Tuesday September 17th  

Queens Park Rangers 3

Huddersfield Town 0

   
D.Shittu  
T.Williams  
C.Carlisle  
   

Rangers started the game unchanged for only the second time this season against probably our toughest test so far. Huddersfield were in the playoffs last year and have some experienced players in Kevin Gallagher and Andy Booth and they had not let in a goal for four games.

That didn't seem to bother Rangers though attacked towards the loft like men possessed at the start of the first half. Oli and Gallen were closing down defenders and the midfield were not allowing them much time on the ball. They did open us up early on though but Royce got down well to save a long range shot.

More pressing of defenders won us a corner as Oli won the ball and Terrell Forbes cross was headed out. Richard Langley delivered a quality corner and Danny Shittu rose to power a brilliant header towards the goal but the Huddersfield keeper made a very good save to turn it wide.

Tommy Williams took the corner and again Shittu met it but this time he buried his header into the back of the net. A cracking start for Rangers and the Danny SHittu song was being sung loud and proud in the upper loft.

The opening ten minutes was end to end all the way as Huddersfield played some good football and had a few shots from outside the box in an attempt to get level.

Steve Palmer headed a corner just wide as we looked very dangerous from set pieces and the team were working so hard during the first half.

Rangers switched easily between a 3-5-2 we started with to a 4-3-3 with Connolly pushing further forward, it soon paid dividends as we grabbed a second goal. Connolly put Williams in with a nice pass and he used his pace to burst past the defence and he seemed to over run it before blasting a brilliant cross shot past the keeper.

Loftus Road was buzzing and the atmosphere was superb. We almost got a third soon after when the brilliant Gallen hit a shot on the turn from 25 yards out but the keeper made another very good save.

Half time saw Rangers go off to a standing ovation after a superb first half performance.

You couldn't imagine it getting much better but it did. Second half we were comfortable letting Huddersfield have the ball in the knowledge that they just had no way past Carlisle and Shittu who were immense.

We stepped up a gear mid way through the half and had a few chances to kill the game off. First Richard Langley curled another brilliant free kick in the top corner but this time the keeper produced a brilliant save. From the corner Danny Shittu's volley almost broke the crossbar and we couldn't convert the rebound.

We were in charge of the game and another free kick about 25 yards about brought great expectations around the stadium. Langley curled it against the bar but Clarke Carlisle smashed home the rebound to cap off a memorable night for Rangers.

Carlisle celebrated the goal in style as the Rangers fans sang his new superman song in appreciation of another fine performance. The support from the P,Q and R blocks was quite superb again with almost non stop signing and an almost party like atmosphere as we sang "We're gonna win the league". For once this song was sang with feeling rather than with irony.

Dennis Oli went off to a standing ovation after another impressive performance and Richard Pacquette replaced him but he didn't get much of a chance to make an impression.

Matthew Rose picked up an injury towards the end of the game and was taken off. Rose was also given a standing ovation, quite a turnaround for a player most of us couldn't wait to see the back of seven days ago. Danny Murphy came on to play in midfield but the game was won and we didn't manage another goal.

So nine goals in three league games with none conceded, not bad for a team dubbed to defensive last week.

Rangers are now second in the league but the team are playing really well at the moment and with Bircham, Burgess and Jerome Thomas still to come back, this should be an entertaining season at Loftus Road.

Man of the Match: Clarke Carlisle

Players Ratings

15. Simon Royce: Made some crucial saves early on to give us a good platform to build on 7/10

2. Terrell Forbes: Brilliant again, but the only player in the back four not to score 8/10 33. Tommy Williams: His best game for a while, very good defensively and scored a cracking goal. 8/10

5. Clarke Carlisle: Absolutely fantastic, he looks like he has never been away. His goal is the highlight of the season so far. 9/10

6. Danny Shittu: Another goal for Danny and he looks much better alongside Carlisle. 8/10

4. Steve Palmer: A dodgy start as he looked all over the place for about 15 minutes but then settled down and had a decent game 7/10

7. Matthew Rose: Much better from Rose, he looked like he wanted to know and used the ball quite well 7/10

9. Richard Langley: So unlucky not to score, he controlled the game from midfield and looks back to his best. 8/10

11. Karl Conolly: Used the ball well from deep positions and set up the second goal. Like Rose he has made a massive improvement in the last seven days. 7/10

20. Dennis Oli: Worked his arse off up front, closing people down and he was a real threat. 8/10

10. Kevin Gallen: After all those years of being slagged off by fans for eating to many burgers etc, he is now shoving those words down peoples throats. He is playing the best football of his life and was unlucky not to score again. 9/10

Subs:

24. Richard Pacqutte: Replace Oli and did quite well but the game was over by the time he came on. 7/10

16. Danny Murphy: Slotted into midfield and worked hard for the last few minutes 7/10