Professional job done.

In the final away trip of the season the Rangers’ faithful travelled to Barnsley for what was a nothing game that had every potential to be a dull end of season encounter. The Lofty Heights crew made the trip hoping for a little bit of end of season action.

With me taking the reins at the wheel for the first time on an away trip this season, I was joined by PK, Sam and Luke but unfortunately Iceman missed the trip as he was stuck in Burton with money shortages. Lofty stayed at home for a family birthday and Jenson missed out after his stag weekend in Prague was cancelled due to the volcano ash that has plagued the country for the last week or so. After parking up and walking to the ground, via a quick chat to Gobi, we were greeted by some lovely people that were giving out free player complimentary tickets outside the away end so Sam, Luke and myself snapped them up whilst PK was unlucky enough to of already bought his ticket. We made our way into the ground for a swift beer or two before the game and with PK and Luke fancying their chances in the betting stakes they put a few quid on some bets, shockingly PK bet on Priskin being the first goalscorer, his pint was taken away coz he had clearly had too many to drink having done such a bet.

Two changes were made from the side that were victorious on Tuesday night. Tamas Priskin returned to the starting line up and Josh Parker was handed his full debut after impressing in his two recent cameo roles off the bench. The two making way were Rowan Vine and Adel Taarabt, who missed out through “an ankle injury”. Rumour has it that Taarabt has returned to Tottenham but nothing has been confirmed as yet.



Josh Parker started off in an unorthodox right back position as Mikele Leigertwood joined Faurlin in centre midfield and Buzsaky being the support player for lone striker Antonio German.
Despite Rangers’ enjoying the better of the possession it was Barnsley who had the first real chance of the game. Iain Hume broke past the Rangers’ defence and was one on one with Cerny, the Barnsley striker took aim at the bottom corner and Cerny stretched out to push the shot onto the post and out for a corner.
Rangers’ continued to enjoy possession but clear cut chances were few and far between. Rangers’ first real chance came as Faurlin and Buzsaky combined before flicking the onrushing Tosic down the left hand side. The Serbian’s cut back into the path of German rolled underneath the foot of the youngster before the ball was cleared to safety.
Soon after it was Barnsley on the attack once again with Hume breaking clear once again and if it wasn’t for a last minute Ramage intervention then it could’ve been 1-0 to the hosts.
Rangers’ then broke the deadlock with an absolute peach of a goal.
Parker’s throw in to Ephraim was back heeled into the path of Leigertwood and the R’s skipper rolled the ball onto his left foot before shooting from the right edge of the Barnsley penalty area and found the ball bouncing off the bar before bouncing down and over the line to give the R’s a lead that was in fairness deserved for all their possession.
Barnsley could and really should’ve had an equalizer ten minutes later.
A harmless looking through ball was picked up by Colace, who thought he was going to be flagged for offside, he then looked as if he didn’t know what to do and proceeded to take four touches before hitting the panic button and shooting from long distance, Cerny had very little to do and collected the ball with ease.

Half time come and went very quickly and we were soon back in the stands for the second half.
Buzsaky had a goal disallowed for handball and was booked for his troubles.
From then on the game was just played out and Rangers’ stayed professional and were determined to keep the clean sheet. If it wasn’t for a few dodgy offside decisions and a few questionable decisions by the referee then maybe Barnsley would’ve got something out of the game but in all honesty it was a relief to hear the final whistle.



It was a typical end of season encounter with two teams having nothing to play for and it wasn’t a thrilling game at all, all that matters is that we got the three points and gives a more respectable finish to our season full of ups and downs.

On the way home we listened to the Arsenal v Man City game and that turned out to be so entertaining that all the passengers fell asleep leaving me to listen to the drab game, however Sam woke up first and was able to take a photo of the other to sleeping beautys, bless them!



Today’s Man of the Match was decided in the journey home between us all in the car. We picked up on three main contenders, Faurlin, who was once again superb in midfield. Ramage was solid as a rock at the back and is really shining now he’s playing in his more favoured position. However, despite all this we have awarded our man of the match to Josh Parker, who was being played out of position but despite this he maintained his positioning very well and when he moved into a more natural right wing position at the end of the game he continued to threaten. The kid has a bright future if he continues this way and one can only hope he’ll be awarded a new contract before his current one ends in the summer.

Barnsley: Steele, Hassell, Moore, Colace, Foster, Hume, Butterfield, Macken, Potter (Dickinson 69), Hammill (Devaney 40), Doyle (Taylor 81).

Subs: Kozluk, Preece, Adam, Shotton.

Bookings: Potter

QPR: Cerny, Ramage, Leigertwood, Buzsaky, Gorkss, Faurlin, Ephraim (Cook 81), Tosic, German (Simpson 56), Parker, Priskin (Brown 90).

Subs: Vine, Balanta, Oastler, Putnins.

Goals: Leigertwood (27)

Bookings: Buzsaky

Referee: Mr R Booth

Attendance: 11, 944 (574 QPR fans)

On a brief side note, On Wednesday the Lofty Heights awards will return and will be published. If you have any suggestions or tongue in cheek awards that u can think of then please leave a comment and I will use them if I can.