| Coca Cola Championship | |
| Tuesday August 9th | |
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Attendance: 14,632 |
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| Queens Park Rangers 2 | Ipswich Town 1 |
| K.Gallen | S.Parkin |
| M.Rowlands | |
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Team Line Up
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1.
Simon Royce
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2. Marcus
Bignot
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5. Dan Shittu
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15. Georges
Santos
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7. Matthew
Rose
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11. Gareth
Ainsworth
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6. Tom Doherty
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8. Marc Bircham
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14. Martin
Rowlands
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29. Paul
Furlong
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10. Kevin
Gallen (c)
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| Subs | |||||
| Stefan Moore on for Gareth Ainsworth | |||||
| Marc Nygaard on for Paul Furlong | |||||
| Subs Not used: | |||||
| Jake Cole | |||||
| Aaron Brown | |||||
| Dominic Shimmin | |||||
Our first home game of the season is always an exciting time and at a hot Loftus Road we faced Ipswich Town looking to build on a decent result at Hull City.
Ian Holloway was forced into one change from the side that drew at Hull. An injury to Lee Cook, which will put him out of action until October, was a blow so Gareth Ainsworth replaced him. Danny Shittu and Marc Bircham passed late fitness test so both were able to play whilst Aaron Brown and new signings Marc Nygaard and Stefan Moore were on the bench.
The game kicked off with Rangers attacking towards the School end and although the Q block seemed emptier than normal the atmosphere was excellent. Both sides looked to feel each other out early on with chances not really coming foe either team.
Doherty was pulling the strings for Rangers in midfield with Rowlands was again impressing cutting in on the left wing to support the attack. We were playing some decent football with the perhaps the biggest surprise coming from Georges Santos.
The much criticised former Ipswich man was having a stormer at the back and in one move a little dummy and a drop of the shoulder saw him bring the ball away from three Ipswich players as if they weren't there. I had to pinch myself to see if this really was Santos.
Santos was in incredible form and one tackle was sublime as Forster bore down on goal and Santos won the ball with a Bobby Moore like tackle and came away with the ball at his feet. Santos has his critics but perhaps the increased competition for his place is bringing the best out of him.
Rangers were started to get on top with some good football. Ainsworth was looking a threat out wide and a decent cross into the box almost found Furlong who flew in with a diving header that was well blocked by Mark Fish.
A neat pass by Doherty set off our first real chance. He found Ainsworth who knocked the ball forward past Wilnis and then Fish to burst into the Ipswich half. He ran full steam down the right with Gallen and Furlong looking for a pass to put them in but instead Ainsworth got a bit excited and blasted a cross-shot in which was easily blocked for a throw in. The move showed the best and worst of Ainsworth, if only he'd looked up.
Rangers soon had the ball in the back of the net only for it to be ruled out. A long throw by Bignot was chested down by Gallen who turned and crossed for Rowlands to smash past the keeper. The referee's whistle had already gone though for a handball against Gallen, which looked very harsh to say the least.
Rangers were well on top but it only took one good move by the visitors to open us open. It was a simple through ball between the two central defenders and Nick Forster was clean through. Shittu and Santos tried to catch him but he got his shot away and forced straight at Royce who was equal to it and Santos cleared the rebound. It was a great chance and we should have been a goal down.
Some nice passing football kept us in charge of the game and the chances began to come for us. Ainsworth curled a free kick high over the bar from outside the box. Paul Furlong smashed a shot over from a similar position to his second goal against Ipswich last season whilst a ball in from the right found Gallen but he mistimed his shot and sliced it wide.
Rangers took the lead about eight minutes before half time and thoroughly deserved it was too. It was a good build up by Rangers as we knocked it about on the right with Bignot crossing, it was too deep though so we started again with Doherty playing a lovely ball back out to the right. This time Bignot's cross was a good one and Furlong headed down for Gallen who took the ball down with his chest and then turned Fish to fire our first goal of the season.
We were looking a very good side now and playing some lovely football. A real showboating move should have led to a second goal. First Bignot then Ainsworth produced neat back heels to bemuse the Ipswich Defence. Gallen broke into the box and his back heel sent Bircham in but he was hacked down for a penalty, well it should have been but the referee played on. I think if it had been any other player who went down we'd have got the penalty.
