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After Saturdays 3-0 win over Burnley it was all change again for Rangers as Millwall made the short trip across London for an important derby game. With Martin Rowlands nursing a suspected broken foot Ian Holloway was forced into making changes. Gino Padula replaced Rowlands as the team was reshuffled. Padula started at left back with Santos and Rose in central defence and Frankie Simek at right back. Bignot started on the right wing with the rest of the team the same as Saturday. It was a rather defensive looking team but with McLeod and Thorpe on the bench we had options to change things if the initial approach didn't work. Millwall won the toss and elected to make Rangers attack towards the Loft in the first half, which is always disappointing. Rangers went after a goal from the start but were up against a very strong Millwall defence and without the creativity of Rowlands and Gallen in midfield we struggled to get any sort of passing game together. It was reminiscent of some of our games earlier in the season where we struggled to adapt to this level and the opening spell of the game saw plenty of huff and puff from both sides but Millwall were playing the better football. Chances were few and far between though with neither side looking able to create openings for the forwards. Millwall's best chance of scoring seemed to be coming through midfielder Adrian Serioux. The Canadian had a ridiculous long throw which could reach the six-yard box from the half way line. It was causing all sorts of problems for us and Day was struggling to get the ball clear as it flew in with great pace and accuracy towards the Rangers goal. Our only plan to stop this was to have Cook stand in front of Serioux to try and put him off which proved to be a good tactic later in the game. One of these throws almost produced the first goal of the game as Day flapped at the ball and Mark Phillips fired wide with the goal at his mercy. It was pretty dire stuff for most of the half although we began to get on top in the last 15 minutes of the half. Bignot created a half chance for Furlong, which Livermore did well to block. Bircham hit two shots well over the bar as he looked on a mission to score against his old club. Bircham was getting plenty of stick from his former clubs fans with the highly amusing "He's got a lion on his arm and a lump of birdshit on his head" the pick of the songs they were singing. The lion on his arm song went on for at least half an hour and really seemed to wind Bircham up and he got booked for an off the ball tangle with Barry Hayles. Despite the away sides reputation for crowd trouble it was hard not to be impressed by the noise they were making and the Millwall fans were easily the loudest away fans I've heard at Loftus Road since we played Man City five years ago. The half time whistle was a relief when it came and I'm sure I wasn't alone in hoping for a bit more entertainment in the second half. Holloway didn't make any changes at the break and we soon fell behind after some poor defending. A simple ball into the box caused panic for some reason and Rangers made a real mess of clearing the ball and it fell to Barry Hayles who easily placed his shot past Day to give the away side the lead. Hayles looked a few yards offside at the time but we only had ourselves to blame for such poor defending to gift them the lead. We needed to do something to get back in the game as Millwall looked the better side and it was hard to see a way back in it for us. The very disappointing duo of Gino Padula and Serge Branco were taken off on 56 minutes with McLeod and Thorpe coming on. This meant another switch with Bignot going to left back, Gallen in midfield, Thorpe up front and Mcleod on the right. As we tried to organise ourselves Millwall should have got a second when a Santos mistake left Hayles through but he fired well over the bar. We were looking a shambles and unable to put two passes together without lumping it forward to Furlong and it just wasn't working. We were handed a break though when Serioux had a moment of madness. As he got ready for another long throw he decided to throw it right in Cook's face instead of aim for the penalty spot. The linesman was just yards away so called the ref over and it was a red card for Mr Serioux. A stupid sending off although to be honest I thought a yellow card would have been sufficient. Rangers threw everything at Millwall after this. Santos went up front as we went 3-4-3 but the game took on a familiar pattern. We'd hit it long to Santos and Furlong and Darren Ward would head it straight back to us. We needed to get our wide players in the game but we seemed intent on hitting the big men and the ploy never looked like working. Millwall still looked the more dangerous as they kept hitting us on the break and better finishing from Tessem and Hayles would have seen the game well over before the 70 minute mark. The impressive Livermore also missed a sitter with an open goal to aim for he hit the upper Loft. Kevin Gallen created a rare chance for himself shooting just over the bar but with time running out it looked a lost cause for Rangers. One fan in front of me then lost the plot and not for the first time this season. He told anyone singing Holloway's blue and white army to fuck off giving us all wankers' signs. I don't mind people moaning about the manager every now and again but this bloke has been slating Holloway during games all season putting his fingers in his ears whenever Holloway's name is sung and telling the Q Block to fuck off when they sing Ollie give us a wave. He'll probably argue that he pays his money so is entitled to his opinion, which is fair enough, but that works both ways and those who want to sing Holloway's name have also paid their money and don't deserve to have a bloke scream "Fuck off" and "Shut up" at them every time they want to sing a song about the manager who has got us promoted for the first time in 20 years and into the top six in the Championship. Time was now running out and we looked to be getting what we deserved from a poor performance, which was nothing. But Rangers under Holloway never give up and we somehow nicked a point through Paul Furlong. Gallen played a neat ball into Santos who laid it off to Furlong and the big striker powered in a shot towards the keepers right and the ball bounced in off the post to give Furlong his tenth of the season. It was the first time we'd put more than two passes together all night and that resulted in a goal. Big celebrations all round including the bloke who had been telling everyone to fuck off five minutes earlier celebrating Holloway's team win another point. It wasn't over though and we almost won it with the next attack. A cross from Lee Cook found McLeod totally unmarked from ten yards out but the scouse lost the plot and smashed his shot well wide and it seemed easier to score. Millwall still had time to have one last attack and they almost scored from it. A ball into the box had Day beaten, Hayles looked certain to score until Bignot cleared from under the post to save the day. So a point won in the local derby in a game very few will look back on and remember in years to come. Millwall looked a decent side and if they had Dichio and Harris fit I think they'd have comfortably beaten us but instead they had Hayles who missed far too many chances for them. Rangers were as poor as I've seen them this season but to take a point out of a game when we play that badly has to be seen a big positive. We'll need to learn lessons from this game though and we simply have to learn to adapt to play against teams who play five in midfield.Whenever we faced that system this season we have struggled. Rangers face a tough next two games now away at West Ham and home to unbeaten Wigan and we'll need to play a hell of a lot better in those games if we are to pick up any more points. Man of the Match: Paul Furlong Players Ratings
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