QPR came out on top in a farcical seven goal thriller at Gresty Road thanks to a late goal from Richard Langley.
Harrowing, thrilling, frustrating, elating - it was all of this and more. Crewe and QPR, two pretty poor sides if the Championship table was to be believed, served up a special New Years Eve treat for the fans by engaging in a ding dong, end to end, farcical battle that declared at seven goals but could have produced many more.
Rangers fell behind early on, despite starting the game well and dominating the early stages, but came back with goals from Cook and Baidoo. Just when the travelling hard core were looking forward to being in front at half time the team capitulated and allowed Crewe two strikes to leave Holloway rewriting his half time speech for the fifth time in half an hour.
The second half was slightly more secure and once Milanese had arrived to anchor the defence there was only ever going to be one winner. Martin Rowlands' spectacular leveller was worth the entrance fee alone and Richard Langley bagged a late winner to top it all off.
Holloway made one change to his starting line up from the Cardiff game. Shabazz Baidoo's impressive cameo during the week was rewarded with a starting place instead of Paul Furlong who dropped to the bench. He partnered Marc Nygaard upfront who was looking to continue his run of scoring in every start for Rangers this season.
In midfield Marc Bircham started in the centre again after dominating the Cardiff game, he lined up alongside Richard Langley, Martin Rowlands started wide on the right and Lee Cook on the left. At the back Matthew Rose started a second consecutive game for the first time since August at left back with Santos and Shittu at centre half and Bignot on the right side. Simon Royce was the goal keeper.
Crewe were looking to avoid sinking to the bottom of the Championship for the first time this season. The Alex had shipped 49 goals before the start of play but named the same starting line up that snatched a point at the Ricoh Arena on Wednesday. That meant Steve Jones and Eddie Johnson continued up front with the scorer against Coventry Luke Rogers still on the bench.
Right from the off it was clear that both sides were intent on playing the best passing football possible on a difficult pitch. Shabazz Baidoo was the chief beneficiary of this policy and he twice unloaded efforts on goal in the first few minutes. On both occasions he could only manage weak shots that trickled straight into the arms of Crewe keeper Ross Turnbull but it was a bright start for the youngster and Steve Foster didn't seem to know how to deal with his pace and deceptive strength.
Marc Nygaard headed a Lee Cook cross well off target after seven minutes while at the other end Eddie Johnson forced a smart save from Royce with a low shot. Martin Rowlands hit a dipping twenty five yarder just over the bar as Rangers continued to dominate the early stages.
The victory over Cardiff City seemed to have done wonders for the team's morale. Having started the Brighton game looking terrified at the prospect of any kind of possession, Rangers were knocking it around well and involving Cook and Baidoo regularly and to great effect. It was a real shame therefore that the first major incident of the game saw Crewe undeservedly taking the lead.
Matthew Rose demonstrated the turning circle of a cruise liner as Gary Roberts strolled past him and with Santos hopelessly out of position it was a simple task for Roberts to slip one through for Jones to run onto. Jones got to the byline and pulled the ball back for Johnson who clipped a delicate effort into the side netting for one nil. A well worked goal certainly, but a totally preventable one and having looked so secure against Cameron Jerome and co on Wednesday QPR's back four looked out of it's depth here.
After starting well for no reward it would have been easy for Rangers' egg shell like confidence to shatter at this early blow, and for a time it looked like that would happen. Just three minutes after the goal Marc Bircham caught his studs in the turf and conceded possession to Roberts. Crewe streamed forward and Roberts fed the unmarked Jones who could only hit a weak effort wide. The incident was too much for Birch, who immediately clutched his hamstring and signalled to the bench.
Bircham was magnificent on Wednesday night and looked to have really secured the previously frail midfield line. Ian Holloway had named an attacking bench with two strikers and two attacking midfielders so he had little choice but to replace the more defensively minded Birch with the wild man of attacking football Gareth Ainsworth. Rowlands went to the centre of the park with Gareth wide right, the midfield line up that has proved to be paper thin on numerous occasions so far this season.
Rowlands though was playing like a man possessed and filled the Bircham role like never before. Alongside him Richard Langley was passing the ball creatively, but intelligently - less of the forty yard Hollywood passes, more of the effective ten yard numbers and gaps continued to appear at the Crewe end almost as frequently as they did amongst the R's defence.
Lee Cook too was turning in an unusually lung busting, hard working display and should have been rewarded with a penalty eighteen minutes into the game. Cook combined well with Rose down the left and chipped a delicate pass in behind Moss for Rose to run onto. The Rangers left back controlled the bouncing ball well with his first touch and then attempted to widen the angle with his second only to have the retreating Moss whip it off his boot with his right hand.
A more blatant penalty you'd struggle to find but referee Kevin Wright, who tortured Rangers fans on Boxing Day two years ago at Notts County, typically turned a blind eye to the offence. This was just one of numerous head bangingly obvious handballs by both sides missed by Wright on the day and if I worked for the DVLA I'd seriously consider revoking that guys license - how he manages to stop at something as concealed and sly as say, a red traffic light with such piss poor eyesight I don't know.
