After a month without a game at
Loftus Road it was nice to see a home game again
as Preston visited Loftus Road. This was to become
my five year old nephew Charlie’s first ever QPR
game after his constant nagging the last few months
about wanting to see Marc Bircham and co. Charlie
was to be a bit disappointed that Bircham wasn’t
playing but it was no surprise that the team remained
unchanged after a good performance at Millwall
last weekend.
Rangers got off to a good start attacking towards
the Loft in the first half. With a strong wind
behind us we made life difficult for the visitors
and had plenty of chances to kill the game off
in an impressive first half.
Furlong and Cook combined well to put Cureton
clear through but he didn’t look too confident
when he received the ball and his shot was saved
by Andy Lonergan’s legs and cleared.
Cureton should have scored the opening goal after
a mix up in the Preston back four. A simple long
ball by Shittu got caught in the wind and Mawene
couldn’t deal with it. He misjudged the flight
of the ball and headed into the path of Cureton
who lifted the ball over the keeper but saw his
effort land on the roof of the net. It was a very
good chance and he should have scored.
Preston was offering very little as an attacking
threat and it seemed only a matter of time before
Rangers took the lead. Lee Cook conjured up some
magic on the left. A lovely piece of skill took
him away from two defenders and his run and cross
was cleared for a corner. Cook ran towards the
R Block side to take it getting a big ovation
from the QPR fans.
Cook took the corner short to Gallen and the crowd
began to groan. This was something they had worked
on though and Gallen gave it back to Cook who
crossed brilliantly for Paul Furlong to place
a header into the top corner for his first goal
of 2005.
Rangers could and should have been further ahead
by half time as we continued to dominate. Ainsworth
robbed Matt Hill of the ball and drove through
the middle. His cross found Cureton in acres of
space but he rushed his effort and the volley
missed the target. That was the third chance for
Cureton and a player of his experience really
should have scored one of them. I dread to think
what the reaction of some fans would have been
if Gallen had missed those chances.
So at half time a 1-0 lead was the least we deserved
but with the wind against us in the second half
I had a feeling we may live to regret not adding
a second goal to kill the game off.
As expected Preston came out a much stronger side
for the second half and with the wind behind them
they made life difficult for Rangers. Someone
else making life difficult was the referee. This
weeks clown had blown for a number of bizarre
decisions in the first half but made a name for
himself at the start of the second for a stunning
decision.
The linesmen called him over to stop play, as
Rangers got ready to take a throw in. No one seemed
to know what this was all about but the linesmen
wasn’t happy that a bloke in a six foot Cat costume
was walking down the touchline. Jude the Cat was
then sent from the field so the lino wouldn’t
get confused and think the six-foot cat was playing
Preston onside. So Rangers were down to just eleven
men and with Jude the Cat now sent to the dressing
room things began to get difficult for Rangers.
Ranger’s fans may remember this ref from the Wolves
away game when he allowed the game to finish despite
the pitch being under water for the entire second
half so at least he is consistently useless. The
ref had already got his book out to caution Santos
and Davies for kicking the ball away but let several
tackles from behind go without even speaking to
the offenders.
Preston manager Billy Davies made a double change,
which would eventually change the game. David
Nugent came on up front and Paul McKenna was brought
on into midfield and Rangers struggled to deal
with the two new players.
McKenna in particular
began to run the midfield with Gallen and Santos
struggling badly after a decent first half for
the pair.
Preston were pushing us further and further
back and we just couldn’t get out of our own
half. Any long clearance were being headed back
to us or just not going very far with the wind
holding up and long balls. Simon Royce wasn’t
getting any distance on his kicks and Preston
were slowly taking control of the game.
Royce had to be alert to save Preston’s first
real shot on target of the game. A neat move
outside the box opened Rangers up and Royce
got down well to save Nugents powerful effort.
That was a warning for Rangers but we didn’t
react to it and Preston got level soon afterwards.
