After a bad ten days at QPR
the news that Jamie Cureton had signed for QPR had put a smile back
on the face of the Rangers fans and news that Bristol City’s game
was off also came as a bonus as Rangers knew we could open up a
five point gap again with a win at Chesterfield.
We travelled up to the game on the Supporters club coach and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one confident of getting back to winning ways. After a few drinks in the pubs down the round from the away end we headed to the ground as the rain began to fall again. Ian Holloway had been forced into changes with Danny Shittu out for nine months with his knee injury. Clarke Carlisle replaced him with Forbes partnering Clarke in the middle and Rose at right back. Tony Thorpe partnered Furlong in attack with top scorer Kevin Gallen starting the game on the left wing. It was good to see Carlisle playing but rumours are this could be his last game. His agent spent most of Friday trying to engineer a move to Leeds United by speaking to various press agencies and after all that QPR and the fans have done to help Clarke it is a bit of a slap in the face to see him trying to get a move away from Loftus Road. Of course he could just be trying to push QPR into giving him a new deal but I can think of better ways to go about that. On the pitch though Carlisle took his place in defence as the team attacked towards the QPR fans in the first half. The strong wind was in our favour early on and we started the game well. We won a corner after a defensive mix up and Gino’s in swinging ball found Palmer unmarked at the far post. The Rangers captain headed goal wards and the keeper did well to tip it over the bar. Rangers then took the lead with a quality goal. Bircham did well in midfield and threaded a nice pass through to Thorpe. Thorpe was clean through and showed lots of confidence to go round the keeper and roll the ball into the back of the net. The Rangers fans celebrated and a bad ten days looked like it was going to be put behind us. Rangers were in a great position to win the game but sat back and failed to adapt to the conditions. Long balls to Furlongs were being caught in the wind and flying off for goal kicks whilst Gallen was struggling to get the ball out wide. At the back we were being put under pressure by some good passing football by the struggling hosts. Chesterfield have been down the bottom all season and lost 7-0 to Plymouth earlier this month but they looked a decent side on this showing and were making life difficult for us. The back four were looking a bit of a mess with little or no protection from the midfield. Rose was often caught out of position as he got forward to support Rowlands which meant Forbes spent too long covering the right back position. Twice Forbes came across to save the day before Chesterfield got a deserved equaliser. Forbes came across as Chesterfield broke on the counter attack. Hurst ran through and with Carlisle running back Gino came across to help Forbes clear the danger. Hurst got his shot in which beat Day but hit the post and with the midfield still strolling back to help the defence out, Jamie McMaster had an open goal to aim at and powered his shot which hit the post and went in. It was a poor goal to give away but it seemed to wake us up and we had another chance to grab the lead. A cross in from the left saw a Chesterfield defender head it past his own keeper and it came off the post. Thorpe punched and looked certain to score but rolled the ball an inch the wrong side of the post. Furlong was winning a few flicks on to put Thorpe through but it wasn’t the best performance by Rangers as Chesterfield finished the half the stronger side and the QPR fans stood in the pouring rain were beginning to get frustrated. At half time many supporters began to fear the worst as the wind and rain picked up and we knew it was going to be to the home sides advantage in the second half. During the break it was good to see Jamie Cureton warming up with the subs and he should make his debut next week once he gets a bit of training in with his new team mates. The teams came out for the second half as the rain lashed down and Ollie made a change switching Gallen to the right wing and Rowlands to the left. It seemed a sensible move but it didn’t take long before we went a goal behind. Poor defending from a thrown in saw Chesterfield break down our left with ease before Carlisle came across saving the day and clear for a corner. As we lined up for the corner I watched Palmer and Day screaming at players to make up and concentrate. In this heavy wind any set piece was going to be difficult to defend against. We had it far too easy for them though as the cross came in and Ian Evatt leapt at the far post as Rose stood and watched the defender head in the back of the net. Day can also take some of the blame as he didn’t seem to know if he was going to claim the cross or stay on his line and ended up doing neither and leaving the defender an easy chance to score. It was becoming embarrassing as Chesterfield out played and outfought us as they used the conditions to their advantage They won several free kick around the box and put pressure on the QPR defence in a way we never looked like doing in the entire game. Holloway made a change to try and sort the problems out. Kevin McLeod replaced Paul Furlong with Gallen going up front and Rowlands moving to the right wing. The change seemed to work as we got out of our half for the first time in the second period of the game and McLeod put in a few crosses and tried to put Thorpe through with a neat pass. A corner on the right eventually led to an equaliser. Gallen swung it in and Muggleton made a mess of the cross again and the ball came off the bar before being cleared. McLeod put another cross in which was cleared before Palmer took a touch and smashed a shot into the back of the net from 15 yards out. It was a superb finish and the Rangers fans went mad in soaking wet terracing. All we had to do now was carry on as we had been in the last five minutes and we’d surely get more chances to win the game. Rangers though pressed the self-destruct button. Another free kick was given away on the right as Forbes needlessly fouled Hurst who was going nowhere. A dangerous swinging cross was put into the box and with the wind swirling the ball in Day stood and watched as Hurst beat Forbes to glance a header into the bottom corner. It was scandalous defending and goalkeeping by Rangers and we have thrown it away again. Holloway made another change to try and inject some life into the team as Rose went off for Sabin. Rowlands now went to right back but it failed to make any difference as the midfield never helped the back four out and we gifted Chesterfield a fourth goal. Forbes was at fault again as he got the ball at the edge of his own area and tried to play it out of trouble but ended up passing straight to Hudson who curled a brilliant shot past Day for number four. For the second time in two weeks, we’d conceded four goals away from home against sides battling against relegation. This simply wasn’t good enough and the players had nowhere to hide as Chesterfield ran us ragged looking for even more goals. Holloway made
one late change bringing on Wes Daly for Martin Rowlands but the
best we managed near the need was a shot by Bircham, which was
easily saved. Chesterfield eased to victory as many Rangers fans
left the terrace disgusted with the performance. Some fans stayed
to clap the team off at the end to offer some much needed encouragement
but personally I was too cold and wet to take my hands out of
my pockets and clap them. Man of the
Match: Clarke Carlisle 1. Chris Day:
Not an afternoon he’ll want to remember. I thought he should have
done better with the goals and his kicking was unusually poor.
5/10
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