After a two week break it was back to action yesterday and what a game to return with. A full house as the league leaders Sunderland came to town. Rangers knew a win would put us right in the playoff picture whilst the visitors were looking to extend their lead at the top.

As we arrived at the ground in bright sunshine I had my usual pre match bet opting for Matthew Rose as first goalscorer. Within a minute of placing the bet the teams were announced. Rose was missing through injury meaning a return t the side for Gino Padula. Luckily I was able to change the bet to back Danny Shittu instead, which turned out to be a profitable decision.

The teams came out in the bright sunshine to a huge ovation from both sets of fans and we were ready to go. Apart from Gino Padula’s inclusion, Rangers made one other change from the side that beat Rotherham. Gareth Ainsworth is out of 6 weeks with a knee injury so Georges Santos replaced him meaning a move back to the right wing for Martin Rowlands

Rangers started the game brightly attacking towards the school end. Rowlands was quick to test the visiting keeper after cutting in on the right he got on the end of a pass from Kevin Gallen and fired a shot, which was saved by the keeper.

It was a good start by Rangers as we got right in the league leaders faces battling for every ball and making life difficulty for them. A Lee Cook corner on the right caused problems as Davies almost got on the end of it and it was hard to tell which team were sitting on top of the league.

Paul Furlong looked up for the game and was booked after just eight minutes. His late tackle was a foul but the reaction of Mick McCarthy and the rest of the Sunderland bench made sure Furlong was booked rather than spoken to. The referee was the clown who disallowed two perfectly good Rangers goals at Leicester a few months ago and he continued his clown like abilities by allowing Arca to get treatment but then let him stay on the pitch rather than go off as he’s supposed to.

Rangers won a series of corners as the pressure continued and we came so close to an opening goal. The deliveries by Cook were outstanding and three times we went close to scoring with Furlong, Shittu and Santos inches away from getting on the end of the set pieces.

The home fans were getting right behind the team and the atmosphere was excellent as we looked to take the game to Sunderland.

A nice lay off by Gallen sent Cook away and we won yet another corner. This time it was Martin Rowlands who stepped up to take it and his cross was excellent and found Dan Shittu unmarked at the far post to head past Mhyre and give Rangers the lead. Shittu was mobbed by his teammates and I got ready to count my winnings.

Rangers continued to press forward and the visitors didn’t seem to have much of an answer to our game plan.

Martin Rowlands was excellent on the right but after flying into a hard tackle he picked up an injury and after limping for several minutes he was eventually taken off which was a huge blow.

Dean Sturridge replaced him and Rangers began to lose their shape. Kevin Gallen initially went to the right wing but he was unable to do the same job Rowlands was doing so well and we began to let the visitors back in the game.

Such was the poor performance of Sunderland though that they failed to take advantage of our shortcomings and a header wide by Robinson was the closest they came to drawing level.

Rangers continued to have chances. Dean Sturridge used his skill and pace to get past three challenges but his shot was blocked by a fourth challenge as he got into the box.

As the half came to an end Rangers almost made it 2-0 with a good breakaway. Gino Padula won a tackle deep in our own half and as Cook lost the loose ball Gino recovered to launch a hopeful long cross field ball. The ball found Furlong who ran onto it and fired a strong volley towards the top corner, which the keeper did well to parry away for a corner. Furlong acknowledged the pass by Padula who was having a good game in his bid to win a contract with Rangers.

When the referee blew for half time it was a standing ovation for the home side Rangers had dominated from the first minute and deserved to be further ahead. Mick McCarthy though didn’t look a happy man and it was obvious that Sunderland would come out a different side in the second half.

The task was simple for Rangers though, just play like we did in the first half and the three points would be ours. Not for the first time this season it was Rangers who came out for the second half with a relaxed attitude which won’t have pleased Ian Holloway. Marc Bircham and Kevin Gallen swapped positions in a bid to give us a bit more defensive shape on the right wing but Bircham sadly didn’t provide much at all.

Sunderland started the half looking for an early goal and they got it far easier than they would have expected. Rangers stood off the visitors and allowed them to put a few passes together and a cross to the far post saw Bignot marking two men as Bircham stood and watched. Bignot half cleared the danger but it fell to the unmarked Welsh who fired into the bottom corner to bring the league leaders level.

Rangers went straight back up the other end and tried to get back in front. Sturridge played a nice ball into the path of Lee Cook who raced down the left and fired in a shot, which was well saved again by Myhre. From the corner Gallen produced another excellent delivery but once again Rangers seemed hesitant in attacking the cross and Sunderland managed to clear the danger.

