Rangers went down by a solitary goal last night at Loftus Road in a pre-season friendly against Dutch champions Ajax Amsterdam.
In front of a crowd of near 10,000, Rangers made their first appearance back at home since securing promotion last May at Hillsborough with a strong line-up and three trialists on the bench.
Ajax on the other hand chose to field a youthful side and rested their Euro 2004 stars such Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rafael van der Vaart.
In previous season’s Rangers supporters have seen Celtic visit for glamorous pre-season games, but this year saw a change with the former four times European champions visiting.
Richard Edghill, Lee Cook, Marc Bircham and Danny Shittu again missed out through injury but Ian Holloway started with the strongest line-up possible (excluding Kevin Gallen) in what was probably going to be the toughest game of the season for the R’s.
The game started as expected; the Dutch masters beginning to play their open, attacking style of football, spreading the ball from touchline to touchline whilst looking for openings in the Rangers defence, which in credit, held firm. The R’s meanwhile were left chasing and closing down the opposition and being restricted to attacks whenever their visitor’s moves broke down.
Saying that, Rangers had the best of the early exchanges. A Paul Furlong header from Kevin McLeod’s cross came close whilst moments later Tony Thorpe got in behind the Dutch defence to deliver for his strike-partner Furlong, unfortunately the Ajax defence recovered to deny the 36-year old an opportunity.
Ajax were looking the better side on the ball and always the more threatening despite the stars not being involved and watching from the stands. Brazilian Maxwell was entertaining the crowd, looking a different class to anyone else on the pitch with tricks, flair and skill to match the best.
Giant striker Anastasiou forced Chris Day into a good save mid-way through the half. Daisy was out to impress following the club’s announcement that a bid had been rejected for former loan keeper Lee Camp. He was obviously out to show why he should be Rangers number one stopper.
Meanwhile, Maxwell was again dazzling the R’s defence but Arthur Gnohere saved a certain goal when the attacker’s pull back was hacked clear with a goal looking more than likely.
Rangers would have been happy to be level at half-time with the scores deadlocked at 0-0. Marcus Bean was impressing in the centre of midfield, breaking down any attack that came his way and choosing the sensible option when in possession- he is a player who has developed excellently in the past two years under Ollie’s leadership.
HALF TIME: RANGERS 0-0 AJAX AMSTERDAM
The interval saw Ollie ring the changes as promised. Kevin Gallen and Jamie Cureton were introduced along with trialist Jon Olaf Hjelde and debutant trialist Serge Branco. Branco was released by German Bundesliga side Stuttgart at the end of last season. He played 23 times last season for the German club. Gnohere, Rowlands, Thorpe and McLeod were all withdrawn as Rangers switched to a 4-5-1 formation.
Gallen, Cureton and Branco slotted in alongside Bean and Johnson in the five men midfield with Furlong playing as a loan striker. When attacking the R’s widemen (Gallen & Cureton) quickly made themselves involved creating a 4-3-3 attacking style.
Despite the change in formation Rangers remained hard to break down but were failing to create any notable chances, with the Amsterdam club looking comfortable in possession.
Cureton, looking sharp, had the best effort of the game when he curled a splendid shot goalwards only to see the goalkeeper tip the ball over the net.
Ajax then broke away to score the only goal of the game. Maxwell found De Mul whose cross-eluded the R’s defenders to find substitute Rasmus Lindgren who nodded the ball in at the far post. 1-0 Ajax.
Before the restart Rangers made further changes. Richard Johnson and Furlong were then taken off with trialist Lewis Hamilton and youngster Wes Daly taking their places.
The Superhoops almost replied immediately. Cureton found Gallen whose 25-yard strike was superbly tipped over the bar to deny an equaliser.
Ajax came close to doubling their lead. Goalscorer Lindgren turned provider when crossing for Anastasiou. The striker threw himself towards the ball and his diving header somehow managed to beat Day and hit both posts before rebounding back out.
Youngster Jack Perry made his first appearance for the Rangers 1st X1 at Loftus Road when replacing the impressive Marcus Bean and Terrell Forbes returned when coming on for Matthew Rose.
Unfortunately, some "poor" and "supposed" Rangers fans booed and jeered as Terrell entered the frame. His rape allegations are still being investigated but there was no need to give him such a reception. Innocent until proven guilty is what they say isn’t it?
Ajax began to shut the game out in the final 10 minutes leaving the R’s chasing the ball down frantically in the hope of getting something out of the game. It wasn’t to be however as the Dutch came out victors.
A first defeat in pre-season 2004 for the Superhoops but a lot can be taken from the game, as there were positives galore. The masters proved their calibre as one of Europe’s finest football clubs over the 90 minutes.
Marcus Bean and Jamie Cureton can especially be pleased with their performances. Meanwhile, trialists Hamilton, Hjelde and Branco looked promising and deserve another chance. Hjelde, especially following on the back of his impressive display at Inverness.
All three are likely to figure at Bristol Rovers next Tuesday evening.
So three pre-season fixtures played and only two more before the big kick-off on August 7th. Rovers on Tuesday and then Crystal Palace on Saturday 31st July. The season is fast approaching.
FULL TIME: RANGERS 0-1 AJAX
Rangers: DAY, BIGNOT, PADULA, BEAN (DALY), ROSE (FORBES), GNOHERE (HJELDE), ROWLANDS (CURETON), JOHNSON (PERRY), THORPE (GALLEN), FURLONG (HAMILTON), MCLEOD (BRANCO).
Ajax: Stekelenburg, Obodai, Maduro, De Jong, Emanuelson, De Ridder, De Mul, Maxwell, Anastasiou, Pienaar, Mitea
Subs: Vonk, Escude, Sikora, Lindgren, Soetaers.