Rangers turned out with their League Two back four again at Scunthorpe on Saturday and as a result shipped another two goals.
It's really galling when you realise you're spending thousands of pounds every year following a team that cannot take a throw in - especially when that realisation sets in at a match in your family's home town in front of your nearest and dearest. Only Stoke and Tranmere have ever based any real success on the quality of their throw ins but it's still an idea to know how to take them seeing as you get so many of them during a game. Our first throw in of the match was taken by Bob Malcolm, from the wrong place, and was heaved down the line and, via one touch from a QPR player, to the nearest opponent. This set the tone really. Only once in the entire match did we keep the ball for three or more touches after a throw in and that was deep into the second half - yes I was sad enough to count. Every time the ball crosses the line we effectively just throw it straight back to the opposition. Malcolm in particular is a criminal waster of possession when he has to throw it in - every time it was his turn he wandered off miles and miles away from where the ball went off, then got told to move by the referee, then finally threw it and within two touches we were defending again. Why am I so bothered about throw ins? God knows. I'm growing increasingly worried about my mental state all round. As the match went on though it irritated me more and more like an annoying itch in the middle of my back. It just got more and more infuriating. Professional footballers who can't even take a bloody throw in. Useless bastards. Of course the throw ins weren't our main problem on our first ever visit to Glanford Park, that was down to the back four as a whole, but it exacerbated the problem by handing possession back to Scunthorpe time after time after time after time so they could attack our frankly pathetic defence whenever they liked. It strikes me that we're trying to build this fantastic new passing side without getting the basics right first. I mean can we defend set pieces? No. Do we mark up at all under any kind of pressure? Not really. Is the defence capable of organising an offside trap, or at least standing in a straight line when a ball is played through? No. Are we talking to each other on the pitch? No. Can we take throw ins? No. It's like building a fabulous house on a foundation of sand. You can play all the nice football you like and stick any player from the world game up front if you like, if it's build on a foundation of Barker, Stewart, Rehman and Malcolm it's a futile exercise. Not since the days of Ready and Morrow have I had so little confidence in a back line. These people are earning thousands of pounds and they are, frankly, useless at what they do for a living. Useless. Two of them can't run, one of them can't concentrate and the other can barely play the game at all. Further forward there are lots of things to be positive about. Rangers started with Vine up front by himself and he again impressed without ever looking like scoring, in midfield Bolder returned and played very well alongside man of the match Buzsaky. Leigertwood started in the middle with Rowlands right and Sinclair on the left. Scott is now just two games away from fulfilling his target of playing a month of Championship football without making a tackle or getting injured ahead of the big Chelsea Liverpool game. Scunthorpe introduced former Sheff Utd wide man Jonathan Forte to their line up instead of suspended defender Kelly Youga. They had a Chelsea loanee of their own, Jack Cork, and he dropped into the defence to cover for Youga who had his appeal against a harsh red card on Monday night against Blackpool predictably turned down by the ever tolerant Football League. Old Rangers' full back Ian Baraclough was on the bench for the hosts but never made it onto the pitch for what I'm sure would have been a warm reception from a good following of QPR fans behind the goal. On a soaking wet pitch Scunthorpe started the brighter of the two sides and forced early corners which sent warning bells ringing throughout the away end. The marking every time Scunthorpe put the ball into the box was abysmal. Likeable Iron boss Nigel Adkins had clearly watched videos of our Ryman League standard backline because every time they got a free kick or corner, and with referee Grant Hegley in eccentric form there were quite a few, they took them very quickly and pumped the ball into the box. I cannot recall an occasion when we were ready for it. Nobody talking, nobody organising, nobody marking and on countless occasions three or four QPR players actually wandering around the box with their backs to the ball as it was delivered. I mean this is Sunday League stuff. Three times in the first half Scunthorpe captain and chief aerial threat Andy Crosby was given a free header in the Rangers penalty area, he couldn't direct any of the efforts on target though. Incredibly Rangers took the