retired_blondie_524

The race for the playoff spots
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Wolves | | 28 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 50 | 22 | +28 | 57 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Reading | | 28 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 37 | 22 | +15 | 57 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Crystal Palace | | 28 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 59 | 26 | +33 | 54 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Sheff Utd | | 28 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 54 | 31 | +23 | 52 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Southampton | | 28 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 37 | 27 | +10 | 46 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Q.P.R. | | 28 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 48 | 33 | +15 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Plymouth | | 28 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 35 | 24 | +11 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Hull | | 28 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 47 | 35 | +12 | 41 | </pre>

retired_blondie_524

Saturday 14th January 2006

Derby County v Queens Park Rangers
Coca-Cola Championship

For the trip to the Midlands to play the 17th placed Derby the changes made were Bignot replaced the injured Ukah, Lee Cook came in at Left wing moving Ciullo up front to partner Nygaard and Ainsworth returned to right wing.
The performance was fairly dire from Rangers, the only surprise was that the home side could only muster the 9th minute Tudgay goal fired under the body of Royce. But there was a sting in the tail as in the final minute of the half Nygaard headed down Milanese's cross to Ciullo who got across his marker to fire home his fifth of the season.
Five minutes into the second half Davies free kick found Tudgay who had lost his marker and he headed his second goal of the game. And that was that, Rangers never looked like pulling it back and they slid to their third successive defeat.
Derby 2-1 QPR
Derby scorers: Tudgay 9, 51
QPR scorers: Ciullo 45
Att: 26,109

The loss drops us out of the playoff spots for the first time in 10 games, Plymouth's 2-0 at Leicester and Southampton's 1-0 win at Norwich moved them both past us into 5th & 6th. We will have a big task to get back into now.

Monday 16th January 2006

I finally manage to get a new striker in, two in fact! Richard Cresswell arrives from Leeds on a free. He cost them £1.2M from Preston the previous season but failed to make an appearance this season. We're his sixth club so far and he has a career record of 75 goals in 330 appearances. Peter Thorne also arrives in a £1,000 deal from Norwich; he only made one appearance for them, in the cup scoring one goal. Previously he had scored 38 in 100 appearances for Cardiff.
One out as well, young 19 year old Luke Townsend has signed a new three-year deal and gone out on a 3 month loan deal to Notts County.

retired_blondie_524

Tuesday 17th January 2006

18-year old full back Matthew Hislop has been sold to Colchester for £60,000
Nygaard scored four goals in the reserves 7-0 win at Grays Athletic. Twenty-two goals in 16 appearances for the reserves but only 1 in eleven for the first team.

Saturday 21st January 2006

Queens Park Rangers v Preston North End
Coca-Cola Championship

The two new strikers start up front, Aaron Brown takes left wing, Ciullo replaced Roelandts in right midfield and Nygaard drops to the bench with fit again Kevin Gallen.
The R's started well and got the first goal on 19 minutes when Ciullo nodded a clearance back to Peter Thorne in space who curled one from 25-yards back into the top corner on his debut. Less than 10 minutes later they doubled the lead when Cresswell swung a deep cross in and Aaron Brown powered in his first ever goal for the club. Rangers were in control now and it was just a consolation when a melee from a corner fell to Bishoff to pull one back. Disaster stuck four minutes into first half injury time as a long clearance found Bignot dwelling on the ball and Joe Anyinsah dispossessed him and ran on to fire the equaliser across Royce's body.
The second half sort off died a death, Preston were more than happy with the point and QPR's confidence had deserted them. A good result in the context of recent performances but disappointing after being 2-0 up.
QPR 2-2 Preston
QPR scorers: Thorne 19, Brown 27
Preston scorers: Bischoff 40, Anyinsah 45
Att: 18,715

The result dropped us to 8th as Hull's 4-0 win at Luton sent them 6th above Plymouth who didn't play. Southampton's 1-0 win over Leicester kept them 5th.

Sunday 22 January 2006

Plymouth's 1-0 win over Sheffield United took them into the final playoff spot above Hull, four points ahead of us.

Tuesday 24th January 2006

Martin Rowlands who had hardly featured this season has been shipped out to Derby for £120,000.

