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Team
Line Up
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1.
Lee Camp
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28. Zesh
Rehmann
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4. Danny
Cullip
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25. Damion
Stewart
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3. Chris
Barker
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18. Stefan
Moore
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32.
Mikele Leigertwood
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7. Adam
Bolder (c)
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14. Martin Rowlands |
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17.
Ben Sahar
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9. Dexter
Blackstock
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| Subs | |||||
| Danny Nardiello on for Ben Sahar | |||||
| Hogan Ephraim on for Adam Bolder | |||||
| Subs Not Used | |||||
| Jake Cole | |||||
| Marcus Bignot | |||||
| John Curtis | |||||
My first away trip of the season and in recent years the Walkers Stadium has been a good hunting ground for Rangers with two wins in the last two visits so hopes were high that we could get a first win of the season.
We were up against the new manager
syndrome though as Gary Megson took charge
for the first time at Leicester which doesn't
appear to be a popular decision among the
fans due to him managing Nottingham Forest
a few years ago.
After a few drinks in the town centre we set
off on the long walk to the stadium and just
made it inside in time to hear the teams being
reward out. I have to say it was a bit of
a shock to hear the team news.
After the woeful performance
against Southampton changes were made but
not really the ones I expected. Out went John
Curtis and Hogan Ephraim both dropped to the
bench and in came the dynamic duo of Stefan
Moore and Zesh Rehmann. Danny Cullip was also
back in place of the injured Mancienne.
Rangers started the game where they left off
against Southampton two weeks ago being second
to every ball and camped inside our own half.
Levi Porter on the left wing was causing plenty
of problems with his pace whilst QPR fan DJ
Campbell went close to opening the scoring
with a header straight at Camp.
Leicester had plenty of the
ball in good positions but didn't create a
great deal and Rangers looked a bit better
at the back with Cullip organising things.
Leicester had a goal disallowed from a long
throw as Campbell barged into Camp and tapped
it home but it was a clear foul.
Campbell went close again when he broke the
offside trap and went round Camp but his shot
was cleared off the line by Cullip who had
read the danger brilliantly.
Rangers forged a few rare attacks which usually
broke down pretty quickly. The midfield weren't
really getting forward to support the front
two and the only chances we had were a deflected
free kick from Rowlands and a shot over the
bar from the same man. Ben Sahar worked himself
a good opening as well but his shot went away
for a throw in.
The game was pretty dire and the only entertainment
on view came from Leicester's fat drummer
to the left of the QPR fans who had appeared
on a TV show about fanatical fans a while
ago.
Drummer boy was the cheerleader
for Leicester banging away on his drum providing
some great laughs. He'd have a few bangs on
the drum and then seemed to need a break with
his head collapsed on the drum whilst struggling
for breath. The QPR fans were merciless in
the abuse going towards him with chants of
"Fat boys fucked", " Have you ever seen
a salad in your life" and my personal
favourite "Two bangs and your out of breath"
Full credit to the bloke though who played
up to the crowd and must be used to the amount
of stick he was getting. I'm sure he got enough
stick from his mates after his mum wrote a
letter to the match programme about him. Bless
him.
In the second half he provided possibly the
highlight of the game as he went for it with
his banging and played his tune not once,
not twice but nine times in a row with plenty
of energy and determination.
The QPR fans cheered every one
and when he finished he turned to us and raised
nine fingers to us as we sang back to him
"We want ten". The poor sod looked exhausted
after that.
Back to the game and not a great deal was
happening as both sides looked equally dire
and a million miles away from both owners
Premiership ambitions. Rangers went close
to opening the scoring when a Rowlands a free
kick on the right was curled into the six-yard
box and flicked onto the post by Sahar. At
half time though 0-0 was a pretty fair reflection
of the game.
The second half went on with a similar pattern,
Rangers would win the ball and hoof it high
and forward and Leicester would come at us
but have little idea how to break us down.
Gregory made a change taking off Sahar and
brining on Nardiello who wanted the ball to
feet and would end up with neck ache watching
it go over his head.
At one stage Nardiello screamed
at Rehmann to play it to hiss feet and even
pointed to where he wanted it but Rehmann
instead decided a high aimless ball down the
right would be a better option. It was painful
to watch and only Cullip of the outfield players
was doing himself justice. Bolder and Leigertwood
were constantly giving the ball away whilst
it's hard to recall anything that Stefan Moore
did in the entire 90 minutes.
