Team Line Up
		24. Radek Cerny
16. Matthew Connolly		13. Kaspars Gorkks	3. Damien Stewart		2. Damien Delaney
					20. Emmanuel Ledesma
25. Hogan Ephraim		6. Mikele Leigterwood	14. Martin Rowlands (c)		7. Wayne Routledge
5. Fitz Hall		22. Samuel Di Carmine
		9. Dexter Blackstock	27. Heider Helguson
Substitutes

Ranger’s third home game in a row and with several games called off in the morning it was a great chance to Rangers to put some pressure on the teams in the playoffs.

As has been the case in recent weeks though rangers underperformed and struggled to another draw in front of a frustrated crowd who appear to be growing with anger every week.

Sousa went back to a more traditional 4-4-2 formation with Leigterwood and Rowlands in the middle and new signing Wayne Routledge starting on the left wing. Hogan Ephraim started on the right as lee Cook missed out on starting due to a virus. Heider Helguson replaced Di Carmine up front whilst there was a welcome return for Matthew Connolly at right back.

One of the things that jumped out when the team was announced was how weak the bench looked with not many names jumping out as being able to come on and change the game if needed.

Coventry won the toss and for the first time in a while we attacked towards the Loft end in the first half something that shouldn’t make a difference but always seems to if we don’t score early.

Rangers looked brighter than we did last week from the off looking to spread the play and get in behind the Coventry defence. Routledge was seeing plenty of the ball and exciting the Rangers fans by running at his full back and winning several free kicks with Coventry’s only answer to stop him being to pull him back or kick him. Our delivery from set pieces though was once again poor with Rowlands ability to find an opposition player now turning into an art form. Rangers have some big men in the team to aim at but we seem incapable of finding any of them with a set piece.

Rangers first real chance came from a ball in by Routledge which Blackstock headed across goal for Helguson to fire high over the bar. It was a decent chance but summed up Helguson’s day as he was decent around the box but his finishing was dire.

Rangers were having the better of it but were up against a well organised Coventry side who stuck to their game plan well and were going to be difficult to break down. Rangers best hope of breaking them down was through Routledge who was looking a threat on the left and giving his full back a tough time. Wright was coming across to stop him and made a right hash of it having to kick him every time and earned himself a yellow card.

Clinton Morrison had plenty to say about it and ran 60 yards to get in the refs ear and continued to do this all game although for some reason he was allowed to get away with it and was never booked. Morrison was getting some right stick from the QPR fans and wearing bright pink boots didn’t help him. As he got ready to defend a corner in front of the Loft he was giving plenty back to the Lower loft before producing an almost golden moment as a poor Rowlands corner was hit straight at Morrison and he sliced the ball behind him and just over the bar.

That would not only have been goal of the season for most of us but provided us with the biggest laugh since the days of Dominic Iofra. Morrison looked embarrassed by it all but laughed off all the stick he was getting.

A QPR fan then threw the ball back in play which bounced straight into Jay Tabb's testicles and into the net. Tabb went down in agony and it was turning into a bit of a farce with fans getting a good laugh at Coventry’s expense.

The next corner was straight at Morrison again and he headed it away for a third corner which got another big cheer but Rowlands inability to get it past Morrison cost us in the end as third time lucky he easily cleared it to the halfway line. You have to wonder if anyone actually practices corners in training.

The game slowed down to walking pace midway through the half as Rangers quickly ran out of ideas and Coventry looked happy to take a point. Leigterwood was having a decent game in midfield and played a clever ball through to Blackstock which cut open the defence but the keeper was quick off his line to gather the ball.

The game then turned when Coventry went down to ten men. Helguson won the ball on the half way line and looking to feed Routledge he was taken out by a stomach high lunge from Wright that left him in a heap. The ref had two choices, either a straight red or a second yellow, the end result was going to be the same anyway and despite protests from the Coventry players Wright was sent off. To be honest it was only a matter of time as Wright had been lucky to escape a second booking minutes earlier for a similar lunge that missed on Routledge.

The red card actually did Coventry a favour as Wright had been the one weak link in their defence and switching to a 4-4-1 formation they proved to be almost impossible to break down. Jay Tabb switched to right back and actually read Routledge quite well and managed to ease him away from danger and nullify his threat.

Rangers finished the half well with a nit of urgency on the ball which immediately caused problems. Ephraim got away from Fox, for perhaps the only time in the game, and won a corner. For once Rowlands delivery beat the first man but was cleared buy the second as far as Delaney who set himself before firing in a great volley from 25 yards which was heading to the top corner before a quality save from the keeper pushed it round the post. That meant we ended the half on a high and if we could play with a higher tempo I think most fans believed we’d go onto win the game. Sadly we continued the games at a snails pace and made it so easily for Coventry it was scary.

