Carling Cup First Round
Tuesday August 23rd
Attendance: 4,357
Northampton Town 3	Queens Park Rangers 0
A.Kirk	I.Evatt Sent Off
S.McGleish
E.Sabin (pen)

They say the only things certain in life are death and taxes. Whilst that is true I'd also add that when QPR face an away game in the first round of a cup competition against lower league opposition who haven't won all season then it's certain that we'll lose.

Quite why I went to this game with any optimism is beyond me and when the teams came out seeing so many first team regulars missing due to injury, suspension and being rested, it was clear we were in for a long night.

Ian Holloway made five changes to Saturday's side with three players making full debuts. Royce started in goal with debutants Milanese, Ukah and Evatt joining Shimmin in the back four. Sadly some of our fans weren't happy to see a 17 year old make his second ever first team game and Shimmin was booed and called shit before a ball was kicked by a section of the QPR supporters which was possibly more depressing than the 90 minutes of crap that followed.

Holloway made the odd choice to play a 4-2-3-1 formation which was probably more due to a lack of wingers than a tactical change. Bean and Bircham were the holding players with Brown, Gallen and Adam Miller playing behind Stefan Moore.

The bench also had a look of youth on it with Baidoo, Cole, Bailey and Hislop among the substitutes.

Rangers started the game knocking the ball around nicely but not really getting anywhere with it. Miller looked up for the game and was floating about trying to get on the ball but with the new formation we rarely had an outlet out wide and had to go backwards or sideways before giving the ball away cheaply.

At the back we tried to bring the ball out with passing but Ukah was unable to control several passes and we seemed to be playing ourselves into trouble most of the time.

The lack of movement didn't help the back four as they had very little option. Bean and Miller at least wanted the ball but sadly the pair of them quickly gave it away whenever they received it. With such an inexperienced side the likes of Bircham and Gallen were important and although neither did anything wrong they didn't produce enough quality when we needed it.

The game was pretty dire early on with very little happening apart from referee Andy Hall waving cards about. Adam Miller was booked despite him winning the ball whilst Bean joined him in the book for his first foul.

Hall is an awful ref who has ruined a few QPR games in the past (the infamous Cree game where he sent 2 off) and judging by Monday morning reports in the newspapers he tends to ruin someone's afternoon every week. His whistle seemed to blow every few seconds as he never allowed the game to flow and it seemed obvious that this idiot was going to send someone off eventually.

Northampton almost took the lead through Andy Kirk after Shimmin had given the ball away. Kirk's header hit the post with Royce beaten but he was offside anyway. It was an ominous warning of what was to come. Around 20 minutes into the half Northampton continued their hoodoo over Rangers by taking the lead.

The goal came shortly after a switch in defence. Ugo Ukah was badly struggling at right back so switched with Shimmin. Almost straight away a long ball caught out Ukah. It hit him on the back of the head and a lack of communication had seen Royce come off his line. Andy Kirk had the simple task of lobbing Royce into the empty net and we were 1-0 down. It was a poor goal to give away and a comedy of errors between Ukah and Royce.

After the goal we switched back to a 4-4-2 with Miller going on the right but things still weren't really working. We had plenty of the ball and loads of space out on the right but Shimmin and Miller were unable to exploit it.

We did have chances to get level when Milanese's header from a well worked corner was cleared off the line and the Cobblers defence managed to clear a goalmouth scramble. Despite all our possession we didn't really create any clear cut chances and the frustration among the fans was starting to grow as it became clear that we weren't going to beat Northampton again.

One minute's added time was given and two minutes into that referee Andy Hall managed to rival Rob Styles for his incompetence. A long ball went over Evatt and Ukah's head as Kirk raced onto it. Evatt recovered well to hold Kirk up but the forward fell under the challenge. With Ukah covering the worst it should have been is a booking but Hall, who was well behind play, showed a red card without even consulting his linesmen. It was unbelievable, Northampton didn't need any help in beating us but this prat made sure he got his weekly red card out.

The half time whistle went soon afterwards and the Rangers fans were incensed by this moron's decision which probably saved the team from being booed off.

After a penalty shoot out between a QPR and Northampton fan (which ended in a draw) the teams came back out. Marcus Bignot replaced the ineffective Aaron Brown as we went to a 4-3-2 formation. The change did little to improve things.

We continued to have plenty of possession but never really threatened with it so an attacking change was made with Shabazz Baidoo on for Bircham and Galen dropping into midfield. Baidoo looked lively when he came on full of pace and energy but the one paced play of the rest of the team meant we never utilised the youngster's ability.

The second goal came after about an hour. A throw in on the right found Low who crossed for McGleish who had his back to goal but managed an overhead kick which deflected off Bignot and rolled into the corner. Royce was very slow to react and it was turning into another embarrassing night.