lead against the run of play in the twelfth minute from another dire piece of defending. Lee Camp had to save a low shot from Goodwin down in the corner after more chaos in the Rangers penalty area. From his clearance down field the ball fell to Buzsaky 25 yards out and he lashed the ball into the top corner past Joe Murphy. An outstanding goal worthy of a higher stage. Buzsaky sent a dangerous corner in which caused a goal mouth scramble, and then tried another long range effort himself which Murphy saved. He may be inconsistent but he's worth having in your team because when he really gets on his game, as he was on Saturday, there isn't a team in this league that can live with him. However, as I said, you cannot build anything on poor foundations. Alongside Buzsaky Adam Bolder was tearing about like a mad man and putting a terrific shift of work in. His enthusiasm saw him pick up a booking for repetitive fouling in the first half but that didn't take anything away from his best performance for some time. But behind Buzsaky and Bolder stood the four morons and consequently Scunthorpe looked likely to score every time they came down field. Crosby headed over from a Hurst corner and a Goodwin free kick and Matt Sparrow had a shot deflected over as the pressure grew. Inevitably, they equalised little more than ten minutes after falling behind. Another Scunthorpe corner taken by Hurst again arrived in the area before the four dimbos and their support act was ready. Nobody on the posts, nobody marking up, nobody communicating and after a goal mouth scramble during which Crosby had another free header, Camp had a flap at a loose bouncing ball which set up Patterson to tap in a simple chance at the near post. Embarrassing defending, pathetic, the stuff of a park side. With QPR's full backs looking like a couple of pensioners only playing because their membership application to Arthritis Care had been rejected by the committee it was no surprise that the three players Scunthorpe used in wide areas - Hayes, Forte and Hurst - were causing the R's issues. Hurst came closest to giving Scunthorpe the lead ten minutes before the break when his rasping low drive cracked against the inside of the post before bouncing out into the six yard box and away. Nine times out of ten that hits the inside of the post and goes in so QPR can count themselves lucky there. Once again though QPR marched down the other end and bagged a goal against the run of play. After a succession of questionable decisions against QPR it was nice to see Mr Hegley award a free kick in our favour down by the far corner flag after a foul by Jack Cork on Scott Sinclair. Rangers packed the box but Buzsaky decided to go for it himself and whipped a glorious cross shot past Murphy and into the far corner of the net. Murphy finally got a save in from the Hungarian in stoppage time when he denied him a hat trick with a low fingertip stop. There was a real feeling of déjà vu as the second half got underway. Just as at Blackpool last week the R's found themselves facing a fierce headwind and under heavy pressure from a home team keen to come out and stamp their authority on the game at the second time of asking. Camp saved well from Hayes inside 60 seconds and then had to be on his toes again to deny his opposite number. A huge kick downfield by Irish keeper Joe Murphy bounced high and true on the edge of the area and Camp needed to scramble back and flick it over the bar with Murphy chuckling down at the other end. The Scunthorpe fans spent the rest of the half shouting "shoooooooot" every time the keeper got hold of the ball. All very funny now but I'm not sure many of us would have been laughing had it gone in. Camp wasn't so lucky in the 55th minute. More success for Scunthorpe in the wide areas saw Hurst skip round Barker and curl a cross over the stranded keeper and off the base of the far post. It flew back into play to Forte who had all the time he needed to ram home the rebound and equalise. The goal all came from a QPR attack where, not for the first time in his loan spell, Scott Sinclair tried to be the hero by taking on the entire Scunthorpe team and losing the ball when there were options for a pass on. Sinclair was replaced by Nygaard and Rehman by Timoska with a quarter of an hour left to play and both players left the field to a muted reception from the long suffering QPR fans. Sinclair clearly has the talent, but he looks like a player who's here all for himself, to get fit for the Chelsea and Liverpool game which Avram Grant has said he will play when he returns next week. He pulls out of tackles and consistently picks the wrong option in the final third, preferring to go for his own glory than set up other team mates. His prime concern seems to be avoiding injury ahead of his return back to the Bridge - compare his attitude to that of Hogan Ephraim who also came in on loan but really mucked in and gave it his best shot and the difference is stark. Nygaard introduced himself to the game