Sunderland almost made it 2-1 when Brown got clear of Shittu but shot straight at Royce. It came from a rare piece of slack defending by Shittu who was appealing for offside.

The visitors did grab the lead soon after a well-worked move. Once again Rangers backed off them and allowed Sunderland to pass and move and they cut us apart. They moved the ball around quickly and accurately and a challenge from a Rangers player would have been nice but in the end a good ball by Arca into the box found Brown who beat Padula to the ball and fired past Royce. It was a Premiership quality goal from a team who look likely to be in the Premiership next season.

Rangers kept pushing hard for an equaliser but chances were hard to come by now and despite some good free kicks and corners being floated in we didn’t seem to have the belief we would score and the visitors easily defended half chances.

Paul Furlong was denied a penalty by referee Phil Dowd. A ball into the box saw Furlong rise and had his shirt pulled before being pushed to the floor. Amazingly a free kick was given to Sunderland with Furlong perhaps penalised for the same invisible offence that saw Martin Rowlands goals disallowed at Leicester (not that I’m still bitter about that game or anything).

Dean Sturridge was taken off with an injury as Jamie Cureton got another chance to impress. After an early sliced shot from the edge of the box he struggled to have any impact out on the right wing.

Sunderland were looking a real threat on the break and as Georges Santos gave the ball away they broke again and made it 3-1. This time Marcus Stewart had the Rangers half to himself as he bore down on goal. Royce did well to halt his progress but he couldn’t get hold of the ball and Julio Arca followed up to kill the game off.

Ranger’s heads were starting to go down but we still had a few chances to get back in the game. Andrew Davies angled header looked to have beaten Myhre but the Sunderland keeper somehow managed to get a hand on the ball and claw it from under the bar away for a corner.

Adam Miller was given a few late minutes and saw a decent effort saved by the keeper but it was all too late now and the disappointment was obvious as most of the home fans made an early exit.

I thought 3-1 was a harsh score line on us as they didn't deserve to win by that many if at all.

I thought first half we were excellent. We looked up for the game, were right in their faces and played some decent football and we could and should have been 2 or 3 goals ahead by half time.

Of course the turning point though was Rowlands going off. I felt we lost our shape as he was playing so well and whoever had replaced him on the right would have struggled. We ended up trying Gallen, Bircham, Miller and Cureton and none of them were good enough to do the job Rowlands was doing defensively and going forward.

Bircham was the biggest disappointment for me and I thought he was half asleep for the equaliser. The whole team looked half asleep as they came out clearly fired up and Bircham should have been covering the unmarked Welsh on the far post. I don't expect Bircham to do much going forward but he should be far more switched on defensively than he was in that second half.

After that I thought we still did enough to win the game or at least get a point but Holloway is right when he talks about desire as I thought some of the corners were excellent but we didn't seem to want to push ourselves that extra inch to get on the end of them. When they broke we also showed them a bit too much respect and the second goal was so simple someone really should have prevented it, we just seemed to stand off and watch them.

Shame so many fans left early as the players deserved to be clapped off at the end and the fact that we all felt so gutted at not beating the top side in the division just shows how far we've come this season and how expectation levels are sky high at the moment.

We'll need to learn from this though if we want to make the playoffs and if we did go up then every mistake we make next year will be punished so that's a good lesson for us yesterday to not give the ball away as cheaply as Santos and Bircham were doing.

I'm sure Holloway will come in for a bit of stick for not bringing Miller on until towards the end but although I rate Miller I don't think bringing him on any earlier would have changed much but I suppose we'll never know.

We can take some positives from the game though. For 45 minutes we were by far the better side and for most of the second half I thought we were better than them without playing brilliantly, I thought Gino had a very good game and looked keen to try and earn a contract, Furlong was excellent as were Shittu and Davies whilst Rowlands was having one of his best games of the season on the right before he went off.

As I said before I was disappointed with Bircham who was very poor and Santos had one of his headless chicken afternoons. Gallen didn't have the best of games but by the end of the game I don't think he knew what position he was playing in anymore which never helps.

Tuesday should be a tough game but if we can win that and get something at Sheffield next Saturday then the playoffs are still there for us so hopefully the fans won't give up on the team just yet.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Dan Shittu

Players Ratings: Royce 7, Bignot 7, Padula 7, Shittu 8, Davies 7, Cook 7, Bircham 6, Rowlands 8, Santos 5, Gallen 6, Furlong 7
Subs: Cureton 6, Sturridge 7, Miller 7