Rangers were handed an old fashioned walloping as Celtic notched five goals in the pre season friendly at Loftus Road. The Bhoys were quicker and sharper all over the park and Gregory can have few complaints at the result even though the final score made the game look more one sided that it really was. 

As is often the case in pre season the starting and finishing XI’s bore little resemblance to one another. Rangers started with Cole in goal behind a back four of Curtis, Shimmin, Stewart and Barker. Ward, Bailey, skipper Bolder and Rowlands were in midfield with Nygaard and Moore up top. 

Both sides were trying to get the ball on the deck and play from the off but it was clearly from the very early stages that the movement of the Celtic central pair of Donati and Brown was too much for Bolder and Bailey. The R’s pair looked decent on the ball but all at sea without it. 

Celtic’s noisy support awarded their side a penalty in the eight minute when Miller blasted a cross against Shimmin and the big defenders failure to disappear meant the ball struck the arm. The biggest name in Dutch football, Jan Venegoor of Hesselink stepped up to take the kick but Jake Cole saved well low to his right. 

Rowlands, deployed on the left flank in the temporary (or should that be permanent) absence of Lee Cook, cut the ball back to Bailey but his low shot was well saved by the impressive Polish keeper Artur Boruc. 

With just over twenty minutes played Celtic took the lead with a goal that Cole will want to forget. Italian trialist Andrea Capone had already gone close with a long range chip before he was once again afforded too much space where the midfield should have been. He struck his shot sweetly but Cole covered it all the way only to see the ball balloon off his left wrist and loop over him into the net. This is the sort of error that Cole needs to eradicate if he is to go on to have a long career for the R’s. 

He redeemed himself soon after with a terrific full length save to deny the criminally over rated Kenny Miller. Rangers were looking to move the ball wide at every opportunity. Curtis and Barker both looked comfortable on the ball and linked well with Rowlands when he ended up on their flank. The same couldn’t be said for perma-passenger Nick Ward who once again looked like a fish out of water. Hopefully the closest he gets to a wing again in Shepherds Bush this season will be when he brings the food out at The Walkabout!  

Seven minutes before the break Celtic made it 2-0 through Scott Brown. The former Hibs man was allowed acres of space by Bolder and Bailey and when the ball was rolled into his path he gave Cole no chance with a well placed finish. Stewart and Bailey had a frank and open discussion about the youngster’s role in the goal; I think it would be fair to say that he thought as much of the tracking as the fans did! 

The R’s back four had looked pretty solid to this point and the midfield certainly had to shoulder the blame for the goals. Shimmin looked assured alongside Stewart and there is a chance that he may finally begin to realise his undoubted potential. 

Gregory made four changes at the break with Curtis, Ward, Moore and Nygaard replaced by Timoska, St Aimie, Blackstock and Nardiello. Blackstock should have pulled a goal back almost immediately as torrential rain engulfed Loftus Road. Barker made inroads down the left and sent in a great cross that Dexter attacked at the near post. His attempted header seemed to skid off his forehead and slipped wide without testing Boruc. Had it been as dry as it was in the first half I think he would certainly have tested the Polish stopper. 

Celtic hit Rangers with a quick fire double to give the score line a rather unflattering look. Both goals came from Venegoor of Hesselink but could not have been more different. For the first the movement caused trouble again and as the ball was slid wide to Venegoor of Hesselink he crashed a superb angled strike past Cole. The second two minutes later was a real poacher’s effort after a corner rattled round in the six yard box. 

Gregory immediately made another three changes as Shimmin, Stewart and Rowlands made way for Cullip, Rehman and teenage winger Chris Arthur. Young Arthur immediately showed what he was about with a blistering sprint up the line that unfortunately ended with a poor cross. 

Rangers grabbed their consolation goal with a little under twenty five minutes to play when teenage starlet Kieron St Aimie showed the R’s faithful what he is all about. Picking up the ball on the right flank he showed some beautiful slight of foot to jink past Lee Naylor before cutting across the edge of the box and firing a fine left footer past Boruc into the corner. It was a lovely moment for a player who must have thought his time may never come when he was beset with knee injuries for fully eighteen months. 

Blackstock was forced off through injury to be replaced by Baidoo, Howell replaced Barker and Justin Cochrane made his return to W12 as a sub for Bailey. It seems that he hasn’t improved any in his time away from Rangers and I wouldn’t expect to see him again. 

The respite didn’t last all that long though and less than ten minutes later Celtic had grabbed number five. An awful attempt at an offside trap left Cole trying to force Miller wide as the defenders stood back and admired his efforts. Unfortunately whilst they dawdled about Scott McDonald had ambled in unchecked at the back stick and Miller picked him out for a tap in. 

It would be fair to say that this was hardly the morale boosting display Rangers were looking for. There were some decent showings though, Cole did more good than bad and the first half back four looked solid. Rowlands and St Aimie did well in midfield also. There was also some pretty tepid stuff from Ward, the usual half arsed antics from Rehman and some awful tracking of runners from Bailey and more surprisingly, Bolder. 

It is two weeks now until the next scheduled friendly against Wycombe Wanderers. Hopefully in that time we will have seen come more quality come into the squad and we should know either way in terms of the Cook situation (although an educated guess would suggest we have seen the last of the mercurial wide man). We certainly played some decent stuff against The Bhoys and tried to make the pitch wide, we just need the players to fit into the gaps now.