Blatant penalty or not it was disappointing to see Cook argue the toss with Wright for the next four minutes, following the hapless whistle blower right down to the other end of the pitch and back again instead of just getting on with the game.
The penalty incident seemed to reignite Rangers and soon Richard Langley had a twenty yard effort deflected wide of the post. From the resulting corner Langley played a short one two routine with Cook and then fired a powerful shot into the railway sidings. Langley and Cook would go on to take a succession of terrible corners, both short and long, for the rest of the game. This is frustrating enough normally but with Crewe boasting very few players over six feet tall, and Rangers packing the area with Nygaard, Santos, Shittu and Rose it was even more so today.
Cook was soon to redeem himself though. Ten minutes before half time Crewe full back Moss dallied on the ball on the right flank and Cook cleverly stripped him of possession and left him for dead as he tore towards goal. Baidoo had caught Cook up and was an option for a pass but Lee chose to go for goal from ten yards out instead, hammering a low effort under Turnbull and in for the equaliser. That memorable post rattler against Hull apart Cookie isn't noted for the power of his shot and this one hardly flew at the keeper who will be disappointed to concede so softly.
That didn't matter to Cook though as he embarked on a puzzling dance routine on the byline in celebration.
QPR then surged into the lead straight from the Crewe kick off. Shabazz Baidoo burrowed his way to the edge of the penalty area before showing great strength to tee up Langley. His shot deflected out to the right where Ainsworth tried to meet the bouncing ball with one of his trademark full volleys and though he could only send it fizzing across the six yard box Baidoo was on hand to divert the ball into the corner of the net.
Dario Gradi suffered a further blow when he was forced to substitute his goal scorer Johnson for Luke Varney, but the new boy in red made an immediate impact as QPR fell to pieces before half time. Before the travelling fans had even finished celebrating taking the lead Varney beat Shittu to a long Turnbull clearance, Santos misjudged the bounce and then allowed Jones to brush him aside and set up Varney again, who Shittu hadn't tracked, and he slid the ball into the bottom corner for the equaliser.
Rangers couldn't even keep it level until the break. After Royce superbly denied Steve Jones Martin Rowlands spread a ball wide to the left to the unmarked Matthew Rose. For some reason, probably related to his lack of a left foot, Rose took an absolute age to reach the ball, taking a long circuitous route right around the back of the pass before even getting close. Gary Roberts slid in and ran off with the ball leaving Rose prostrate on the turf. Roberts rode a crude sliding tackle from Santos and found Steve Jones who mishit a shot straight to Billy Jones and he tucked away Crewe's third of the afternoon.
The half time whistle followed soon after with the Rangers fans unsure whether to clap, boo, laugh or cry in their shell shocked state! The first half had brought plenty of positives in the attacking third - Baidoo, Nygaard, Langley, Cook and Rowlands had all been excellent going forward. The passing and movement, particularly involving Baidoo, was the best stuff we'd produced all season. At the other end though, oh dear! Matthew Rose had endured a torrid first period, Santos was almost as bad while Shittu looked like a Conference player at best. Crewe were running amok.
The second half started in much the same way with Steve Jones sprinting into the open acres between Santos and Shittu before forcing a terrific save out of Royce.
Hollowway was making frantic adjustments all the time in an effort to plug the leaks. Santos moved to right back, as far away from Jones as Holloway could get him, with Rose going to centre back and Bignot to the left side. This seemed to stem the tide and soon the flair players at the other end started to take hold of the game.
With Rowlands driving the team forward from the middle Rangers forced a couple of corners and Dan Shittu hit a weak long range effort straight at the keeper.
There was nothing weak about QPR's fifty fifth minute leveller though. Richard Langley stole the ball from a Crewe throw in and fed Martin Rowlands who let rip with a curling, swirling, dipping, unsavable shot that tore into the top corner of Turnbull's net and sent the travelling faithful into raptures. This was a real goal of the season contender and no more than Rowly deserved - he was right back on form after on off night against Cardiff.
Again scoring a goal seemed to scare Rangers. They retreated back into their shell and were lucky to get away with two near misses just past the hour mark. First Steve Jones batted the ball away from Shittu with his hand and sent a shot a fraction wide of the post. Incredibly our representative from Sightsavers International Mr Wright ignored the offence and signalled a goal kick. Had Jones curled it a fraction more Crewe would have been in front, the goal would have been allowed and Cheshire Police could have had a riot on their hands. Wright was chased across the pitch by Bignot, Shittu and others but offered only a gormless smirk as response.
Within five minutes Gary Roberts went equally close with a similar, but slightly more legal effort and the visitors were back to living on their nerves.
Holloway had seen enough, finally introducing Milanese for the hapless Santos and moving Rose to centre half. I'm one of Georges' biggest fans, the booing of him at home games is a disgrace and the moron ironically cheering everything he did right in the second half shouldn't be allowed into a QPR game again, but he was utterly dire today. It wasn't so much a substitution as a mercy killing. Marc Nygaard, still working his way back to fitness, was also replaced by Paul Furlong after a creditable afternoon's work.
