"You're not fit to wear the hoops!!"

After dealing out a 4-0 thrashing against Preston in an emphatic victory at the weekend it was Reading’s turn to visit Loftus Road and take on one of the in-form teams of the Championship. The Lofty Heights crew arrived in anticipation of the local derby against the team that claim to be the hoops but are really the horizontal stripes.

In attendance tonight were Lofty, Corp, California Hoop, Mark (now known as Jenson for his lightning fast driving), Justin, Sam and myself. Unfortunately due to work commitments PK was unable to join us, he should be back with us for the Derby trip on Saturday. However a few guests also came along with the group with Carl, Trevor and Banksy coming along with us all. New nicknames are being thought of for the new members so I will keep you up to date on the developments.

One change was made from the winning side on Saturday. Ben Watson returning from suspension replaced Gavin Mahon. If I was Mahon I would’ve felt a tad frustrated as his performance was exceptional and in my eyes didn’t deserve to be dropped.
With Mahon being dropped it meant that the captain’s armband was up for grabs. Damion Stewart was handed the responsibility for the evening and in turn became the fourth person to be captain this season.

The game started off as a pretty tight affair. Rangers did look the most threatening attacking wise and Reading who looked to be playing a 4-5-1 and didn’t look as if they had the willingness or the confidence to attack the R’s backline.
Rangers had a few decent efforts on goal with Taarabt having two decent attempts to break the deadlock. One slipped just wide of the post when really he should’ve done better and the other was blocked by a forest of Royals legs.
On 19 minutes Ben Watson wildly slid into a tackle on the edge of the R’s penalty area and picked up a booking for this, not the ideal way to start a game having just returned from a suspension where he picked up two bookings.
On the half hour mark our worst fears came true.
Rangers had a free kick which was a full 30 yards out, Watson tried playing a quick free kick which referee Andy Hall, who we’ve had many problems with in the past, didn’t appreciate and pulled play back and booked Watson once again and sent the tenacious midfielder for an early bath for his second match running. I have never known a player to be booked for trying to take a free kick before and found it totally ridiculous and incensed the R’s once again and jeopardised us from losing a game that we were in control of.

What followed though was just pure genius!
The free kick was now to be taken by Buzsaky and he superbly lifted the ball over the wall and found the bottom left hand corner! Yet another piece of brilliance from a Rangers player, we must now have four or five contenders for goal of the season already!

Cue the chants of “we only need ten men!”



Hang on make that six because just eight minutes later the ten men doubled the lead and what a goal it was!
Trying to remember the exact start point is hard but I will do my best to describe it.
With the ball in midfield the ball was played to Stewart just inside the R’s half, he passed to Gorkss who passed back to Cerny and started right from the back once more, Cerny passed to Gorkss and Gorkss played a simple ball to Faurlin mid way inside the R’s half. Faurlin turned and saw Buzsaky in a little bit of space on the centre spot and he played a beautiful ball out on the wide right to Routledge. Routledge put in a deep cross to the back post which is where the only R’s attacker in the box, Simpson, was heading. Simpson got to the ball ahead of both the defender and goalkeeper and tucked the ball away from six yards. A magnificent team goal and the 10 men were really taking the proverbial out of an extremely poor Reading side.

Reading did have one chance worth noting. A free kick on the left side of the penalty area was taken and looked to be creeping in at the far post, that was until Cerny flung himself across goal and managed to get a fingertip to it and push it onto the post. Brilliant save!
The Superhoops had one more effort in the first half. Routledge shooting straight at the Reading ‘keeper after good work out wide by Taarabt.

The half time get together was one of jubilation and as within many of the half time posse there is a distinct dislike for the team that were playing in orange . For the first time since 1967 it looked as if we were heading for a home victory against a team that claim to be ‘the proper hoops’, pffft don’t make me laugh.