Wednesday 25th January 2006

Queens Park Rangers v Chelsea
Carling Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg

Richard Cresswell is cup tied so Gallen takes his place and Rose replaced Bignot in the only changes to the starting XI.
There was never any real chance of the R's pulling back the first leg deficit but any chance evaporated after 12 minutes when Crespo shook off Mahouvé for that yard of space he needed to open the scoring. Rangers held off a largely full strength visitors until 19 minutes before the end when Crespo received the ball on the edge of the area, turned Mahouvé, held off Slor and finally fired it wide of Royce into the bottom corner. The two substitutes combined to at least put R's on the scoresheet a couple of minutes later as Robail's cross was met by a diving header from Nygaard but it was an embarrassing aggregate score still.
QPR 1-2 Chelsea
(Chelsea win 8-2 on aggregate.)
QPR scorers: Nygaard 73
Chelsea scorers: Crespo 12, 71
Att: 19,109

Newcastle duly booked their final place to meet Chelsea as they won 1-0 at Burnley. At least I suppose Rangers reached only their third League Cup Semi-finals in their history but on the other hand it's the first they've lost.

retired_blondie_524

Friday 27th January 2006

To try and stop the goals going in we've signed 26-year old Spanish defensive midfielder/centre-back Miguel Falcón for £60,000 from Ciudad de Murcia.

Saturday 28th January 2006

The reserves suffered only their second defeat of the season as they went down 3-1 at home to Cardiff. Pat Kanyuka was sent off 14 minutes into the game, Langley missed an early penalty before Stefan Moore got our only goal.
Emmen's 30-year old centre back Melchior Schoenmakers has been signed for £45,000 as the strengthening continues.

Tuesday 31 January 2006

On transfer deadline day we pick up 23-year old Swedish prospect Marco de Silva from Õster for £35,000; he can play right back or centre back.

Norwich City v Queens Park Rangers
Coca-Cola Championship

Rangers traveled to East Anglia to play the side one place and three points behind us. Schoenmakers replaced Mahouvé who dropped to the bench while Falcón replaced Bircham. Gallen continues to partner Thorne and Kenwyne Jones has recovered enough to make the bench.
QPR played one of their best halves for a long time. Schoenmakers was dominant in the air and Thorne and Gallen were lively up front. A fine ball down the wing by Shoenmakers put Brown away and his Cross was thumped home by Thorne in the 17th minute. Thorne had several good chances to add to the tally but squandered them. It was left to Gallen to provide a wicked cross in the 35th minute which Ainsworth arrived late on to stab into the far corner.
The second half was Rangers undoing as once more they surrendered a two goal lead. Dean Ashton scored six minutes into the half when Royce could only palm McVeigh's shot right to him and he scored his second to tie the game with 10 minutes left. Norwich broke away and caught Rangers napping, Ashton was strong enough to hold Slor off before sliding the ball home.
Norwich 2-2 QPR
Norwich scorers: Ashton 51, 80
QPR scorers: Thorne 17, Ainsworth 35
Att: 25,867

The R's eleventh draw of the season was enough to move them level on points with 7th placed Hull after their Hull home defeat to Crewe. Plymouth could only draw 1-1 at Watford and Southampton won 1-0 at Bramall Lane to leapfrog Sheffield United.
The press were raving about Schoenmakers strong start but we still need Shittu back.

retired_blondie_524

Thursday 2nd February 2006

The reserves won 3-1 at Gillingham with goals from Miller closely followed by two from Moore, Marco de Silva made a good start at right back.
Stefan Bailey has gone out to Chesterfield on a two month loan deal.

Saturday 4th February 2006

Queens Park Rangers v Leicester City
Coca-Cola Championship

Mathieu Robail for Brown was the only change for the visit of 14th placed Leicester.
In a fairly dire first half as benefiting two teams on 'eight games without a win' streaks Leicester had the only shot on target out of the nine the two teams mustered.
The R's finally unlocked the Leicester defense 10 minutes into the second half. Ciullo and Gallen combined to put Thorne through in the box and he calmly slotted it just inside the post. The chances all went Ranger's way then as Leicester lost their confidence but the shooting was wild as both teams missed with 16 out of a total of 18 shots. Rangers came through to snap that eight league game winless streak.
QPR 1-0 Leicester
QPR scorers: Thorne 55
Leicester scorers: none
Att: 19,140

Hull's 1-0 loss at home to Millwall drops them to 8th while we climb to 7th, two points behind Plymouth in the final playoff sport. They drew 2-2 at Crewe and two points ahead of them Sheffield United also drew 0-0 at Stoke.

Miguel Falcón pulled up with a groin strain and could miss a month.

Monday 6th February 2006

Nigel Worthington pays the price for Norwich's 10th place position as Norwich sack him. Langley, av Fløtum, Jones and Bircham are called up for international friendlies on Wednesday.

Thursday 9th February 2006

Scott Donnelly scored both goals as the reserves beat Watford 2-1.

