Wolves Keep Rangers From the Door...

QPR 0-0 Wolves

Rangers found yet another opposing keeper in inspired form and an another under generous referee, as the two sides had to settle for a point each, in what was a reasonably entertaining affair at Loftus Road.



In fact, it was another case of two points lost as promotion chasing Wolves were definitely there for the taking. There was an upbeat mood around Loftus Road prior to kick off, what with the excellent midweek win over Burnley, along with some very happy Rangers fans who had managed to snap up their tickets for the FA Cup game with Chelsea in the new year.

Depsite a nervous start, the first half belonged to Rangers with Rowlands, Ainsworth and Buzsaky all testing the keeper. Blackstock missed an absolute sitter from close range and five minutes before the break, the R's striker was later adjudged to be climbing on a defender, before heading back to Ainsworth to tap into the empty net.



Rangers continued to bombard the Wolves goal in the second half, with Blackstock going close and Stewart heading down and unfortunately, over the bar from Buzsaky's corner. But 3 minutes later, the game was about to change as the R's were denied a stone wall penalty, when Nygaard was clearly wrestled to ground with the goal at his mercy and right in front of the referee by Kevin Foley.

The quite unbelievable decision seem to throw Rangers from their stride and Wolves started to come right back into the game. In fact, they missed the best chance of the game to take a lead they would have barely deserved, when Stephen Elliot somehow managed to fire wide from six yards out.

Rangers ended the game much the stronger. Martin Rowlands forced another great save from Hennesy in the Wolves goal, before Gareth Ainsworth was denied the goal his performance deserved in the 85th minute, firing his shot from the right just wide.



QPR: Camp, Barker, Stewart, Blackstock (Sinclair 83), Buzsaky, Ainsworth, Rowlands, Malcolm, Rehman, Nygaard, Leigertwood. Subs: Cole, Moore, Walton, Balanta.

Lofty's Man of the Match - Gareth Ainsworth - the R's winger has been chomping at the bit for his chance to show the new manager what he can do - and he is certainly taking that chance. The man ran his socks off for the entire game and is one of a rare breed of player that would run through a wall for his team!!

In summary, another half decent performance gave Rangers little reward as other results saw us drop back to the bottom of the table and a bad refereeing decision has yet again cost us dearly. But there were many positives to be taken with allegedy, the worst back four in R's history keeping another clean sheet. There were inspiring performances from Martin Rowlands and man of the match, Gareth Ainsworth. And finally, going back to the defence, credit much be given to a solid performance by the much criticised(by myself too, I admit), Zesh Rehman, who had his best game in an R's shirt to date.