It was some game, this - heart-stopping drama from beginning to end. The relief at the final whistle was audible - for we survived, somehow, a second-half onslaught that saw a dozen chances go begging for West Brom. But don't get the idea we were lucky. We were anything but, and the win was thoroughly deserved.

It was a game of huge contrasts. One minute Rangers were purring, passing the ball with a fluency and speed that had West Brom chasing shadows; the next we were hanging on like a non-league team 1-0 against higher opposition in a cup-tie, defending for dear life, booting the ball wherever we could clear it, and watching hearts in mouth as it went thankfully six inches past our upright.

For their part, West Brom alternated between average and dreadful. They were without doubt the worst team we have played this season, and their confidence rating, especially in the first-half, was nil.

It may seem a contradiction in terms to describe any team which makes a dozen chances in a game as average at best, but that's what they were.

Rangers started the game brimful of confidence - backed by a massive Rangers turn-out for a midweek game away from home. There were certainly in excess of a thousand, and we easily outsung the home crowd, who could just as easily have been on a sponsored silence for all the noise they made.

Rangers lined up with Harper in goal; (left to right) Darlington, Maddix, Baraclough, Ready and Breacker at the back; Peacock, Langley and Wardley in midfield; with Kiwomya and Steiner up front; the same team, in fact, as at Ipswich. The first-half was all Rangers. When we passed the ball around well, it was just like old times. As so often, it was the final ball into the box that was our downfall, Breacker the main culprit.

All the same, we did to West Brom for most of the fourty-five what Ipswich had done to us for the first twenty-five on Saturday... only without a goal to show for our efforts. A placed header across the face of the goal, and a shot and turn, both from Steiner, were our two best chances, although our closing down and general committment meant we enjoyed by far the greater possession and attacking ideas.

West Brom, missing Lee Hughes, posed little threat and the Rangers defence coped well enough with what very little threat West Brom posed. Gerry's myopia was again in evidence tonight. Fine signing that he is, enthusiastic and willing, Jermaine Darlington is no left-back. Nor for that matter is Tim Breacker a wing-back. And nor can he take a corner. After two poor corners (notable for the elaborate way he signalled his intent - worked out on the training ground no doubt), Breacker lost his cool, and a bad tackle on Andy McDermott looked like earning him a red card. Earlier he had been booked for taking too long over a throw-in. The referee, though, in keeping with his inconsistency all night, let him off with a word.

At this point, it would have made sense to haul off Breacker, put Darlington on the right, where he would have been more comfortable anyway, and stick on Rowland, who for all his limitations is at least naturally left-footed. As it was, Gerry did nothing. West Brom then spent the second 45 minutes attacking down their right, our left and against a clearly out of his depth Darlington.

Another thing that niggles me, and is beginning to niggle others if the noises around me were anything to go by, is throw-ins. We are truly dreadful at them, no-one moving, the thrower having no idea what to do with it - and more often than not handing the advantage to our opponents from them. Do they work on them on the training ground? It doesn't seem the case. Perhaps more time spent working on some movement at throw-ins and less time teaching complicated corner signals which bear little relation to the way the ball is finally delivered, might be a good idea, Gerry.

West Brom kept us pinned back for the first few minutes of the second-half and an equaliser looked on the cards. In fact, it was against the run of play that Rangers took the lead. Credit where it's due, it was Breacker who made it, putting over an inch-perfect cross from the by-line on the right when it appeared he had over-run it, and Wardley placed his header low into the corner of the net. A well-worked goal.

It's hard to convey the drama of the last half an hour: desperate defending and West Brom creating (all from the right, with Richard Sneekes again their most influential player) at least a dozen clear-cut chances. But when Harper wasn't saving us, a defender's boot or head would; and when a defender's boot or head couldn't get in the way, wayward shooting would see the ball flash past the post or over the bar.

It's been a long time since we've been only 1-0 up away from home. At Ipswich, and before then at Bradford and Crewe last year, we were comfortably in control. But tonight was different, Tonight we were hanging on for all our worth. The tension was unbelievable, and broken only twice when hitting them on the break - firstly Kiwomya going close, and then Wardley even closer still, his powerful shot hitting the post and rebounding to safety. But, somehow, miraculously, we hung on. Had West Brom had Lee Hughes it might have been a different story. But they didn't. The points were ours - and thoroughly deserved for a battling performance.

Ready, his propensity to foul just a little too often for comfort apart, Langley, his intelligent passing again a factor, Peacock, before he limped off injured to be replaced by Murray for the last 20 minutes, and Steiner, unorthodox but strangely effective, all stood out for Rangers.

On another night Chris Kiwomya, not always effective but tonight hard-working and hard-running, would have won man of the match. But that accolade went to Ian Baraclough, who was simply outstanding and didn't put a foot wrong the whole game.