Another day, another match, another grind, another win.

Hotspurs took their campaign start to four wins out of four, despite playing some poor football and displaying more than occasional bouts of lethargy.

Gratifyingly, in a first half that was low on quality, we took our chances and led 4-1 at the break. The score line was somewhat deceptive – Rangers had their fair share of possession, and seemed hungrier for the ball, and more committed from the second the referee first blew his whistle.

We went behind to a penalty as early as the 6th minute – Jim with the lunge, and the claim that he got the ball – the referee didn't see it that way, clearly. Not too many complaints from Hotspurs players, but it failed to serve as the desired wake up call, and we were shoddy in much of our subsequent first half play.

Having said that, Chris equalised after just 12 minutes, when Rangers failed to clear from a corner, and the ball fell invitingly, and 14 minutes later, Mike put us in the lead, following great work by Chris, making one of his customary forward surges.

Esad and Abbas then spurned a couple of great chances, before the pair teamed up to score two more goals – both created by Esad, both converted with aplomb by Abbas – to put the game 'to bed' by half time.

Rangers must have wondered quite what had happened, but the truth is that we will always create chances (probably never keep clean sheets) and on this occasion we took a fair few of them. It could have been even more, but this would have been even harsher on a gallant and hard-working Rangers outfit.

The bottom line was that we didn't pass well enough, didn't move into space, and weren't as passionate about our football as we should have been, although it was hard for the Gaffer to unleash the requisite half-time diatribe bearing the score line in mind.

After some choice words though, Hotspurs picked up in the second half, and with a raft of substitutions, injected a little more life into the game. We went 5-1 up when Mike bagged his second of the game, but then conceded another late on, after a defensive mix up – the confusion arising when a flying dodo obscured Ally L's eye line as he attempted to clear the ball. It was no more than Rangers deserved.

Positives: we've broken our run of scoring four goals per game, by netting five. We took a decent proportion of our chances and defended very well for most of the game. Chris and Berry were excellent at the heart of the back four, and Berry gets the nod (narrowly) as our Man of the Match, despite not being 100% fit due to two 90 second workouts early in the day.

No yellow cards (or red) for the third successive match, and only one yellow all season – we must be doing something right.

Negatives: We looked complacent and distinctly lacking in energy at the start and for significant tranches of the match, not to mention our seeming inability to put a move consisting of more than two passes together, throughout.

It may seem churlish to be so critical after a 5-2 win, but it must be clear to everyone concerned that much improvement is needed if we are to retain our position at the top of the standings. With tough games to come, attitude will become increasingly important, and we have to start getting it right.

Many thanks to Rangers for a good game, and a fair game. We wish you well for the rest of the season.