in incredible fashion. Literally within three seconds of arriving on the pitch he wrested Andy Butler to the ground under a corner. Referee Hegley decided to return the ball to Hurst for a retake and warn both players about their future conduct but he could easily have awarded a spot kick. Moments later Nygaard came flying through the back of Morris leaving the Iron striker stricken on the turf and he was lucky to be allowed to stay on the pitch after that one. God only knows what he was thinking after coming on. QPR started to come into the game more as the half drew to a close. A great run into the box from Vine set Buzsaky up for a hat trick goal but his half volley flew just too high. Later Vine backed himself but was denied by Murphy. In the end the match petered out into a draw and Rangers remain cemented to the bottom of the table. The R's travel to Burnley now for a tough looking game in hand on Tuesday night. I was back indoors in time to see Burnley performing well and winning at Wolves on Saturday night and they're in great form at the moment. Assuming Michael Mancienne will still be injured, it's a reasonable assumption to make after all, we could well be going into that game with this same back four once again. This means we are immediately two goals down - they're good for two goals a game at this level and Burnley are more than capable of taking advantage of them. Our only hope is that work is done with the four of them on Sunday and Monday - a simple session where they introduce themselves to each other may be a start, "hello I'm Bob, I enjoy fishing and running at a walking pace" - that kind of thing. Then maybe they could elect some form a leader - somebody whose job it is to say "gosh fellas there's three people in different shirts to ours standing at the back post, maybe we should send somebody over there to mark them." If not I really fear the worst at Turf Moor - Andy Gray will be relishing this, if Owen Coyle has been watching the videos don't be surprised to see Akinbiyi partner him and another lesson in physical football dolled out. I was never Danny Cullip's biggest fan but I can't believe that having him in our defence, even with his injuries and chronic lack of pace, would be any worse than what we've got now. We'd be better organised if nothing else. Bolder tried his best on Saturday but you can't organise a defence from midfield. The loss of Martin Cranie continues to be keenly felt. In my opinion his presence in our defence on Saturday would have meant a two nil win. The defence is the most pressing concern in January, closely followed by a decent striker. The midfield is looking half decent though and one can only hope the stories about Akos Buzsaky not signing after all are wide of the mark because he's a match winner and he had his best game for QPR on Saturday. Him, Bolder and possibly Vine apart though we were poor again and there are signs of frustration and anger in the camp. Gareth Ainsworth appeared particularly exasperated at the final whistle after only being introduced in stoppage time. January cannot come soon enough, the question is just how far adrift we'll be by then. Scunthorpe: Murphy 6, Cork 8, Crosby 7, Butler 6, Williams 6, Forte 6 (Morris 89, -), Goodwin 7, Sparrow 6, Hurst 7, Hayes 6 (Ameobi 78, 5),Paterson 7 QPR: Camp 6, Malcolm 3, Stewart 4, Rehman 4 (Timoska 73, 5), Barker 4, Buzsaky 9 (Ainsworth 90, -) Rowlands 5, Bolder 7, Leigertwood 5, Sinclair 5 (Nygaard 76, 4), Vine 6 QPR Star Man - Akos Buzsaky 9 - A near perfect display from Akos with two great goals and two near misses besides. Even if he hadn't scored he probably would have still taken the award because his work rate and tackling in the midfield was better than anything he's shown in his time with us so far. Great stuff, credit t Bolder as well who really worked hard and did his bit. Referee: Grant Hegley (Hertfordshire) 5 Seemed to give a lot of decisions Scunthorpe's way in the first half although in his defence our circus act back four was making stupid challenges time and again. In the second half he was generous with Nygaard on two occasions - Scunthorpe looked to have a good penalty shout and then the Dane could easily have been sent off for a crazy challenge through the back of an opponent.. Attendance: 5,612 (1100 QPR fans approx) - The QPR fans travelled in good numbers and seemed to have a great time in the away end with various inflatables and mooning episodes at the home fans. Scunthorpe have an element of 'new shirt syndrome' about their support this season - they used to get less than half what they have now for home games and consequently those that have turned up in the past 18 months tend to sit there and grumble when things aren't going their way. They'll need to back their side through a tough winter.
Subs Not Used: Lillis, Mulligan, Baraclough
Booked: Butler (foul)
Goals: Paterson 24, Forte 55
Subs Not Used: Cole, Balanta
Booked: Bolder (repetitive fouling), Vine (foul), Nygaard (use of elbow)
Goals: Buzsaky 12, 42