Right on half time we got the second goal and it was very similar to the one scored against Swindon at home when we were promoted two years ago. A long ball down the right by Royce was flicked on by Furlong and Gallen laid it off to Ainsworth. This time Ainsworth did look up and lifted a lovely cross to the far post for Rowlands who had the simple task of shooting right footed for 2-0. The half time whistle saw the team given a standing ovation for a hugely impressive first 45 minutes.
It was obvious though that Joe Royle would shake his team up for the second half and after making a couple of changes they came out looking a different side. Jim Magilton curled a 30 yard free kick towards the top corner but Royce was equal to it but that was just a warning shot as they soon got back in the game.
Before that though we should have made it 3-0. Furlong did well to create a chance for himself but his shot from the edge of the box was straight at the keeper when a foot either side would have been a goal.
Ipswich pulled one back after a rare defensive mistake. A long ball by Wilnis was flicked on by Forster and Parkin closed down Santos. The angers defender looked to have it covered but Parkin slid in to win the ball off Santos and then curled a nice shot over Royce into the top corner. The QPR supporter hadn't scored a single goal for Ipswich even in pre season so e was bound to open his account against us.
Panic began to set in as Ipswich poured forward but their final ball was poor and Shittu was able to head everything clear. After around ten minutes we began to settle down again and create chances again.
Once again it was Doherty at the heart of our best work spraying a lovely ball wide to Ainsworth and his cross-found Furlong but his header was well saved by the keeper. Seconds later Gallen created a chance for himself but shot inches wide of the post.
The chances kept coming as Paul Furlong missed another one firing wide before Tom Doherty almost capped an excellent home debut with a goal.
He smashed in a volley from the corner of the box after a Rowlands free kick. It appeared to be heading for the top corner but Wilnis got his head in the way and diverted it over the bar.
Ipswich brought on young winger Jamie Peters and he looked quality tearing us apart with Rose and Rowlands struggling to cope with him. They still weren't creating many chances and we continued to look more like scoring.
Holloway made a change bringing on Stefan Moore for Ainsworth with Gallen going out wide. Moore looked very quick and his pace caused a few problems as the game came to an end.
We did find the back of the net with just a few minutes to go. Once again it was a lovely ball by Doherty to set things up. He found Rowlands whose shot was parried only as far as Stefan Moore who miss hit his shot but Furlong was on hand to tap in from a yard out. We all celebrated nut Furlong was flagged offside despite TV evidence later showing he was at least four yards onside.
Furlong was then replaced by debutant Marc Nygaard as we looked to run down the clock. Ipswich pushed forward during four minutes of injury time and Parkin came close to equalising as Bignot cleared off the line but we held on for a deserved three points.
This was an excellent performance by Rangers. We played some lovely football and created loads of chances, on another day with an in form Furlong we would have won by 4 or 5.
The back four all played well with Santos very impressive, Rowlands was again excellent whilst Doherty produced a very impressive home debut showing exactly what we've been missing in midfield in the last few years. Kevin Gallen also had a very good game and deserved his goal whilst Furlong was very unlucky not to open his account for the season.
It's been a tough start for Rangers and Saturday sees top of the table Sheffield United come to town for another difficult match but if we can continue to play like this we have a great chance of beating anyone.
Man
of the Match: Tom Doherty
Players Ratings: Royce 7, Bignot 7, Rose 7,
Shittu 7, Santos 8, Rowlands 8, Ainsworth 7 (Moore
7) Doherty 8, Bircham 6, Furlong 7 (Nygaard
7) Gallen 8
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The
Managers View
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| Ian Holloway | Joe Royle | |
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"I want to get my side to a Premiership level
- and after the Charlton game we were a million
miles away, so I was quite depressed. But
I managed to pick myself up, and I think tonight
was another step forward. |
"We were disappointing
in the first-half and didn't match them physically,
there were two fouls in the lead up to their
second goal so we can have complaints about
that but not about being behind at half-time
and we will have to improve on that. |
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