Leicester were having the better of the game
but not by much as Campbell had another chance
to break the deadlock before Rangers pressed
the self destruct button. A ball into the
box saw Campbell back into Leigertwood and
the Rangers midfielder stuck out a leg and
brought down the forward for a clear penalty.
It must have been pretty clear-cut, as I don't
think anyone of the 1,500 QPR fans in the
away end protested the decision. Ian Hume
stepped up to take it and never looked like
missing sending Camp the wrong way and giving
his side the lead.
That should have been that for the home side
as Rangers looked low on confidence and short
of ideas. Carl Cort had the ball in the back
of the net but that was ruled out for offside.
John Gregory made another change taking off
Adam Bolder and bringing on Hogan Ephraim.
The on loan youngster went to the left and
had a decent impact cutting in on his right
foot and getting a decent ball in for Blackstock
but he couldn't make contact.
Leicester made two strange substitutions taking
off DJ Campbell and Levi Porter and bringing
on two defensive players. That had clearly
decided they had done enough and were going
to sit on the 1-0 lead which is a dangerous
thing to do even against a side who had looked
as poor as we had. That decision came back
to haunt them when we nicked an equaliser
with just eight minutes to go.
With most fans starting to get a bit vocal
in the criticism of Leigertwood, who had been
awful, he then popped up with a goal of the
season contender. He won the ball on the left
and played a nice one two with Rowlands which
allowed him to run into space, look up and
curl a shot past the keeper into the bottom
corner of the net. The away end celebrated
with a mixture of relief and shock, I don't
think any of us could see Rangers scoring
but we'd done it and were back in the game.
Leicester looked stunned and we took advantage
playing some excellent stuff for the final
ten minutes. It was no shock that when we
finally got the ball on the floor and passed
it we looked a far better side with the front
two now able to get a few chances.
Ephraim and Moore then swapped positions and
Hogan looked far more comfortable on the right
wing where all our attacks began to spring
from. A pass into the box by Rowlands found
Nardiello who ran past his man and fired in
a low shot but the keeper got down well to
save it.
Ephraim then did well on the right getting
the ball on the right and sprinting past three
defenders into the box and crossed for Blackstock
but his effort was cleared at the far post.
Leigertwood was next to create a chance combining
well with Ephraim and crossing into the middle
for Nardiello but the ball was just inches
too high for Nardiello to open his account
for the season.
At the other end possibly the best move of
the match almost won it for Leicester as Hume
left Leigertwood and Moore for dead and played
a nice ball to Clemence who curled a great
shot past Camp but against the crossbar.
The final whistle then went with the home
fans not very happy and a few of them booed
the team off whilst Rangers got a decent reception
with Cullip punching the air in delight to
suggest that was a point they badly needed.
This was a decent result but another poor
performance that won't do much to ease the
pressure.
With Gregory's job on the line I found it
incredible that he started with Moore and
Rehmann. I want Gregory to do well but any
manager that picks Rehmann ahead of Bignot
and Timoska is not going to get great support
from me.
The same problems we had against Southampton
are still there, we create nothing in midfield
and have no real width. Leigertwood had a
terrible game he just doesn't look like a
midfield player to me and Bolder wasn't much
better. The only ray of light was that it's
taken a month but we seemed to have worked
out Hogan is right footed so when he went
on the right wing we created chances again.
We really need to stop playing the long ball
all of the time and try and play the ball
into feet. We used three strikers at Leicester
all of whom are better on the floor than in
the air but it took until the last ten minutes
before we started playing the ball into their
feet and it was no shock that was our best
spell of the game. If we continue to play
this long ball rubbish on Tuesday in front
of Bernie and Falvio then we'll be looking
for a new manager sooner rather than later
but hopefully the point will give us a bit
of confidence and we'll improve from here.
Man of the Match: Danny Cullip
Players Ratings: Camp 6, Rehmann 6, Barker 6, Stewart 6, Cullip 7, Rowlands 6, Bolder 6 (Ephraim 7) , Leigertwood 5, Moore 5, Blackstock 6 , Sahar 6, (Nardiello 6)