QPR made it two
games unbeaten so far in pre season with a 2-0 win over Aylesbury
last night.
Although the performance
wasn't the best by Rangers the RAF training in 80 degree heat
earlier the day may have played a factor. Here are two match reports
from QPR fans who went to the game both taken from the Internet.
The first is written
by John McCooke from the QPR Mailing list.
Signed back up for
the QPR list at the end of the week in the hope of some trivial
summer nonsense and what do I get but all you lot harping on about
QPR as usual.
If you can't beat
them join them so myself and Travis got the train up to Aylesbury
for the game.
I have no idea what
happened in the first 10 minutes as we decided a pint was more
of a priority, indeed finding a National Trust pub in the town
centre. It looked great in the courtyard, from which you could
easily transport yourself back to medieval times but the inside
was as horrible as your average boozer.
At Aylesbury they
shut the bar whilst the game was on (unusual in my limited experience)
so we watched the match from behind the Aylesbury goal.
Nobody really stood
out as good or bad I thought but felt the criticism of Newey was
a tad harsh in Simon Skinner's report and it was indeed he whose
blistering cross couldn't be handled by the keeper presenting
Ainsworth with his goal.That said I was standing with Simon and
he was paying more attention than me.
The bar at Aylesbury
is massive, very old school looking and they probably do bingo,
wedding receptions etc there regularly. In the second half we
got out a bit late and went round to the other goal to give the
keeper some cheek.
We were almost playing
with 4 up front with Oli in usually advanced positions on the
right wing, Sabin and the trialist in the middle and Pacquette
on the left but coming into the centre regularly. They contrived
more to get in each other way than anything else until Sabin nearly
made a shambles of walking the ball into the net.
We copied a couple
of kid's example and climbed the perimeter fence to sit directly
behind the goal but some Ken Bates lookalike groundsman ruined
our fun after about 5 minutes and once we were back he warned
us we could be fined a thousand pounds. Naturally the response
was a big "wooooooooooh".
After the game not
many people made the bar as most folks seemed to have been driving
to there so we went across the road to the "Jockey and Horse"
for one. A rotten boozer and as the cab from there got us to the
station so early we decided on another one at the Hogshead in
town.
A short cut back
to the station ended up in us getting lost and so having to get
the stop everywhere train that got back to London at 1am. Still
we had a great game of hangman with a young Malaysian lady. Who
said Englishmen are only interested in ale and football eh?
The second report
is take from the excellent QPR rivals web site which can be found
at
http://queensparkrangers.rivals.net/
Debut Goals For
Sabin and Ainsworth
By Simon Skinner
Rangers notched their
first pre-season win with a 2-0 victory over Aylesbury United.
The goals came courtesy of the new boys, Gareth Ainsworth and
Eric Sabin.
The game in truth
was the usual scrappy pre-season affair with mistakes vastly outnumbering
flashes of skill. Match Report By Simon Skinner There was another
chance to have a look at trialists Clive Delaney and Tom Newey.
Delaney shone once again at centre back and I think one more decent
performance from him will see a contract offered.
Newey on the other
hand started on the left of midfield and looked poor. He didn't
improve in the second half when he went to left back. I assume
he must have taken a knock as Kevin Gallen replaced him at left
back for the last fifteen minutes. Sadly, he actually looked more
accomplished than the previous incumbent.
Paul Furlong brought
a save from the decidedly shaky looking Aylesbury keeper after
a neat exchange with Gallen on the edge of the box. Furs also
smashed a further effort well out of the ground after a rare cut
back from Newey.
The opening goal
was hardly one for the highlight reel but it was very welcome
when it arrived. A ball from the left managed to find its way
across the box to the feet of Ainsworth. His rather ungainly looking
left footed swipe at the ball saw his shin come into play to bobble
the ball home. He seemed as surprised as anyone that he had managed
to get one with the swinger!
As predicted halftime
saw the usual flurry of changes with seven players being replaced.
This brought a chance for another trialist, Marvin Robinson, to
impress the boss. You may remember him scoring for Tranmere against
us at Loftus Road last season. He did little to impress on this
occasion.
Unfortunately there
was no action for our other two named subs, Ian Gillard and Simon
Stainrod. Probably because they weren't there (obviously!). I
think someone had a little joke with the geriatric PA announcer
and he fell for it!
The second goal came
from Eric Sabin and made up for a shocking miss minutes after
the break when he shanked a good Dennis Oli cross well wide. His
goal was almost fluffed as well. A Daly cross from the right was
headed back across goal and Sabin managed to smash high into the
net after his first effort seemed to go straight up in the air.
The score line could
have been more flattering to Aylesbury had they taken any of the
number of half chances they created. Whilst neither Day in the
first half or Culkin in the second had a notable save to make,
there were a few that flew just wide.
Rangers winning margin
may have been wider had the referee not chosen to ignore a clear-cut
penalty. Sabin was brought down in the box and the ref somehow
awarded a freekick against him. This was keeping with his performance
throughout the evening, which had been nothing short of shambolic.
Remember the name Iain Williamson and if you see it on a programme
before the game, save yourself the heartache and just go home!
In two games now
we have seen two very poor refereeing performances and I think
I know why. It seems that referees assume that because a player
is semi-pro, he will not be as able as a pro to commit a normal
challenge etc. As a result, they get away with murder whilst the
pro gets pulled up for every minor and often non-existent transgression.
Lets hope that the officiating gets better when the season kicks
off in earnest.
On now to Kettering
and I would expect that having been to boot camp this week the
players should have an extra edge to their fitness and I am expecting
a much improved showing all round