After Saturdays 4-1 win at Port Vale the mood was one of confidence among QPR fans that we could continue where we left on Saturday against Blackpool. Sadly though things don't always work that easily and it was back down to earth with a dump last night. Ian Holloway was forced to change the midfield after Alex Bonnot picked up a knock in training so Stuart Wardley returned to midfield and Robert Taylor was also left out as Dou Dou got his place back in midfield. Ben Askar was also missing after getting a broken nose in training and Holloway changed the system playing 4 at the back which didn't work as well as it can do. From the first whistle it was all Blackpool as Martin Bullock and Brett Omerod caused Rangers tons of problems. The Blackpool midfield got stuck in early and our midfield went missing for most of the game, as we didn't have the bite or creativity to make any sort of impact on the early stages of the game. Bruce was having another torrid time against Bullock as once again the opposition focussed on our left side as a weak point. Karl Connolly had another poor game leaving Bruce isolated against the lively Blackpool attack. Rangers only threat going forward was through Dou Dou who cut inside and saw his shot fly over. It was all one way though and a goal didn't look far away. We had Chris Day to thank for keeping us level as he made three excellent saves. One came from a cross by Bullock and after the ball was only half cleared Omerod had a snap shot which was pushed away well by Day. Jon Murphy was also causing us problems with his height as several long range shots were also well saved by Day. Holloway acted and made a tactical switch moving the ineffective Rose back into defence and Forbes went back to right back. This seemed to work for a while as we tightened up but still resorted to hoofing up field to Thomson and Griffiths who worked hard but can't do much without service. At this point Blackpool seemed to get a bit over confident and gave the ball away in their own half and Leroy was put clean through and slotted home his first goal in league football. Around 700 QPR fans went crazy as Leroy ran around like a lunatic showing how excited he was to score his first goal. That seemed to stun Blackpool and they weren't as dangerous for the last ten minutes but still enjoyed far too much possession. Rangers fans were relieved to hear the half time whistle and the hope was we'd improve in the second half. We couldn't have got off to a better start in the second half. Another mistake in defence saw two defenders go for the same ball and the ball fell to Leroy who volleyed brilliantly into the top corner. He ran straight over the Rangers fans and the entire team celebrated and it looked like three points for Rangers. From this point we should have killed the game off by keeping the ball and perhaps looking for a third goal but instead we seemed to invite Blackpool on and the game followed the patter of the first half with Blackpool attacking us almost non stop. This time though they used the direct approach a lot more and we just couldn't cope. A corner on the left was floated in and John O'Kane was unmarked to head into the top corner, at this stage many Rangers fans were mentioning the Crewe game from last season but I was more worried we would get beat from this position as Blackpool were by far the better side, Another corner saw O'Kane unmarked again and he hit the bar before Paul Simpson came on and his pace caused us loads of problems. The main danger was still through Bullock though and only the experience of Palmer got us out of danger on a number of occasions. On one of our rare attacks Leroy had a chance for his hat trick but crossed for Thomson instead and Blackpool cleared the danger. The team were working very hard to keep Blackpool out but an offside flag made sure we stayed in front after Omerod ran through to score but the defence did well to play the offside trap. Graham Fenton then came on (you know the bloke famous for his last minute goal against Newcastle which drove Keegan to the loony bin) and eventually got the equaliser.
In truth they could then have won it with a number of corners but we had one last chance to claim a win we didn't deserve as Wardley's diving header almost caught the keeper out as it looped over him but he managed to stop the danger with a good save. On came Robert Taylor for Andy Thomson and Taylor's main contribution was to turn quickly on half way and with Leroy and Dou Dou making runs ahead of him and a break on he tripped over his feet and fell over in the way a 3 year old does trying to stop themselves with hand out and looking a total fool. Shame really, he was a good player once but he looked finished now. So a 2-2 draw and many will de disappointed that we threw away a two goal lead but we didn't deserve the lead and Blackpool were by far the better side. Man of the Match: Chris Day Players Ratings 1. Chris Day: Made some excellent saves in the first half to keep us in the game and continued in the second, without him we would have lost heavily. 9/10 17. Terrell Forbes: Had his usual solid game, always trying to get forward and help the forwards but was restricted from doing that as we gave the ball away to often. 7/10 4. Steve Palmer: Couldn't really be faulted as he did his best to defend against a tough forward line and did everything asked of him. He was booked for running over to stop Bullock from attacking the ref after the winger dived looking for a penalty. 7/10 3. Paul Bruce: Left isolated against Bullock and was slaughtered for most of the game, one thing I will say in his favour was he never gave up and saved us on one occasions with a last ditch clearance. 6/10 12. Matthew Rose: Looked better when he went back in defence as he was awful in midfield early on 7/10 11. Marcus Bignot: We need Marcus in the middle where his bite and non stop chasing can help us win the ball back. Not his best game though. 6/10 10. Karl Connolly: Very poor game from Karl, was never involved at all and needs to improve as we need him back to his best sooner rather than later. 5/10 7. Stuart Wardley: You know what you get from Wardley, it's not worth slagging him off for his short comings as he'll never improve them, his strengths are closing people down and getting into the box which he did. 6/10 29. Dou Dou: We needed to get him in the ball more as when he did get the ball he caused problems. At one point he was being kicked and pushed by four different players at the same time but the ref blew and gave a free kick to Blackpool. Nothing like protecting flair players eh! 7/10 14. Leroy Griffiths: Scored two very good goals and was a constant threat to Blackpool. He chased lost causes until the last twenty minutes when he seemed to tire. 8/10 27. Andy Thomson: You need to create chances for Thomson otherwise he is wasted up front. On Saturday we created 5 chances for him and he scored a hat trick, tonight we created nothing so no wonder he was quiet. 6/10 Subs 15. Christer Warren: No Comment! 5/10 18. Robert Taylor: Even less Comment required 5/10
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Holloway
had little to respond with and brought on Warren for Connolly
and we then looked even worse on the left, which had seemed impossible.
With six minutes being indicated on the fourth officials board
it was hardly a surprise when they scored. They broke the offside
trap for once and Fenton ran past Rose to take his chance well
and set up a frantic last six minutes.