We finally managed a decent effort on goal when Milanese curled in an excellent free kick but it was deflected wide. Baidoo also came close to scoring on the one occasion that we got down the line and put a cross in. The introduction of former QPR striker Eric Sabin was the cue for many to leave and it seemed certain that he'd score.

Northampton were now cruising and taking the piss. They had a goal disallowed and Sabin's pace was causing problems as we looked stretched at the back.

In the last minute Sabin ran through on goal and produced the most comical dive I've seen so far this season. As expected the moron in green gave the penalty despite no contact and booked Ukah when really he was the last man and should have gone.

It would have been worth having him sent off so we could appeal and show the referee up for the moron he is as video evidence proves what a joke of a penalty decision this was. Sabin somehow managed to get up and stay on his feet long enough to score the penalty and away end was soon empty.

So another first round cup embarrassment. It's hard to know who to blame. Ian Holloway had so many players out and rested a few that he gave a chance to the fringe players and it didn't work. I'm sure his critics will have a field day but I just think the fringe players didn't take their chance and with ten men in the second half we never really looked like getting back into the game, not that we were really in it to start with though.

We had a brand new back four. Ukah was terrible at right back and had to be moved after about 20 minutes, he was then even worse as a central defender, big cock up for the first goal. Bignot must have been laughing until he came on and did his best to play himself out of the side.

Shimmin did ok at both right back and central defence as did Evatt who should never have been sent off. Milanese had another decent game and looks a good signing. He was my man of the match.

The midfield was hopeless. Bean and Bircham were a waste of time, I didn't even notice Brown was playing until he taken off and poor Adam Miller tried hard but just didn't look good enough.

Up front we were embarrassing. Moore was woeful and Gallen despite having a decent first half was nowhere near good enough. Baidoo came on in the second half and did ok but the service to him was terrible, I don't think we had a shot all game.

They weren't helped of course by our great fans. Some idiots booed Dominic Shimmin's name before a ball was kicked, that's the same 17 year old Shimmin making only his second ever first team start and whenever he tried to bring the ball out of defence he was slaughtered for not hoofing it being called lazy and flash. When Evatt tried the same things he got clapped.

About 50 fans spent the entire game calling Adam Miller a cunt, which must have been a great confidence booster for the lad. He came over to take a corner in front of the QPR fans in the second half and got a wanker sign from fans near the front. The last ten minutes his every touch was booed.

Of course those who booed Miller and co will say they travelled a long way, paid a lot of money to watch rubbish and can say what they want and I suppose they are right but as I said to Carly give it a month and they'll be saying why doesn't Holloway give youngsters a chance and why isn't Miller playing. Well this is why because when they do get a chance we are on their backs all game, that and they are not as good as our first team regulars.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the fans for this result, that would be a little stupid. Our fans were shit tonight, great numbers but never sang all night and just slagged our reserves off. That's not why we lost though. The experienced players were all poor and didn't do enough to help the kids out.

I've read we played a 4-2-3-1 formation, which was bizarre, it looked like a 4-4-2 to me but that was probably due to most players looking lost. Not a great night for Holloway to try new tactics when so many new players are playing, we should have stuck with what we know.

So what can we take out of the game, Well 4-2-3-1 doesn't work with Stefan Moore as the lone striker but I thought that would have been obvious before hand. We badly need Rowlands, Doherty, Furlong, Shittu and Cook or Ainsworth in the side if we are going to do well but again I think we knew that already.

We have decent strength in depth this year if we throw one or two in at a time but lose nine first team players and it's a disaster waiting to happen which would be the same at every other Champsionship club.

Hopefully something close to our first choice defence and midfield will make an appearance on Friday and if they do we'll hopefully bounce back and get a good result.

Man of the Match: Mauro Milanese
Players Ratings: Royce 6, Ukah 5, Milanese 7, Evatt 6, Shimmin 6, Miller 5, Bircham 6 (Baidoo 6), Bean 5, Brown 5 (Bignot 5), Gallen 6, Moore 5

The Managers View

"I was disappointed with the sending off and if that was deemed a sending off so should have been the one for the penalty he gave but that’s life.

"That’s the way it goes but you expect to be able to speak to people about that 30 minutes after the game. I’ve waited 45 minutes and he’s gone home."

"He didn’t lose us the game, the one that hit Ugo on the back we should have dealt with that. Anyway I wish Northampton all the best, they scored three, we didn’t get any and that’s life, onwards and upwards."

"I chose to select a weakened side because we’ve got a few injuries and we’ve got a game on Friday and I still think I made the right decision because we’ve got to add to our league points. We want to stay in the Championship, we want to move on and keep going forward." "

I’ve given some of my fringe players a game tonight and found out about one or two of them who were not quite up to it against Northampton but one or two of them were."

"I was very pleased with Milanese’s effort today We attempted to improve our squad over the summer but we’ve got eight people out in important positions and some of those young fellas have got to improve really quickly if they are going to help us do anything or I’ll move them out."