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A trip to Wycombe is always a difficult one. The stadium
is in the middle of nowhere and parking is impossible so we made
the trip via train then bus to the ground. After a few drinks in
the wetherspoons pub in town we made our way to Adams Park, which
is a decent ground by this divisions standards. Shame about the
toilets though which saw blokes having to share a toilet such were
the queues to get in.
As we made out way to our seats I heard a load of
boos as the players warmed up. I couldn't understand why then I
read the programme and saw that our old friend Rob Styles was referee.
I laughed and told my girlfriend carly about the
history between Styles and QPR. For those who don't know Gerry Francis
went to the football league to stop him referring our matches after
some awful decisions were given in the games he was in charge of.
I also explained that when he was a Premiership ref
not one week would go by without a Premiership manager slamming
Styles as the most incompetent ref they had ever seen. How this
man was still in a job is beyond me but I didn't think he'd be as
bad as I remembered. Oh boy I couldn't have been more wrong.
The game started with Rangers attacking towards the
2,000 QPR fans. Doudou was dropped to the bench and Karl Connolly
was back in the team but that was the only change from Saturday's
team. The game started off quite scrappy with both teams getting
stuck in and Wycombe had a few crosses come in but we looked comfortable
after a shaky first minute when Rammell missed a sitter when clean
through.
We soon settled down and began to play some nice football.
We spread the play well using Williams on the left and Langley on
the right really well and a goal seemed inevitable. Gallen went
close with a shot, which was blocked and had a header go over from
a corner. We were getting in good positions and the strength of
Furlong was causing them problems.
Sadly though anytime Furlong jumped for a ball the
whistle went with the referee having no idea what the difference
is between jumping and pushing. Rangers should have taken a deserved
lead after a good cross in saw Furlong beat the keeper to the ball
and head towards goal and Karl Connolly finished it off. The ref,
or cheat as he should be known as he doesn't deserve to be awarded
the title of referee, claimed that Furlong had pushed the keeper
but no one appealed and it was a laughable decsion.
We were well on top but poor defending by Shittu saw
Wycombe take the lead. Shittu tried to play his way out of trouble
on the wing but delayed for to long and Devine beat him to the ball
and put in a good cross for Faulconbridge to turn it past Royce.
Ranger's fans couldn't believe we were losing as we were well on
top but the players responded well.
We broke straight away and a quick free kick saw Forbes
cross for Furlong to head a powerful header into the bottom corner.
The Rangers end erupted only for the ref to disallow it again. No
idea why this time but Fulong was booked for whatever mystery offence
he had committed.
It got worse, a number of 50/50 tackles were fought
in our own half and Bircham went in for the ball and caught a Wycombe
player. A Wycombe player responded by trying to fight Bircham and
both players were pushed away from each other. Bircham was shown
red for an elbow but quite how you can elbow someone when you are
on the floor is beyond me. Nothing was said to the Wycombe player
and Bircham had to be held back from going after the referee. Lawrie
Sanchez had a pop at Bircham as he went off and Bircham again had
to be held back, not one word was said top Sanchez by the cheat
or the fourth official. Ranger's fans were going berserk, we knew
Styles was a cheat but this was ridiculous.
Still we fought back and did things the right way.
More good football saw Furlong played in after Senda handballed
outside the area. Furlong latched onto the ball and scored with
a good finish only for more confusion to follow. Langley grabbed
the ball and ran to the half way line, Furlong stood waiting for
it to be disallowed and the goalkeeper tried to take a free kick.
No one knew if it was a goal or not and Styles just seemed to stand
still trying to think of a reason to disallow this one.
Amazingly he gave the goal but that laughable scenes
following the goal with not one player knowing what was going on
summed up Styles. He made a perfectly good goal seem like the toughest
decsion in the world. Still it was 1-1 and we were looking good
for the win. Shittu hit a shot over and at half time Styles got
his weekly police escort off the pitch. I was disgusted by Styles
but we were playing well against 12 men and I still fancied us to
win.
Half time saw the only fun part of the day as some
poor sod tried to sing a karaoke version of "Don't let the Sun go
down on me" on the pitch. Quite what possessed Wycombe to hire this
bloke is a mystery but it gave us the chance to sing abuse at him
for five minutes with the usual "Your shit and you know you r" and
a chant of "Off, Off, Off" which Rob the cheat must have liked as
he got his cards ready for a second half of fun.
Rangers came out for the second half a different
team and it wasn't a good one. Wycombe got straight to work and
scored an almost identical goal to the first one. Williams was caught
on the left and a cross found Rammell this time to score from close
range. Poor defending and an awful start to the half for Rangers.
We should have got level again when Connolly fired
over in space but a few heads seemed to go down and we had nothing
in midfield now Bircham was off. Wycombe got a third virtually the
same as the first two. The Rangers fans seemed to give up, as did
a few of the players. Styles continued with some shockingly bad
decsion allowing Wycombe to kick the crap out of Langley and Williams
and going mad every time Furlong jumped for a header.
Marcus Bean then came on for the ineffective Connolly
and showed some nice touches before the madness of Rob Styles continued.
Bean battled for the ball and Rammell appeared to almost rip Beans
shit off his back. Bean tried to push Rammell away and both ended
up on the floor. As soon as it happened I turned to Carly and said
"Bean will get sent off here", he'd done nothing wrong but you could
see it coming. Styles couldn't get his cards out quick enough to
send both players off when a yellow each would have been more than
enough.The game was over, Wycombe had won so what's the point of
two more red cards?
The game became a farce when Williams ran down the
left and Danny Senda took him out with a late challenge. He was
next to be sent off and you began to wonder if the game would be
abandoned.
The game was a farce and Langley appeared to have
had enough of being kicked and was taken off. Wycombe got a fourth
after a wicked deflection but it didn't matter the game was ruined
long before this and to complete Mr Incompetent's day he awarded
2 minutes injury time at the end of the game. So three sendings
off in a half and a number of injuries took just 2 minutes did it?
Not only is he a cheat he can't tell the time either.
So a terrible result for Rangers and we now lose Bircham
for at least 3 games thanks to Rob Styles. Lets hope this is the
last we see of him for a long time.
Man of the Match: Terrell Forbes
Players Ratings
15. Simon Royce: Made a few good saves but didn't
have much chance with the goals. 6/10
2. Terrell Forbes: As excellent as ever, one of the
few players to keep going for 90 minutes and didn't deserve to be
on the losing team. 8/10
33. Tommy Williams: Put in some good crosses in the
first half but wasn't really involved much after half time. 6/10
4. Steve Palmer: Defended well for most of the game
but made a few uncharacteristic errors in the second half. 7/10
6. Danny Shittu: Excellent at times but was at fault
for the first goal. 7/10
7. Matthew Rose: Gets back well and covers when the
full backs get forward but when Bircham went off he was woeful.
5/10
8. Marc Bircham: Was having a decent game before he
was sent off. 6/10
10. Karl Connolly: Dire, I didn't realise he was
playing until he went off. 5/10
9. Richard Langley: Good in the first half creating
chances but after half time he seemed to get pissed off with being
kicked for 90 minutes and faded from the game. 6/10
10. Kevin Gallen: Had to come deep to get the ball
after the midfield went missing in the second half and worked hard
for the team again. 7/10
29. Paul Furlong: Another good performance from Furlong
who is an excellent target man and took his goal well. 7/10
Subs:
22. Marcus Bean: Poor sod, was sent off for being
fouled but I thought he looked comfortable on the ball during his
short spell on the field. 6/10
29. Doudou: On for 2 minutes, should have been on
earlier.
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