It seems like a lifetime ago when we last made the trip to Stoke as so much has happened since that day in January. A win that day saw us move within touching distance of the top two now a month on we made the trip to Stoke again on the back of a poor run of form which has seen us slip down to mid table with the top two well out of our reach now.

This time we were facing Port Vale who are bang in form and they had the chance to go level on points with us and open up the playoff race even more. Arriving at the train station we were met by the police with their section 60 act again and almost every fan was interviewed by police with video cameras and told they had to get on the bus to the ground.

We had to wait for the next train to arrive from London before we could leave and the bus took us straight to the pub and we were told we were staying here until the police said we could leave and be escorted to the ground by riot police. Welcome to Stoke!

It was well over the top and we were being treated like animals again on our travels to make matters worst they took us to a pub where the bar staff looked like something out of Deliverance and weren't in much of a hurray to serve us. When we did get to the ground it was just minutes before kick off and the farce continued as were not allowed to use all turnstiles despite the big queues. Quite why we couldn't go through the OAP one and just pay the £16 was beyond me but they seemed happy to have us form a long queue and almost miss the kick off.

We finally got to our seats with the game underway and it took a few minutes to work out who was playing and who wasn't. For the record Terrell Forbes, Gavin Peacock and Karl Connolly were all missing so Matthew Rose moved to right back, Langley went into midfield alongside Bonnot with Mark Perry on the right wing. Doudou was up front with Gallen in the usual 4-4-2 system.

The first half was played in front a very strong wind and it was clear the Rangers defence was struggling against the conditions from early on. Thankfully though Port Vale didn't use the wind to their advantage to often and the first ten minutes were pretty even with neither side having many chances.

Our weak spot was our right side during this game as Rose and Perry were always coming into the middle and Marc Bridge Wilkinson had acres of space on the left but his team mates failed to pick him out. That was until the eighteenth minute when they did find him totally unmarked and he curled a brilliant shot into the corner of the net for the opening goal It was very sloppy defending and whilst many fans blamed the recent scapegoat Leroy for giving the ball away I was more worried about why Rose and Perry were leaving the left winger totally unmarked.

The sloppy defending continued but we began to get the ball forward a bit more and had a few half chances. Gallen had a good header tipped over the bar by the keeper and Doudou hit a curling a shot just wide. We got into some good positions out wide but the final ball let us down once to often and from a few corners Danny Shittu went close but Port Vale were defending well.

At half time we deserved to be a goal down but we still had enough quality to make the fans believe the second half could get better. Holloway made a few changes at half time. Mark Perry and Leroy Griffiths came off and we switched to a 3-5-2 with Pacquette going up front and Danny Murphy came to play on the left. The change saw us have a good start to the half as we pushed forward and should have got level through Pacquette.

He intercepted a back pass but his control was poor and he allowed the keeper to block his shot. Port Vale still had the better chances as they caught us on the break several times and we had Digby to thanks for some good saves and Steve Palmer for some excellent last ditch defending.

We had loads of possession though but the lack of cutting edge to the team was obvious and despite Gallen working hard to win the ball and create some half chances we never really looked like getting back in the game.

Our best chance didn't even hit the target. Richard Langley knocked the ball over two defenders head and hit a great volley but a defender threw himself in front of the ball to stop a certain goal. Our corners were poor though as we failed to get enough bodies in the box and despite all the hard work the players were clearly putting in the goal we needed just wasn't coming and a 1-0 defeat was a fair reflection of the game.

The players deserve credit for the amount of effort they put into the game but we just lack that little bit of quality that is needed to win these type of games.

Man of the Match: Steve Palmer

Players Ratings:

30. Fraser Digby: Made a crucial save in the second half to keep us in the game but didn't have much else to do. 7/10

12. Matthew Rose: His marking and positional sense was poor when he was at right back but he looked better in the second half. 6/10

11. Marcus Bignot: Played at left back them at right wing back and gave everything in both positions. His defending was good and he was always trying to get forward where the weaker side of his game is exploited but another good performance by Marcus. 7/10

4. Steve Palmer: Played his best game for a while getting stuck in and leading the team from the back. 8/10

31. Danny Shittu: After a few dodgy games he looked a lot more solid here but can play a lot better than this. 6/10

2. Mark Perry: Passed the ball well and put in a few good crossed but was poor defensively where you would expect him to do better. 6/10

9. Richard Langley: Came into the game more in the second half but not at his best today. 7/10

26. Alex Bonnot: Had a decent game passing the ball well and linked well with Langley. Hopefully he's get his contract extended to the end of the season. 7/10

14. Leroy Griffiths: Runs his heart out for the team and tries to do tricks and to entertain the crowd. Sadly we need him to do the simple things a lot better and after he lost possession for their goal he seemed to lose a lot of confidence and he isn't helped though by being slagged off by supporters every time he makes a mistake. 6/10

29. Doudou: Another quiet game from Doudou who tries his best but needs to get more involved in games and have the confidence to open teams up with his undoubted ability. 6/10

18. Kevin Gallen: Decent game from Gallen, he worked hard up front forcing mistakes from the defence and almost grabbed a goal from a first half header 7/10

Subs

22. Richard Pacquette: Should have scored but his control let him down and I don't think he is the answer to our goal scoring problem at the moment although he does have a lot of potential. 6/10

23. Danny Murphy: Murphy did well when he came on and looked a threat coming forward, should have done enough to earn a starting place on Tuesday. 7/10