It was almost a carbon copy of Nugents striker
a few minutes earlier. McKenna got away from
Davies and fired in a shot which Royce parried
but was slow to get to the rebound and Nugent
followed in to touch it into the back of the
net for 1-1.
Preston’s players
celebrated in front of the Loft which didn’t
please the home crowd and it seemed that we
needed to make a couple of changes to get the
momentum back in our favour. At this stage though
I would have taken the point as Preston were
well on top.
They sensed blood and piled forward to get the
winner.
Holloway got three
subs ready with Bignot, Bircham and Rowlands
all stripped off and ready but Preston won a
corner after Edghill headed behind from a dangerous
cross. The subs sat back down and things soon
went from bad to worse.
Edghill sliced
clearance from the corner but recovered well
to block Creswell’s cross for another corner.
This time they tried the short one similar to
how we took the lead and a whipped in cross
saw Rangers struggled to cope with. The ball
fell to defender Lucketti who smashed in a shot
to the top corner to give his side the lead.
Bircham, Rowlands and Bignot were thrown on
for Cureton, Cook and Edghill as Holloway tried
to get something out of the game.
The three subs
at least added some passion and commitment to
the side but it was a little odd to see Santos
go up front instead of Gallen. Rowlands looked
bright on the left but Preston were defending
in numbers now and a couple of decent crosses
were headed clear by the Preston defence.
Bircham was in the thick of the action quickly
and he caught Cresswell in the face as he tried
to protect the ball. It wasn't deliberate but
I’ve seen players booked for less. The ref’s
card was out though for Eddie Lewis who dived
in two footed on Bircham for a yellow card.
Lewis then lost the plot just minutes after
being booked by diving in on Padula to pick
up his second yellow card and he joined Jude
the Cat for an early bath and a saucer of milk.
Rangers pushed forward against the ten men but
we never really looked like getting level. A
Rowlands cross late on found Furlong who went
for a spectacular over head kick but his effort
was off target.
Despite some terrible time wasting from Lonergan
in the Preston goal, two goals, the medical
men has been on several times and two sending
offs, the ref gave just two minutes of injury
time which had most of the crowd scratching
their heads as to where the time had gone. Perhaps
his watch broke during the flood at Wolves a
few months ago.
Still we didn’t look like scoring and the final
whistle saw the visitors celebrate and the QPR
fans booed off the officials, as they got down
the tunnel as quickly as possible with their
weekly steward to protect them from the paying
public.
The referee was awful but no complaints over
the result though. We were good in the first
half with the wind behind us but after the break
we deserved nothing.
I thought Holloway was a bit too slow in changing
things and I would have taken off Santos and
Ainsworth who were dire in the second half.
They weren't alone
though as the entire midfield just disappeared
letting Preston run the game and the back four
never really had enough help.
Gallen was good
in the first half but after the break looked
like a forward playing in midfield. I'd get
him back up front ASAP. He's not prolific with
his goal scoring but I reckon he'd score one
every 4 or 5 games rather than Cureton who scores
every 4 months. Cureton was again a waste of
space up front and must be the luckiest man
at the club to keep his place for so long.
Royce and Davies
didn't have great games either and I couldn't
understand why Royce tried long goal kicks when
the wind was making sure they never got beyond
the halfway line. Davies has been excellent
for us in his loan spell though and hopefully
he’ll be back with us again later in the season.
Credit to Preston though who worked hard in
the second half and although I don't think they'll
go up they deserve to be in the top six at the
moment.
So after a poor second half I half expected
that my nephew would be put off for life but
he told me after the game that he wants to come
every Saturday so it's not all bad.
Man of the
Match: Paul Furlong
Players Ratings:
Royce 6, Edghill 6, Padula 6, Davies 6,
Shittu 6, Ainsworth 6, Gallen 6, Santos 6, Cook
7, Furlong 8, Cureton 5.
Subs: Bircham 6, Rowlands 7, Bignot 7
