| Saturday April 5th | |
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Cardiff City 1 |
Queens Park Rangers 2 |
| P.Thorne | P.Furlong |
| R.Langley | |
I was unable to get to this game so here's a match report from the Rangers Till I die Web site at http://www.rtid.co.uk written by Tony Johnson Another very solid performance saw us deservedly take the points at Ninian Park. No changes from last week, with the on loan Kelly continuing at rightback despite the return of Forbes, who was on the bench. We looked good and confident right from the start, and could have taken an early lead when Gallen got the better of the hesitant Prior, turning the Cardiff defender so well that he slipped over in the box. The Rangers striker squared the ball to Furlong, eight yards out who should have hit the target but his shot went just wide. Nevertheless, things were looking ominous for the home side and shortly after a Palmer volley from outside the box was well saved, with Margotson in the Cardiff goal just tipping the ball round the post. Yet again we should have taken the lead when Gallen again got clear of the out of sorts Prior with a clear run on goal, only to see Margotson dive at his feet and win the ball as Kev tried to go round him on the edge of the box. We then did get the ball in the net when Prior yet again allowed a high ball to bounce and Gallen won the tussle for it, lobbing the Bluebirds keeper for what seemed like a deserved opening goal. The referee, in fact, was quite happy but the linesman had decided, quite ludicrously, that Gallen had won the ball unfairly and the home side got away with a lucky escape. Meanwhile, Cardiff's only real threat was through the speedy Earnshaw but the little Welshman didn't have a lot of support from his colleagues, and Carlisle and Shittu were managing to crowd him out quite successfully. Gino was playing superbly, and was unbeatable at left back, on numerous occasions having his man running at him with the ball but always coolly winning the tackle and coming away in possession. This seemed to provide an inspiration to the rest of the side, making them even more determined and committed to the cause. As half time approached, McLeod let fly with a long range effort that was too close to the keeper, and we went in at half time having created the better chances and having been robbed of the lead by poor officiating. Unsurprisingly Cardiff, deperate for the points to try and achieve automatic promotion, came at us at the start of the second period, but they got little joy from our solid back four, with Day organising things behind them. We continued to look dangerous up front as the home side were struggling to deal with the front pair of Gallen and Furlong who were both looking very sharp. Gallen, in fact, could easily have scored again with a powerful shot which would have gone had it been either side of the keeper instead of straight at Margotson, who palmed it away. It was really no more than we deserved when we finally did take the lead. Gino curled in a free kick from the right, and what was an obvious training ground move worked a treat, as the Rangers attackers all ran a little circle, totally confusing the Cardiff defence to leave Furlong unmarked at the far post to head home superbly. The home side now became even more desperate, throwing players forward, bringing on a couple of substitutes and changing to three at the back. We still continued to defend well, but Thorne managed to get his head to a corner for them to get an undeserved equaliser. They continued to press for a few minutes after the goal, but we kept them at bay, with a fine save from Day from a close range Earnshaw effort the only real alarm. Still, a draw would been a decent enough result for us, and Cardiff seemed to settle for that also, obviously concerned that our attack would grab another if they continued pushing players forward. However, to our credit, we were still determined to win the game, with a Langley overhead effort going close. And, with a couple of minutes to go we did just that. We got good possession down the left, and Furlong did well to attract defenders to him as he held the ball. He did even better to thread it back to Gino as Langley got into the space on the right as the Cardiff defence was drawn across to the ball. A quite superb cross from Gino evaded the hapless home defence to find Langley in space, who finished superby with a fine volley. Game over, and the trickle of Cardiff fans who were already walking out turned into a torrent. We played out injury time comfortably as joy was unconfined in the noisy away section of the ground. We were kept in the ground for about a further twenty five minutes as it appeared a section of Cardiff fans were waiting outside, presumably to congratulate us on our fine win, and the police wanted to disperse them. Nobody really cared though, and in fact it just gave us an opportunity for more cheers for the players as they came out to warm down, and amusingly, to give us a chance to chant "You're not very good" at the dismayed Bluebirds players. Even better, this elicited some gestures
from one or two of them which were met by laughter and catcalls!
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