Holloway playing his final cards sparked Gradi into life and he immediately sent Crewe out to win the game. Luke Rogers, who scored a hatful of goals in his Shrewsbury Town days and was linked with QPR at one point, came on and Alex reverted to 4-3-3 which turned into a 3-3-4 and 4-2-4 at times. Somewhere Kevin Keegan was feeling a warm glow inside!
This did inevitably leave gaps at the other end and Rangers had three decent chances to snatch a winner. After a neat interchange between Furlong and Baidoo, Rowlands teed up Ainsworth who hammered the ball wide. Then Rowlands himself tested the keeper from eighteen yards, Turnbull flicked the ball round the post.
The best chance though fell to Richard Langley fifteen minutes from time. A superb ball from Cook sent Langley bursting through the middle and after shrugging off Foster Langers looked all set to stick the chance away. Sadly he could only find the chest of onrushing Lee Turnbull and the Crewe keeper did well to repel the effort.
Langley would get a second chance within two minutes though. A long clearance from Rose was brilliantly controlled by Furlong in the centre circle and after holding off his man Furs sent Langley racing through on goal once again. This time he made no mistake, powerfully firing home from fifteen yards out.
It should have been five two minutes later as Rangers again robbed Crewe from the kick off. This time Cook's left wing delivery dropped in behind the Alex defence for Furlong who controlled well but saw a close range effort saved when it seemed easier to score. It certainly would have settled the nerves had he done so!
By now many of the home fans were heading for the exits and those that remained had taken to booing their young side. This provided a suitable backdrop for one of those comedy goalkeeping moments that you treasure when they're committed by an opponent.
Forced into his own corner by Ainsworth Foster passed a dangerous ball back to Turnbull. The keeper was faced by Shabazz Baidoo and he attempted to sidestep the R's forward with a drop of the shoulder, this didn't quite work out for him and the ball trickled out for a corner after a hilarious fresh air shot.
Crewe are renowned as a developer of good football players, but not many of them have been keepers! In fact they've had more dodgy ones than most. Since steady Jason Kearton relinquished the number one jersey the Crewe faithful have had to suffer two spells from Ade Bankole (who only recently relinquished his "scariest QPR player ever" title to Arthur Gnohere) and a number of campaigns with everybody's favourite drama queen Clayton Ince who is now impressing so many people at Coventry Mickey Adams is already on his third loaned stopper this season to keep him out of the side! Here last season youngster Williams conceded a soft goal to Furlong and looked shocking all night. Turnbull looks more than capable of joining them in the hall of shame!
Still Rangers had only beaten him four times and Crewe almost snatched a point at the death. Gareth Ainsworth brilliantly won a header against Lunt wide on the Rangers right but for some reason found himself pulled up by Wright. Lunt's lethal free kick almost found its way into the net off the head of Shittu but Royce was in the right place at the right time to claim and the R's somehow managed to make it through three minutes of added time to secure victory.
With so many games in a short period of time, and no training in between, it's inevitable that a little tiredness and sloppy play will creep into a team's display - but today was a bloody miracle. Santos and Rose, so secure against Cardiff, were an abomination to football and they were joined in the first half by Shittu. Luckily Danny returned to his imperious best in the second half and Rose settled down when moved to centre half. With Burnley to come on Monday surely Holloway must consider starting Milanese at left back with Rose at centre half.
This isn't a slight on Georges who is normally one of the most effective, hard working useful members of our squad. It's more a problem with Rose's display at full back today which was made even more ludicrous by the presence of a perfectly fit and high quality left back on the bench.
Further forward there were many positives and I'll see the New Year in smiling at the performances of Baidoo, Rowlands, Langley and Cook rather than thinking about what Craig Bellamy, Brett Emerton, Steven Reid and Shefki Kuqi could do to our defence this time next week!
Happy New Year everybody.
Crewe: Turnbull 4, Tonkin 4 (Rodgers 69 7), McCready 4, Foster 4, Moss 3, Vaughan 7, Billy Jones 7, Lunt 7, Gary Roberts 8, Johnson 8 (Varney 37 8), Steve Jones 9.
Subs Not Used: Tomlinson, Rix, Walker.
Booked: Billy Jones.
Goals: Johnson 15, Varney 39, Billy Jones 45.
QPR: Royce 6, Rose 2, Santos 2 (Milanese 69 6), Shittu 6, Bignot 5, Cook 7, Rowlands 8, Bircham 6 (Ainsworth 21, 6), Langley 8, Nygaard 7 (Furlong 69, 7), Baidoo 7.
Subs Not Used: Moore, Donnelly.
Goals: Cook 35, Baidoo 37, Rowlands 57, Langley 81.
Att: 5,687
Ref: K Wright (Cambridgeshire) 4 - This guy always has been and sadly always will be a total cretin. He wouldn't notice three diesel engines pulling fifty wagons blasting Cliff Richard hits from the cab until it had run him over. He was up to his usual home orientated, incompetent standard today.
QPR Star Man - Martin Rowlands - 8 - When Bircham went off Rangers looked wide open through the midfield, but Martin Rowlands stepped up to the plate and held things together in the second half. He was constantly talking to all around him and combined superbly with Langley when in possession. His goal of the season contender to equalise topped the performance off. Good to see him back to his best.