Saturday 11th February 2006

Sheffield United v Queens Park Rangers
Coca-Cola Championship

For the visit to slumping Sheffield, with only one win in the last eight games, Brown comes back in at left wing, Robail replaced Ainsworth on the other wing, Bircham comes in for the injured Falcón and De Silva gets a first seat on the bench.
Rangers matched Sheffield all the way here, Schoenmaker's long ball was nodded over the defense in the 17th minute to send Thorne in to coolly net but they were unlucky to be pegged back before the break. A United corner 10 minutes from the break was powerfully met by Danny Webber from the penalty spot and it flew into the far corner.
The R's remained the better side in the second half and looked to have got a deserved winner with 11 minutes left when Schoenmaker's deep header from Brown's corner was fumbled by Kenny and Thorne was on hand to blast in his fifth goal in five games. Sheffield pinched a point three minutes later though when a QPR attack broke down and the home side swept up the other end with Haidong who picked out an unmarked Webber to score the equaliser.
Sheffield 2-2 QPR
Sheffield scorers: Webber 35, 82
QPR scorers: Thorne 17, 79
Att: 26,180

Reading went top after their 1-0 win over Hull as Wolves could only draw 1-1 at Leicester. Third placed Palace fought out a 1-1 at managerless Norwich, Southampton and Plymouth didn't play.

retired_blondie_524

Tuesday 14th February 2006

Moore scored two of the three goals as the reserves won 3-0 against Southend, Sturridge getting the other. Evatt, Miller and Sturridge all came out of the match with injuries.

Queens Park Rangers v Watford
Coca-Cola Championship

The R's face 13th placed London rivals Watford with a unchanged line-up.
The match was over in the first half as Rangers ran over Watford. The R's kept possession and kept Watford penned in their own half without actually threatening much. Every shot the R's took first half went in, Thorne opened the scoring after 11 minutes when Rose landed his cross on Thorne's head and the ball flew into the bottom corner. On 34 minutes it was Robail's turn to provide the deep cross and Thorne powered it home from the edge of the area. With five minutes left of the half Robail produced another cross which Gallen was able to glance in for his 100th goal for QPR.
The second half was a non event, the visitors failed to create anything as Rangers continued to dominate. Schoenmakers was commanding in the air and the real good news is that Shittu has resumed full training.
[ QPR 3-0 Watford
QPR scorers: Thorne 11, 34, Gallen 40
Watford scorers: none
Att: 19,121

Wolves regain top spot as they beat Sheffield United 2-1 while Reading lost 2-0 at Millwall. Palace take third after beating Leicester 3-0 while Southampton are in fourth following their 1-1 draw at Crewe. Plymouth won 2-0 at Stoke to pull level with Sheff Utd but a point ahead of us.

retired_blondie_524

Saturday 18th February 2006

Kristoffer Nãfer has finished his loan and returns to Örebro after our plea to extend it was refused.
Reading regain top spot, beating Crewe 2-1 in the only match out of seven that featured clubs in the playoff spots. Hull closed on us, winning 2-1 at Cardiff. Bottom club Leeds gain their fifth win of the season as they beat Luton 1-0 and climb above Burnley on goal difference.

Monday 20th February 2006

Looking to the future again we have agreed terms with Bayern Munich's promising young keeper, 21 year old Markus Grünberger who has 2 U21 caps. He will join us when his contract expires in July.

Wednesday 22nd February 2006

Another seven Championship games were played tonight. Wolves went back to the top winning 3-1 at Watford. 5th placed Sheffield United beat third placed Palace 3-1 while Plymouth were 2-1 winners over 4th placed Southampton. Both the bottom two Burnley and Leeds won.

Doherty and Langley scored as the reserves won 2-0 at Aldershot.

retired_blondie_524

Saturday 25th February 2006

Queens Park Rangers v Southampton
Coca Cola Championship

For this vital match against 4th placed Southampton who are just five points ahead, the R's make just one change to the starting line up. Danny Shittu comes in for his first game since suffering a torn calf muscle back in October. Slor drops to the bench and Cresswell replaced Jones who was ineligible to play against his own club.
This was a pretty even game in terms of play and possession but R's certainly created the better chances. They put the first one away after 14 minutes when Brown swung a corner into the heart of the box and Milanese rose above everyone to power the ball into the roof of the net. Rangers doubled the lead just before the half hour, Rose found Bircham on the edge of the box and his short pass slipped in to Thorne in a yard of space; he buried it in typical fashion, just inside the post. Southampton showed that they're not fourth for nothing, with two minutes left of the half Clarkeson and Ormerod carved open the centre of the QPR defense and Ormerod blasted it past Royce from just inside the box.
Rangers still just had the edge in the second half and Thorne restored the two goal margin not long after the hour mark. Brown swung a corner in deep to the far post where Bircham lurked, although Niemi managed to dig his header out from under the bar he could do nothing about Thorne poking in the rebound. Clarkson made the last 10 minutes interesting when he was left unmarked in the six-yard box to close the visitors to within one goal but it wasn't to be. Substitute Cresswell fluffed a one on one chance to wrap it up a couple of minutes later and Royce had to be sharp deep into injury time to turn Clarkson's shot round the post but the R's clung on for a fine victory.
QPR 3-2 Southampton
QPR scorers: Milanese 14, Thorne 27, 64
Soton scorers: Ormerod 44, Clarkson 77
Att: 19,110

