The R's entertained Newcastle in the final home game of this disappointing seasonin a game that the Geordies needed to win to keep their hopes of retaining their Premier League statuses well and truly in tact.
Jess and myself met Lofty and Jenson just outside the Upper Loft entrance just after 2pm with our attention on the Championship play off Semi Final at Vicarage Road to see which club we could potentially not be visiting next year. The game today really wasn't something that any of the gang were concerned about as we would probably do what we have done for the past twelve months and more, struggle to make an impact and see simple errors cost us a game.
That being said, when the teams were released we were all baffled with the selections of Bosingwa and Mbia after their behavior over the past weeks as it is very clear that those two are not committed to our club, as are a few others within the club I'm sure.
Before the game
Clint Hill was awarded the
Player of the Year award, fully deserved and only Ryan Nelson could have been the other contender for the title.
The Players Player of the Year was rightly awarded to the Fans, a nice gesture but I wonder how much of that input come from the owners.
Rangers' started brightly and were awarded a penalty in the eleventh minute when Hoilett was fouled by Debuchy. In the stands it looked to be a clear penalty, however on second viewing last night it definitely appears to be a soft one that was awarded to the R's.
Prior to the spot kick being taken I reminded the gang that this year we have seen all of our previous penalties being missed, so to expect another surely would not of been a surprise.
Loic Remy stepped up and scored, sending Rob Elliot the wrong way and giving us a little something to cheer for a few minutes.
When the ball did hit the back of the net none of us left our seats to celebrate and remained sat in our chairs and gave a mild applause, we may as well had a prawn sandwich in our hands as it felt like a minor consolation for all the rubbish we have seen this year.
Eight minutes later and Newcastle were awarded a penalty of their own when Bosingwa stupidly conceded the penalty for grabbing a maintaining a hold of Ben Arfa's shirt when he was in the penalty area. It was a very soft one to give, however by the letter of the law it was the correct decision to give by Lee Probert.
Ben Arfa duly stepped up and hit his kick high into the top corner past Rob Green's outstretched arm.
Minutes later Newcastle had the ball in the back of the net again as Papiss Cisse headed home a Ben Arfa cross into the top corner, however offside was given and I cannot be sure that it was the right decision without looking at it once again.
By now Newcastle were taking control and were handed a second goal ten minutes before half time.
Green decided to go short and pass to Bosingwa, who in turn passed back to Green but sold the return way short of the R's keeper. Green done superbly well to beat Gutierrez to the ball, however his clearance fell to the feet of Gouffran, who tapped home into an empty net from 30 yards and the boos that rung out every time Bosingwa touched the ball after that were deafening. It's clear that Bosingwa doesn't care for the club and was even laughing the boos off for the remaining minutes of the first half.
At half time the R's fans were treated to something rare, seeing a team of winners parade the pitch at half time as the QPR 1982/83 League Champions took to the pitch to savior some appreciation from the R's support.
All this happened as Lofty, PK and myself stood downstairs in disbelief as to what we just saw and we were joined by Corinne as we tried to cheer each other up ahead of the final 45 minutes that we would see this season (apart from Corinne who is braving Liverpool next weekend, unlucky!)
The second half really did not have any excitement at all, the main talking point was the sending off of Rob Elliot for two bookings. The first for kicking the ball away and the second for handling outside the area. I've not yet seen the replays so can only comment on what I saw and that was that he had both feet outside the area but I did not see the ball leave the 18 yard box, seemed harsh at the time so I'd like to see it again.
Despite having ten men for the final ten minutes Newcastle hung on to claim three precious points and in all fairness they deserved them.
When the final whistle was blown there was about 200 R's fans that invaded the pitch to, for some reason, celebrate the end of the season and then a handful of them decided to give it large to the Newcastle fans. Uncalled for and they got the abuse they deserved, it's not as if the club have been embarrassed enough by what we've seen this year but they just had to make it even worse for us all, idiots!
Well that's that for another season and now we can look forward to the mass summer clear out for the over paid crap that we saw Mark Hughes bring in and here is who I would expect to leave -
Cesar, Cisse, Mbia, Bosingwa, Park, Granero, Hoilett and Zamora (I hope!!!!!!!) just to name a few.
Only a few votes received for
Man of the Match today, so with two votes the winner is
Shaun Derry. I personally have to highlight Loic Remy who is the best striker I've seen at Loftus Road since Les Ferdnand and I am sad to see him go (when he does go). Andros Townsend was great once again and he is destined for great things, it would be brilliant to see him in a Rangers' shirt again however I feel he will want to stay in the Premier League. Finally Nedum Onuoha had another solid game and could easily become a pivotal part of our defence next year.
Next season is going to be a tough one but if Harry invests well and the new additions to the squad bed in well, then we will hopefully see us win a few more games than we have over the last two years, it would be nice to see us reach the play offs as a minimum and anything else would be a bonus.
Lofty will return next week with a round up of the highlights, or low lights of the Liverpool game before we round off the season with the annual Lofty Heights awards.
I would finally like to say thank you all very much for all your continued support and kind comments this year as Lofty Heights continues to go from strength to strength.
I look forward to returning next year with a few more winning reports and hopefully a few more entertaining pieces as well as my rants and raves.
Have a great summer!!
U R'SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
