R's in heaven with Hel.

This weekends game against Scunthorpe looked like an easy enough encounter on paper and after seeing previous performances against Barnsley and Sheffield United it was one of those game where anything less than three points would've been looked at as two points dropped, but as Rangers' as we know them this had the potential to be a banana skin. Here is the Lofty Heights round up of how we saw things at Loftus Road yesterday.

After arriving in W12 earlier than usual, Sam, Jo B and I made our way to the ground to meet up with Matt for a quick pre match chat and get a general feeling on how we thought the result was going to go before Matt had to return to his duties and we moved onto the Springbok after bumping into Michael and Fiona with young son Luke and then meeting Big T and Alan we moved onto the pub for a swift half or two.
The group then arrived bit by bit as Lofty, PK, Corp and Jenson arrived and we got up to near full strength as for this occasion we were missed California Hoop in the stands today. A few old faces from previous years were also at the Springbok as Deano, Perry and Kempy were in attendance once again, was good to catch up with the old crew.

Just one change was made to last weeks stunning first half demolition job of Sheffield United as Fitz Hall sat out owing to his hamstring injury, Matt Connolly took the honours in the centre back position.
As Hall was out injured that meant we needed a stand in captain. Most of us expected Shaun Derry to be given the armband but that wasn't to be the case as Adel Taarabt was given the honours and it raised a few eyebrows and wondered if this would bring out the best in our midfield maestro..... all was about to be revealed.

Rangers' came out of the traps the quicker of the two sides and looked the more lively and better attacking force out of the two teams on show. When Taarabt had a superb curling free kick turned around the post by Joe Murphy in the Scunthorpe goal on the ten minute mark, you just got the feeling that a goal wasn't far away.
Just 7 minutes later and the opening goal was scored.
Taarabt's corner found Bradley Orr unmarked on the penalty spot and the right back steered his header into the far corner to give the summer signing his first (of hopefully many) Rangers' goal since joining from Bristol City.
Just past the mid way point of the half Taarabt played a superb ball with the outside of his boot out to Orr on the right hand side and the cross was equally impressive as the ball was played deep to the advancing Helguson but his header was straight at Murphy from close range and the Scunny stopper pulled off a great save.
Taarabt looked to be enjoying himself out there with the added responsibility and on many occasions was putting in added effort, at one point I'm sure I saw him at left back to start up another Rangers' attack. The Moroccan was having another fantastic game and was driving the R's forward, so much so that once again Taarabt was the provider for the second goal of the afternoon.
Taarabt once again played a beautiful lofted ball with the outside of his boot and over the last defender to find Helguson who in turn chested the ball down and then lifted the ball over Murphy and all but end the game as a contest.
Just before the break it seemed as if Rangers' had won the chance to score a third as Taarabt was once again causing all sorts of trouble in the Scunny defence and was tripped just inside the box and the referee pointed to the point much to the delight of the R's faithful......... only to reverse his decision and then book Taarabt for diving, very very strange decision making.



For the majority of half time I was on the phone so missed out on everything that was spoken about so unfortunately I can't provide much info here so I shall crack on with the second half.

Scunthorpe came out for the second half looking to reduce the arrears and when Woolford swung a free kick in towards Paddy Kenny's bottom corner the R's number one had to be alert to turn the ball around the post for a corner.
Shaun Derry then tried to get in on the act as his charge from midfield saw him on the edge of the box with a great shooting opportunity but unfortunately the finish just wasn't there as Murphy gathered the ball quite comfortably.
Rangers' then had their best chance of the half as Kaspers Gorkss saw his header, from Taarabt's free kick, loop over Murphy but agongizingly saw the ball hit the top of the crossbar and out to safety.
Rangers' then piled on the pressure and when Hogan put in a deep cross to Helguson all on his own at the far post you thought that number three was on it's way, unfortunately Helguson probably had too much time to think about it and ended up glancing the header wide, glorious chance spurned.
When you thought chances didnt get any easier they did, again it was Hogan down the left side that rolled the ball across to Helguson, who had two defenders sliding in to block him, the ball bobbled just in front of the R's frontman and his side foot into the empty net flew high over the crossbar.
On 74 minutes Taarabt made way for Akos Buzsaky and the Hungarian was into action with his first touches. His curling shot from the edge of the box was destined for the top corner but somehow Murphy got his fingertips to it and tipped it over for a corner.
In the final moments of the game Faurlin showed some brilliant skill as he won a header and then played a little bit of keepy uppy before thumping a volley towards the top corner but it deflected off a Scunthorpe defender..... goal kick??? You figure that one out!



Another great performance by the R's today with plenty of people out there performing and there are plenty of unsung heroes coming out of that game and they will be mentioned during our man of the match awards. If the R's can continue playing this way and creating the chances that they do then we can hope for another positive result away at Derby next week.
It was also good to hear the R's faithful in good voice once again and also sticking by Heidar Helguson after his misses, who knows what the reaction would've been like had the game been at 0-0. Hopefully we will stay behind him and as his confidence grows we will see him banging in a few more goals this season.

On to the Man of the Match. The undoubted winner of this should go to Joe Murphy in the Scunthorpe goal as we was just superb, however with us being a Rangers' blog we must choose a QPR man of the match. We all voted for this whilst we were stood outside The Queen and even had some added input from Nik at this time, the nominees are.... Bradley Orr, Matt Connolly, Shaun Derry, Alejandro Faurlin, Adel Taarabt but the winner with two votes for his hard working display and never say die attitude is..... Jamie Mackie.


QPR: Kenny, Orr, Hill, Derry (Leigertwood 87), Taarabt (Buzsaky 74), Helguson (German 90), Faurlin, Mackie, Gorkss, Connolly, Ephraim.

Subs: Cerny, Clarke, Ramage, Parker.

Goals: Orr (17), Helguson (41)

Bookings: Taarabt (43)

Scunthorpe United: Murphy, McNulty (Byrne 82), Togwell, Woolford (Grant 76), O'Connor, Dagnall, Raynes, Forte, Wright, Nolan, Canavan.

Subs: Slocombe, Wright, Collins, McClenahan.

Referee: Mr G Salisbury

Attendance: 12, 046