Within thirty seconds of the second half the sides were brought back to level terms in terms of players on the pitch. Ingimarsson, who was already on a booking, decided to hack down Jay Simpson just inside the Reading half and picked up his second booking of the evening and joined Watson in having an early bath. The card happy ref must’ve been licking his lips and was awaiting his next victim to go into his book. Luckily he didn’t ruin the game any further and let the two teams play with even sides for the remainder of the second period.
Reading who had made two substitutions at the start of the second half could’ve easily given up on their game plan but in fairness they did come into the game a little more.
Simpson was taken off on 54 minutes and seemed to be carrying a knock from the Ingimarsson challenge at the start of the half. He was replaced by Rowan Vine.

Vine, who to me has been desperate to grab a goal to help boost his confidence, had two fantastic opportunities to score. Routledge was the provider for both and both times Vine failed to get a decent contact with his shot and saw one roll straight to the Reading ‘keeper and the other one was gathered by the ‘keeper after scrambling across his goal mouth attempting to get hold of the effort.
Vine wasn’t to be denied though and on 71 minutes he got his reward.
Taarabt played a short ball to Vine on the left edge of the Reading penalty area. Vine had so much space around him and decided to take an early shot, to the shock of the ‘keeper, and drilled the ball home from 15 yards out into the bottom left hand corner.

Gavin Mahon had come on for Buzsaky just before the third goal and Patrick Agyemang continued his comeback from injury by taking to the field for Taarabt shortly after the goal.

Agyemang was soon in the thick of the action and found himself one on one with ‘keeper after beating two defenders with his rubber legs, unfortunately his effort was saved on this occasion.
A few minutes later Agyemang was set free by a ball over the top by Mahon which set Agyemang clear once again with only the ‘keeper to beat. This time he wrong footed him and rounded him to make it 4-0 and well and truly rub salt into the wounds of our Berkshire ‘friends’.
There was time for Reading to clinch a late consolation. Howard poked the ball home from close range after a Reading attack down their left hand side.



Having out played the Royals for much of the game and even with 10 men we still looked the more dangerous side in the game. The only thing that remains to be said is Reading "You're not fit to wear the hoops", sorry I mean horizontal stripes.

The record now reads that Rangers are now 13 games unbeaten at home in all competitions and we have now scored 16 goals in 6 home league games this season, 13 of them coming in the last 3 fixtures.
Berkshire radio have apparently described the football played by Rangers in the first half as “champions football”, we can only hope that this will continue and the TV jinx will not come and haunt us in the next two games.


QPR: Cerny, Ramage, Stewart, Routledge, Buzsaky (Mahon 66), Gorkss, Watson, Faurlin, Simpson (Vine 53), Borrowdale, Taarabt (Agyemang 76).

Subs not used: Heaton, Hall, Alberti, Ainsworth.

Scorers: Buzsaky (31), Simpson (39), Vine (71), Agyemang (83)

Bookings: Watson (19 & 30), Borrowdale (24), Faurlin (44)

Red Cards: Watson (30)

Reading: Federici, Cisse (Sigurdsson 46), Mills, Gunnarsson, Tabb (Howard 46), Long, McAnuff, Kebe, Ingimarsson, Church (Robson-Kanu 56), O'Dea.

Goals: Howard (86)

Subs not used: Hamer, Karacan, Rasiak, Pearce.

Bookings: Ingimarsson (38 & 46)

Red Cards: Ingimarsson (46)

Attendance: 11, 900

Lofty once again had a tough time picking today’s Man of the Match. There are quite a few contenders up for the award once again today. Buzsaky scored a fantastic free kick, Taarabt really did look on top of his game again tonight, Routledge caused all sorts of problems again but it boiled down to a choice of two players. Damion Stewart, who captained the side for the first time tonight, played out of his skin and was rock solid at the back, I would say he was faultless tonight. However tonight the award goes to the ever improving Alessandro Faurlin. He once again ran the show in the middle of the park and looks to be maturing with every game. His engine is really good and is always looking to get involved whether it be in defence or at the top end of the pitch, tonight he could’ve scored on two or three occasions.

The crew move onto Saturday’s game at Derby and we will look forward to reporting back with our thoughts upon our arrival back home. Remember the game is being aired live on BBC 2 at 5.15 ( I think) so if you can tune in I will hope we are in for another treat.

U R’SSSSSSSSSSSSS