perfectly woeful FA Cup record by Ron Norris
QPR continued our perfectly woeful FA Cup record on Tuesday evening as we went out of the competition thanks to a 3-2 home defeat against Sheffield United. A performance that, on paper at least, may have looked like a battling one was in fact a baffling one as Rangers dominated possession for large periods of the game without ever looking like we might win.
Whilst the rest of Loftus Road shivered in the cold night air I was at least toasty inside the plushness of one of our executive boxes for the evening. Whilst my body may have been warm my heart was as cold as ever as Rangers continue to self destruct in front of me.
Before we get on with the report a quick side note about the new boxes, I have to say they are very nice. They’re certainly a massive improvement on the last time I was in one and had to place a bucket under the air-con to stop it dripping all over the floor. The décor is lovely with plush sofa like benches to watch the game from and the service fantastic. The food was excellent and non stop with a decent lamb meal, desert and cheese served before kick off, a plate of steak pies on offer at half time and slabs of cakes to help you through the second half. I couldn’t help but feel a little bit sad though that the only thing about the club right now that appears to be ambitious, well run and over delivers is the one bit of Rangers most people who love the place couldn’t give a toss about.
Anyway back to the game and Paul Hart named the same side that secured a draw at Brammall Lane in our last encounter. Radek Cerny continued in goal despite the arrival of Carl Ikeme from Wolves who isn’t cleared to play until this weekend. The back four lined up as Ramage, Stewart, Gorkss and Borrowdale whilst Routledge, Faurlin, Leigertwood and Buzsaky supported the front two of Agyemang and Simpson.
We started well enough and went close on at least four occasions in the opening twenty minutes. First Simpson set up Leigertwood for one of his trademark-ish edge of the box belters, only for it to go well wide whilst Faurlin did slightly better moments later to force a save out of Blades ‘keeper Mark Bunn from Routledge’s cross. Bunn was called into action again moments later when Agyemang’s effort clattered off a United defender towards goal and Simpson then saw a header go wide before the visitors took control of the tie. It all sounds a little more lively than it really was with Faurlin's effort worthy of much note.
Then, having conceded a free kick to the right of Cerny’s box, the slack marking that has been evident of late came into play once again and gave United a lead that was frustrating and yet very predictable all at the same time. Nick Montgomery took the kick and his ball managed to float over the entire defence to an unmarked Lee Williamson who drilled home across Cerny’s goal.
Rangers continued to push but only served to trouble the Blades fans huddled in The School End as Leigertwood again, then both Simpson and Buzsaky all put shots wide of the posts but it was United who should have added to the goal tally. Ched Evans beat what a charitable person might describe as an offside trap only to see his lobbed shot clatter back off the Rangers cross bar.
If the first half demonstrated Rangers profligacy in front of goal, the second half proved that our problems are currently all over the pitch as the defence was shown to be just as shaky as our front line. The second period took some time to get going and other than a half chance for Richard Cresswell and a saved free kick from Buzsaky there was little of interest other than the delightful tea cake making its way round our box.
As the clock ticked towards the final twenty minutes though the game did spring into life but unfortunately not in the way Rangers wanted as a two minute spell saw United three up and seemingly out of sight.
Jamie Ward was introduced from the bench and immediately changed the tone of the match. Stephen Quinn broke free of Borrowdale and his cross found the unmarked Ward who fired home under the despairing Cerny’s body with his first touch of the game. Then, just a hundred or so seconds later, it was three when Ward turned provider to set up Cresswell who made no mistake with his finish this time.
Somewhere between the two goals Paul Hart was treated to his theme tune as “you don’t know what you’re doing” rang out once again when he opted to bring Taarabt into play at the expensive of Faurlin.
Taarabt though did have a part to play in our first goal as his cross was apparently handled by Derek Geary. It seemed harsh from where I was but perhaps behind a half inch thick piece of steaming glass down in cat flap corner wasn’t the best vantage point! The end result though saw us awarded the penalty which Buzsaky duly converted to give us some slim hope of getting back into it. Barely four minutes covered three goals and R’s fans turning on their fledgling manager – and people say it’s dull at Loftus Road……
With two minutes left to play Rangers made things a little more interesting when Stewart sent a thundering header past Bunn to make it 3-2 and the remaining few thousand people who braved this one to the end were given some hope that an unlikely turnaround was on the cards. However despite being awarded five minutes of injury time to steal an equaliser it wasn’t to be, in fact a lot of the sting went out of the game well before the five were up and only substitute Antonio German, on for Simpson troubled Bunn, forcing a decent save out the Blades custodian in the dying seconds.
This takes me back to my first paragraph, whilst we scored twice and on paper may have looked like we made a fight of it truth be told this was a poor game, a poor performance and a predictable final outcome. Our cup record is awful, in fact it is the worst in professional football right now, but that’s a small issue compared to the big picture as we now look like a side adrift. We have a board who appear to have no real structure in place for the future, a manager who will be lucky to see out the remainder of his very short contract and a set of players who like they couldn’t give any less of a toss.
It’s easy to pick fault with individual players but they are all better than they are performing at the moment so something is very wrong. The defence is leaking like a sieve, not helped by two deathly slow full backs and a lack of confidence from between the sticks in Cerny who has gone from a golden glove to getting close to a golden handshake. We are desperately missing two influential midfielders in Rowlands and Mahon which only makes it all the more mystifying why our most creative player is stuck on the wing and our least prolific striker of recent times is seen as a good option to bung long balls up to.
In fact the entire squad lacks motivation and confidence but can Paul Hart really improve either of these? His job is almost an impossible one now with the crowd already against him, his substitutions were once again jeered and he responded with this cracker of a quote on the official site - "The reaction of the fans was disappointing, but I understand their feelings I was disappointed with the players too." Classic!
The moment that summed things up for me was our last corner of the game deep into injury time, Cerny started jogging up the pitch looking despairingly at the bench for instructions as to whether to go or stay. After pleading for several seconds he ended up trotting back to his box seemingly none the wiser.
In February 2006 Gary Waddock took over Ian Holloway’s top half side and after winning just two of the remaining fourteen games of the season we were lucky to stay up. Paul Hart has had nearly a two month head start on Waddo and things don’t look an awful lot better right now.
Assuming Blackpool’s lack of under soil heating doesn’t throw a spanner in the works we now two tricky looking away ties on the spin with a trip to the seaside on Saturday and a visit to second placed Forest a week on Tuesday and both look like they could be long, fruitless trips if things don’t improve very fast.
