went past his full back a
couple of times. Ainsworth was
running willingly on the other side
and was finding Ramage to be a
willing overlapping runner. The
quality coming in wasn’t brilliant
though but hopefully that will
sharpen up.
It was clear that Dowie had
instructed Rowlands to get the ball
wide whenever he could, he was
spraying forty yard balls toward
either winger whenever the
opportunity came, some were a little
overcooked but a few hit the spot.
Bolder was his usual spiky self in
midfield, Stevenage had already
stuck a couple of fairly rum
challenges in so Bolder decided to
return fire. Bolder’s problems
usually arise though when he gets
the ball himself and I am struggling
to remember a pass from him that
actually went forward.
Rangers almost opened the scoring
when some good interplay down the
right flank ended with Di Carmine
throwing himself at a Ramage cross
only to see the ball crash back off
of the ridiculously out of shape
Muggleton’s left hand post.
Stevenage were having a bit of joy
with driving runs through the heart
of the R’s midfield. They had a
shaven headed midfielder that looked
great on the ball, although the
killer pass seemed to elude him.
Bolder couldn’t track him and Rehman
and Stewart seemed to be having
trouble deciding which one would go
and face him up.
The opening goal came when a long
punt from the back saw the
impressive Di Carmine show a decent
turn of pace to get into position,
take possession of the ball and feed
it into Ephraim. The little winger
burst into the box, tied his full
back in knots and calmly slotted
home.
Ainsworth saw a header kicked off
the line after he had found space at
a corner; he also sent one of his
trademark inappropriate volleys into
the side netting. Stevenage were
getting plenty of change from Rehman
and Stewart, Thomas shot wide when
well placed before a nothing ball
over the top saw sub Iyesden
Christie steam away from the hapless
pair and draw a good save from
Camp.
Rangers were perhaps a little
fortunate to go in a goal up at the
break as Stevenage had at least been
their equals. With a little more
composure in front of goal they
could have scored two or three
themselves and the back four that
started will not have done much to
impress the new gaffer.
All ten outfield players were
changed at the break and Camp now
found himself behind a back four of
Connolly, Hall, Walton and Delaney.
Alberti, Mahon, Ledesma and Rose
were in midfield with Balanta and
Blackstock up front. The half
started perfectly for Rangers with
the lead being doubled within a
minute.
Balanta received the ball and fed it
to Rose who moved into the box,
using the defender as a shield he
took aim and fired an excellent shot
past Muggleton at his near post.
This clearly gave Rose a massive
confidence boost and for the next
twenty minutes he tore the right
back a new one.
Rangers were seeing far more of the
ball now and seemed to be sharper
when using it. Ledesma in the middle
of the park looked comfortable in
possession and as Rowlands had done
before him, looked to get the wide
men involved. When Stevenage did get
it they found that Hall and Walton
were a stiffer barrier than their
predecessors.
Rose sent in a far post ball that
Blackstock headed straight at
Muggleton before the Dexter made a
chance for himself with a great
surging run but for some reason he
tried to find Balanta rather than
having a crack himself. The
Stevenage midfield were struggling
with Ledesma who was drifting into
the space between the midfield and
defence, he was always playing with
his head up and a good pass sent
Blackstock in who seemed to be
felled but referee Russell wasn’t
interested. From the resulting
corner Delaney didn’t make a decent
contact after wriggling free at the
near post.
Ledesma was agonisingly close to a
goal when his surging burst from the
middle of the park was
unceremoniously halted on the edge
of the box. It looked too close to
get the ball up and down over the
wall but Ledesma almost managed it
with a sweet strike that smashed
into the face of the bar.
The third goal arrived quickly
after; Blackstock played the ball
wide to Rose who sent another good
ball in. The ball cleared everyone
and fell into the path of Matteo
Alberti who steadied himself before
firing past Muggleton with the aid
of a slight deflection. Stevenage
hit back quickly though as some
sloppy defending handed them a
goal.
Connolly was beaten easily by the
left winger and his cross was met by
Christie who had simply walked off
the back of Hall and Walton. Camp
had no chance as the burly striker
thumped his header home. The
frequent Stevenage changes that
followed at five minute intervals
meant that the decent rhythm the
game had to this point was killed
off.
The rest of the game seemed to
mainly centre around Ledesma taking
on the role of pantomime villain to
the Stevenage fans. He yelped like a
kicked dog when he was caught by a
slightly naughty looking two footed
challenge and when he got an arm in
the chops a few minutes later he was
down again for a roll about. He has
come from a footballing culture
where play acting is part and parcel
of the game, it wont take him long
to realise that he wont get much
sympathy for it here and I expect it
will be all but gone in the next
couple of months.
The Argentinean playmaker did go
close again when he worked himself
an opening outside the box but saw
his shot drift wide with Muggleton
again too fat to get anywhere near
it. The closing stages saw both
sides fail to create anything of
note and Reece Crowther came on for
a pretty uneventful last five
minutes in place of Camp.
So a solid start, plenty to work on
but plenty to be pleased with to.
Northampton on Wednesday night
should be a stiffer test and there
will be a few players feeling a
little bit anxious about turning a
good performance in for that one as
I don’t think Dowie will be happy
with a number of them.
simon@qprnet.com |
