Saturday October 28th
Tranmere 1	Q.P.R. 1
J.Koumas	K.Connolly

Once Again I couldn't make this away die to circumstances beyond my control so here is an edited version of Tracy Stents report of the match

The weather conditions were appalling, didn't stop pelting down on the way up. The QPR fans were seated in a stand behind the goal, the opposite one to where Tranmere have usually housed away fans. It holds 2500 and at a very rough estimate I'd say around around 500 QPR fans were there. Some poor souls didn't get to the ground until 3.35pm because of the train delays and many of them weren't due back into London until midnight.

Unfortunately, within the first five minutes or so Lee Harper had already been forced into making a double save......this was then the pattern of the game for around the first 20/25 minutes or so, with us defending very deep indeed (Carlisle was in fine form) and Harper having to pull off some good saves.

We then started to claw our way back into the game with Connolly and Langley testing the Tranmere defence and keeper. Half time and though we were lucky to be level at the interval, at least we digged in and kept going. The second half started, and with our players attacking the goal where the QPR fans were seated, we were desperately unlucky not to have found ourselves 1-0 up within the first couple of minutes.

An excellent break, with Peter Crouch shooting at goal only for the Tranny goalkeeper to pull off a fine save, the rebound fell yet again to Rodnee, but his second attempt was thwarted by the woodwork. After around ten minutes of the restart, Christer Warren had to go off (seemed to be limping) and he was replaced by Karl Ready, who came on to a chorus of "there's only one Karl Ready." Hmmmm. Two faced springs to mind...

About five minutes later, after what looked to be a good through ball, one of the Tranmere forwards headed his team in front. Cue the James Brown "I feel good" lyrics (copyright Sunderland FC) being blasted from the pa system to deafen our eardrums and annoy the heck out of the travelling supporters.

Shortly afterwards Sammy came on to replace Mark Perry, we went to 433, and though we weren't pretty, we did keep going under difficult circumstances - the conditions were awful and we found ourselves becoming increasingly frustrated with Aldo's offside trap, even the lino fell for it (though I could be hopelessly biased of course) - and it paid off with around 9 minutes to go. But I'm getting slightly ahead of myself here, as it was around 5 minutes before we scored our goal that Richard Langley was replaced by Stuart Wardley.

Now I'm not blinkered as regards young Stuart, of course he's not the greatest of players, but at the end of the day he's wearing a hooped shirt and is as fully entitled to expect support as any other QPR player. So what happens? The poor guy hasn't even run out onto the field of play when someone shouts out "Fucking hell Wardley, we're not that desperate." Of course Warders couldn't hear such constructive support but it really enraged a few of us to such an extent that I couldn't keep quiet and shouted a couple of likewise constructive comments back, much to the amusement of some of the lads and lasses around me.

Strange then that it so happened to be a fine through ball from SW who put CK clear on goal which led to the foul resulting in our free kick. Oh, and Chris was definitely clear through, yet the referee failed to spot where and how it happened, having to consult with his assistant. The wall was arranged, Karl Connolly took the kick, shooting around the wall into the top corner. Brilliant free kick right in front of the R's fans.

In the closing minutes, CK went close only for the ball to go straight down the other end, a shot was unleashed and Lee made a quite excellent save, pushing the ball over the bar.

Then, just as we were awaiting the final whistle....disaster (or so some of us thought) as it seemed as if Rovers had won it right at the end, almost like a carbon copy of their first one, and when the ball went into the back of the net, there followed a couple of seconds of utter disbelief before we realised that the linesman on the other side of the pitch had his flag up. Oh the sweet irony of it all, to have played Aldo's own game.

So the final whistle went, the fans were absolutely overjoyed to have come away with a hard earned point and Gerry came onto the pitch at the end, signalling for all the players to get themselves over to the away end of the ground before they disappeared down the tunnel.

Negatives? The first 25 minutes or so when we seemed bogged down. And a period during the second half when all we seemed to do was lob the ball in the air (even Langers started hoofing it). Deary me. Positives? Carlisle, Connolly and Crouch. And motm Lee Harper of course.