Rangers were relying to heavily on Routledge to do something and as he faded from the game so did our chances of a goal. The front two were starved of any kind of service and when Blackstock was presented with a chance he looked so shocked to be put clean through he rushed his shot and made a mess of it.

Rangers were having most of the possession but not really hurting Coventry. We looked to play it from the back with Gorkss again looking impressive but the lack of movement up front and a real lack of tempo to our game meant Coventry only really had to keep their shape to avoid conceding.

Routledge and Ephraim swapped wings and for some reason we decided to pump balls at Routledges head much like we used to with Ainsworth. Routledge wasn't used to this and was struggling to keep the ball under control.

The game was very stop start in the second half with neither side looking like scoring and a third 0-0 draw looked certain. The fans began to moan and I thought it was time to go to a 3-4-3 and get Ledesma or Di Carmine on to give us a different option. Sousa looked like he was set to make that change with twenty minutes to go when Coventry took the lead.

Helguson gave away a silly free kick on the right and what followed will be familiar to anyone who has seen Coventry this season. Daniel Fox stood over the ball and with his left foot the only place he could score was over the wall in the near post. So what did Rangers do? Have a two man wall with a gap to the near post and have Cerny stand right on the far post making it impossible for him to get back across goal if Fox went with his familiar over the wall free kick. That’s exactly what he did to score his fourth goal in six games, all of them pretty much scored the same way. A bit of homework by Cerny might have helped but all round it was a poor goal to concede.

Sousa finally reacted bringing on Ledesma for Delaney and going 3-4-1-2 before a second change as Di Carmine came on for Leigterwood and went up front.

Rangers huffed and puffed but didn’t look like scoring until a sitter was put on a plate for Helguson. Gunnarsson mistimed a header and it fell to Helguson ten yards out with the goal at his mercy. He sliced his shot out for a throw in. Some shooting practice might be another idea at Harlington this week. This miss prompted a handful of fans to give Flavio and Paladini a fair bit of stick as the frustration in the crowd grew.

Fitz Hall then came on dressed as Zorro and it was like turning back time as we put him up front and took off Ephraim. Hall spent the last few minutes running around in circles not looking like he knew what he was supposed to be doing.

Then out of nothing we nicked a goal through the only goal source we have at the moment. Stewart pumped a long ball forward which Di Carmine hooked into the box and hesitation between the defence and keeper allowed Blackstock to run in and he was pretty brave to throw his head at the ball and knock the ball past the keeper into the net for his 12th goal of the season.

Despite all the stick Blackstock gets for his work outside the box you can’t knock a player who has scored 12 goals in a side that creates very few chances and it’s no wonder the likes of Wolves have been looking at him.

Rangers created little more during the final few minutes with a poor Ledesma free kick which almost hit the scoreboard out only other effort and a 1-1 draw was probably a fair result.

Once again we had Blackstock to thank for getting us a point, without his 12 goals this season we really would be in trouble. Ledesma is our next top scorer with 4 and he hasn’t scored since August.

I thought we were better than the last 2 home games but still not really good enough. Some shooting practice is needed as our long range efforts are dire and Helguson missed a sitter from ten yards which went out for a throw in.

I just think the side lacks a bit of belief at the moment, we don’t like we believe we can make the top six and seem to be waiting for something to happen rather than grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck. We really need to play at higher tempo as well especially at home as we are far too easy to play against at the moment.

Plenty of negatives, we seemed to get in good positions out wide but rarely put a cross in. Routledge looked bright first half and out in one great ball with the outside of his foot but too often he didn’t get the ball in the box. I thought Jay Tabb did brilliantly against Routledge when he went to right back, he looked a very good player. Coventry like so many sides looked far better with 10 men than 11.

Sousa will have to take a share of the blame for the dropped points as he took far too long to switch to a 3-4-3 system. Coventry were playing with one up front and showing no real ambition so it seemed crazy to stick with four defenders. One of the problems for Sousa though was the lack of quality on the bench, we really need another striker to bolster this squad. Leroy Lita would still be top of that list for me. To be fair to Di Carmine though he did alright when he came on.

A tough few weeks ahead for us now, we need to win an away game or two to stay in touch with the top six before Reading at home. As has often been said by the club though this is of course the most exciting period in the clubs history so I shouldn’t complain really.


Man of the Match: Kaspars Gorkss

Players Ratings: Cerny 5, Connolly 6, Gorkks 7, Stewart 6, Delaney 6 (Ledesma 6), Ephraim 5 (Hall 5), Leigterwood 7 (Di Carmine 6), Rowlands 7, Routledge 7, Blackstock 6, Helguson 6