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This is going to be a very rapid report, so apologies this isn't going to be as in depth as usual (probably a good thing to be honest).
The first half is as bad as I have seen Ranger's play for an awful long time, and I'm trying to think back to when I have been so bored during a football match.
The sole encouraging thing from the first half was Tom Heaton. I'm not sure if he is going to dislodge Cerny as first choice goalkeeper while on loan, but he made a couple of superb stops.
The one standout moment came when Accrington were awarded a free kick from about 25 yards out. Their player struck the ball well, and it looked as if it would creep into the back of the net after curling around the wall. Heaton managed to get a hand to it though... but only straight to their striker. As he shot on the turn, Heaton somehow managed to stop it with his feet and grasp hold onto it.
It was a cracking double save, and we could easily have been a goal down as a result.
We had another scare towards the end of the first half. Stewarts bizarre backpass left Heaton with no option but to smack it clear from danger. He thought he had more time than he actually did, and as their striker advanced and got a foot on the ball - it looked as if we would end up going a goal down before the break. Fortunately the pressure Heaton put him under saw him spurn his chance wide of the post.
The players were booed off at half time.
The second half, we played far better than we did in the first.
After a superb pass from Taarabt, Ramage whipped a cracking cross into the box... and after taking one touch to control the ball, Ephraim dinked a superb little lob over the keeper to make it 1-0.
Routledge added a second in the 90th minute. After gaining possession on the edge of the box, he managed to stifle the two defenders and rocket his shot into the roof of the net after clipping the crossbar.
Near on straight away Stanley got a deserved goal. Borrowdale committed a needless foul, and from the resulting free kick they managed to pop a shot into the corner and make the final score 2-1.
After driving home, we managed to catch the 1 o'clock ferry and eventually got home at 2:30am. I had to be up for work at 8 this morning, hence the rushed/brief report.
Player Ratings (of note) -
Heaton - Looks like a very good shot stopped. His distribution did look a little wayward, but if anything was to go by we have a tremendous backup for Cerny.
Borrowdale - Came on towards the end of the first half. Committed a needless foul, Accrington scored after the cross was put into the box.
Ephraim - Probably our most lively player on the night. Took his goal very well, but overall I thought he added a great deal of width on the left hand side. Looked very sharp, should get a game on Saturday IMO.
Agyemang - Appalling. What on earth has happened to that player we used to know? Didn't look interested at all yesterday. Very lethargic, and didn't get into 2nd gear. Rightly substituted at half time.
Vine - I thought he actually looked a little better. Generally, most of what he was doing didn't come off. He did frustrate during the game, but did work hard which is more than you can say for most of them.
Routledge/Taarabt - Both looked very good when they came on, and changed the game to be honest. Routledge took his goal superbly, but both of them had a huge impact on the game.
Mahon/Buzsaky/Leigertwood/Gorkss/Stewart - Very sloppy in possession. I have since seen comments from Magilton singling out Buzsaky. But he was by no means the only culprit. Expect a massive improvement from all of them on Saturday.
In summary, it was a very poor game. It is difficult to put any kind of positive spin on it at all in honesty. The players didn't look like they were that fired up to go out and win, and most looked as if they were playing at about 60%.
BUT - At the end of the day, these games are ALL potential banana skins and the bottom line is that we won. It made for dull viewing, and offered very little excitement - but we got the result. There was no shock (as there was in plenty other fixtures) so maybe it isn't all that bad?
We will need a MASSIVE improvement on Saturday, but I am sure that we won't witness a performance like this again.
Bring on the Scunny!
The first half is as bad as I have seen Ranger's play for an awful long time, and I'm trying to think back to when I have been so bored during a football match.
The sole encouraging thing from the first half was Tom Heaton. I'm not sure if he is going to dislodge Cerny as first choice goalkeeper while on loan, but he made a couple of superb stops.
The one standout moment came when Accrington were awarded a free kick from about 25 yards out. Their player struck the ball well, and it looked as if it would creep into the back of the net after curling around the wall. Heaton managed to get a hand to it though... but only straight to their striker. As he shot on the turn, Heaton somehow managed to stop it with his feet and grasp hold onto it.
It was a cracking double save, and we could easily have been a goal down as a result.
We had another scare towards the end of the first half. Stewarts bizarre backpass left Heaton with no option but to smack it clear from danger. He thought he had more time than he actually did, and as their striker advanced and got a foot on the ball - it looked as if we would end up going a goal down before the break. Fortunately the pressure Heaton put him under saw him spurn his chance wide of the post.
The players were booed off at half time.
The second half, we played far better than we did in the first.
After a superb pass from Taarabt, Ramage whipped a cracking cross into the box... and after taking one touch to control the ball, Ephraim dinked a superb little lob over the keeper to make it 1-0.
Routledge added a second in the 90th minute. After gaining possession on the edge of the box, he managed to stifle the two defenders and rocket his shot into the roof of the net after clipping the crossbar.
Near on straight away Stanley got a deserved goal. Borrowdale committed a needless foul, and from the resulting free kick they managed to pop a shot into the corner and make the final score 2-1.
After driving home, we managed to catch the 1 o'clock ferry and eventually got home at 2:30am. I had to be up for work at 8 this morning, hence the rushed/brief report.
Player Ratings (of note) -
Heaton - Looks like a very good shot stopped. His distribution did look a little wayward, but if anything was to go by we have a tremendous backup for Cerny.
Borrowdale - Came on towards the end of the first half. Committed a needless foul, Accrington scored after the cross was put into the box.
Ephraim - Probably our most lively player on the night. Took his goal very well, but overall I thought he added a great deal of width on the left hand side. Looked very sharp, should get a game on Saturday IMO.
Agyemang - Appalling. What on earth has happened to that player we used to know? Didn't look interested at all yesterday. Very lethargic, and didn't get into 2nd gear. Rightly substituted at half time.
Vine - I thought he actually looked a little better. Generally, most of what he was doing didn't come off. He did frustrate during the game, but did work hard which is more than you can say for most of them.
Routledge/Taarabt - Both looked very good when they came on, and changed the game to be honest. Routledge took his goal superbly, but both of them had a huge impact on the game.
Mahon/Buzsaky/Leigertwood/Gorkss/Stewart - Very sloppy in possession. I have since seen comments from Magilton singling out Buzsaky. But he was by no means the only culprit. Expect a massive improvement from all of them on Saturday.
In summary, it was a very poor game. It is difficult to put any kind of positive spin on it at all in honesty. The players didn't look like they were that fired up to go out and win, and most looked as if they were playing at about 60%.
BUT - At the end of the day, these games are ALL potential banana skins and the bottom line is that we won. It made for dull viewing, and offered very little excitement - but we got the result. There was no shock (as there was in plenty other fixtures) so maybe it isn't all that bad?
We will need a MASSIVE improvement on Saturday, but I am sure that we won't witness a performance like this again.
Bring on the Scunny!
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