The defeat sees Southampton slip to 6th, a place and two points ahead of us. Wolves slip to second as they draw 2-2 with Plymouth who move up to fifth. Both Palace and Sheffield United draw as Reading go top being the only side in the top six to get three points.

retired_blondie_524

Sunday 26th February 2006

Leeds win their third on the trot as they win 1-0 at Yorkshire rivals Hull and are now are now on a six game unbeaten streak.
Chelsea beat Newcastle 2-1 at the Millennium Stadium to lift the Carling Cup for the second year running.

Wednesday 1st March 2006

Peter Thorne has won the February Player of the Month award while Melchior Schoenmakers came third in the same award. I actually came third in the Manager of the Month award, Claudio Ranieri of Leeds was second and Reading's Steve Coppell won it.

Plymouth Argyle v Queens Park Rangers
Coca-Cola Championship

For our game in hand we have the difficult trip to the West Country to face the fifth placed side. Ainsworth replaced Robail who has damaged a heel and Jones replaced Cresswell on the bench.
The home side were shocked when Rangers took the lead in the second minute, Ciullo firing in a 20-yard free kick. The drive stalled then and R's couldn't build on the fabulous start and were pegged back twenty minutes later when Schoenmakers failed to go with Nick Chadwick on a break. He got into the box unchallenged and fired home across the body of the diving Royce.
Plymouth blitzed Rangers at the start of the second half and got their reward four minutes into the half when they moved the ball across the face of the goal. Dickson Etuhu had the space to crash a rocket in from 20 yards. Rangers had no answer then and it was no surprise when Norris wrapped up the points a minute from time. Djordjic flicked it into the area from a short corner and Norris tucked it in at the near post.
Plymouth 3-1 QPR
Plymouth scorers: Chadwick 23, Etuhu 49, Norris 89
QPR scorers: Ciullo 3
Att: 20,261

Plymouth move up to fourth but we remain two points outside the playoff spots as we enter the last 10 games.

retired_blondie_524

The Coca-Cola Championship Table with 10 games left

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Reading | | 36 | 22 | 10 | 4 | 51 | 28 | +23 | 76 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Wolves | | 36 | 22 | 9 | 5 | 70 | 30 | +40 | 75 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Crystal Palace | | 36 | 21 | 8 | 7 | 76 | 35 | +41 | 71 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Plymouth | | 36 | 17 | 11 | 8 | 50 | 31 | +19 | 62 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Sheff Utd | | 36 | 14 | 17 | 5 | 62 | 40 | +22 | 59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Southampton | | 35 | 17 | 8 | 10 | 46 | 34 | +12 | 59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Q.P.R. | | 36 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 63 | 46 | +17 | 57 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Hull | | 36 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 57 | 42 | +15 | 53 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Preston | | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 55 | 51 | +4 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Norwich | | 36 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 45 | 34 | +11 | 50 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Millwall | | 36 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 38 | 46 | -8 | 50 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Cardiff | | 36 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 38 | 42 | -4 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Sheff Wed | | 36 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 56 | 59 | -3 | 46 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Watford | | 36 | 12 | 9 | 15 | 45 | 62 | -17 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Derby | | 36 | 12 | 8 | 16 | 38 | 49 | -11 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Leicester | | 36 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 41 | 51 | -10 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Ipswich | | 36 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 48 | 54 | -6 | 38 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Coventry | | 36 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 39 | 57 | -18 | 37 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Brighton | | 36 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 38 | 58 | -20 | 37 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Luton | | 36 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 33 | 58 | -25 | 37 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Stoke | | 35 | 9 | 9 | 17 | 36 | 55 | -19 | 36 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Crewe | | 36 | 7 | 13 | 16 | 40 | 56 | -16 | 34 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | | Leeds | | 36 | 7 | 12 | 17 | 40 | 60 | -20 | 33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | | Burnley | | 36 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 32 | 59 | -27 | 30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>