Lofty Heights... 'Ohhh Bobby Zamooooora!!!'

A look at Queens Park Rangers F.C. through the eyes of the fans - follow us on twitter @loftyheights70, @LoftyQPR and @qprleeroy








Saturday, December 31, 2011

Defeat Is Ref Justice For R's.


In the final game of 2011 the R's faithful travelled to Arsenal to see if we could preserve our unbeaten run at The Emirates, obviously we've never played there before but its a positive fact to open up this report with.

Myself, Jess, Sam, Luke and PK left from deepest, darkest Henley just past lunchtime and made our way to Cockfosters tube station, what a great name for a tube station, and parked up there before heading south on the Piccadilly Line to Arsenal station.
Once we arrived we took a short walk to the site of the former home of the Gunners to see the posh flats that have been built in the place of Highbury, we then turned back on ourselves and made our way to the Drayton Park pub were Iceman and Lorna were awaiting our arrival so we could pass on their tickets for the game.
We then meet up with Lofty outside the away end, having made the trip up from South Harrow and passing through 30 stations along the way.
Having rounded up the troops, we made our way in to what was a very compact and cramped concourse upon entry which was quite surprising and disappointing seeing as this is a new ground and very impressive from the outside, surely they would've made a concourse that would be able to hold more than 50 people comfortably on it?
Anyway, enough of my moaning. The stadium as you walked down the steps to your seat was impressive to say the least and definitely holds a wow factor to it. As we got to our seats the teams made their way out onto the pitch.

Neil Warnock made five changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Swansea on Wednesday. Radek Cerny, Matt Connolly, Danny Gabbidon, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jay Bothroyd came in for Paddy Kenny, Fitz Hall, Clint Hill, Shaun Derry and Heidar Helguson.

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Rangers' started the game brightly and even managed to get the first real effort on goal when Bothroyd run at the Arsenal defence hit one from 25 yards out which was just within the reach of Szczesny.
Wright-Phillips just moments later was presented the opportunity to break the deadlock as Taarabt's magical pass found Wright-Phillips on the left edge of the penalty area and SWP took a touch before trying to lift the ball over Szczesny but the Arsenal keeper rushed out early enough to block the shot and Arsenal cleared the danger.
Arsenal's tactics were pretty predictable in all fairness, give the ball to Van Persie and if you cant pass to him then pass to Walcott and let him run at Traore. If those two options failed then Arsenal really did not know what to do apart from give it to the impressive Alex Song and let him try and create something for the home side.
With Arsenal having very little success at attacking the R's goal it was the turn of the officials to take centre stage and award some really baffling decisions. The corners and throw in's that were blatantly QPR goal kicks and throw in's were somehow awarded in the home teams favour and we were lucky that Arsenal failed to capitalise on the clueless refereeing performance being put in.
Arsenal's best chance of the half came from a cleared corner when the ball dropped to Arteta and his half volley was cleared off the line by Barton just before half time.

The gang tried to assemble on the concourse again at half time and after ten minutes of squeezing through the crowds, who were in fine voice singing "we're gonna win away...". Finally we all got together for five minutes before we had to fight our way back to our seats. Most of our conversation revolved around the questionable officials and their decisions. We were issued with a three minute warning before kick off, obviously that was when Martin Atkinson had finished hs half time cup of tea with Arsene Wenger.

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The second half started and there was no difference to the second half, the R's were pressing and looking threatening whilst Arsenal looked to Van Persie and Walcott, whilst that was not working the same didgy decisions were being made by the match officials.
Arsenal had the best chance of the half within ten minutes of the restart.
Ramsey played Walcott clean through on goal with just Cerny to beat, Walcott scuffed his shot well wide of the R's goal.
The R's won a corner, well so we thought on 60 minutes, only for the linesman to award a goal kick!! Absolute joke!
From the goal kick Rangers' won the ball back before Wright-Phillips loose pass found Ramsey, who in turn fed in Van Persie (shock) and the in form Dutchman slid the ball home past Cerny to finally get the Arsenal fans on their feet and away from their prawn sandwiches.
This did not dampen the spirits of the R's players and we continued to press on and try to get back in the game.
Taarabt forced a superb fingertip save from Szcznesy when he tried his luck from 25 yards out.
The R's kept believing and kept on attacking the Arsenal full backs but none of the crosses were reaching any Rangers' players in the box. Even with the substitutions of Campbell, Smith and Orr we just were not able to breakthrough the Arsenal back four.
Gervinho's introduction for Arsenal provided a threat that they never had before his entrance to the game and if they had his attacking threat then the game could've been very different.
Szcznesy's inciting of the crowd minutes from the end of the game really did not help the mood of the travelling fans as he shouted towards the R's fans "Arsenal.... blah blah blah", I'll be honest I cannot remeber his exact words but it definitely riled many of the travelling fans.......... idiot!


As you can probably see by the summary that there is a lot of frustration from this "performance" by the referee Martin Atkinson. He and his assistants were poor and biased towards the "bigger team". These kind of refereeing performances are often spoken about where the smaller teams visiting one of the "top 4 clubs" and receive nothing at all whilst favouring the big club. However there was not only that bias towards Arsenal but also the amount of dodgy decisions given to Arsenal when we had clearly won corners and throw in's is unbelievable! None of them were even close and just shows how corrupt things can be at times.
Today was a great day out and enjoyed by us all, its a shame that with 60,000 people in a stadium that not much atmosphere is created by the home side, it really is like a library in there and in all fairness our away support was not the best I've ever heard, maybe because there were quite a few people that got tickets that meant other fans that usually travel away missed out on getting tickets. I wonder if there will be such a high demand for tickets when we travel to Aston Villa, Blackburn and Bolton?? Probably not!
The stadium is fantastic and even walking around it at the end was impressive and definitely sets the standard to other new grounds out there being built.

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As we finished looking around the stadium and were about to leave after taking our final photos, Lofty was stopped by an Arsenal fan that had clearly never been to The Emirates before and asked for his photo to be taken with the ground behind him. After kindly obliging to this the fan had the cheek to tell Lofty that he wanted his photo re-taken as he did not like it, cheeky git!
Having finally given the tourist fan the photo he was after, we made our way to the bridge only to be obstructed by even more tourist fans looking for their picture of the day that they visited The Emirates for the first (and probably last) time.
I just hope that in a few years time and we have a new ground that we will be proud of, we never get that kind of following, it's inevitable that it will happen but I hope the hardcore base that we do have amongst us will make up the majority of the crowd.

Our Man of the Match was again very closely contested between three players.
One vote went to Armand Traore who was superb on his return to Arsenal, he defended excellently and his attacking presence was always troubling Arsenal. With two votes was Adel Taarabt. Taarabt was superb all game, he tracked back and was a constant thorn in Arsenal's side all afternoon. However with three votes and gaining the majority vote is Shaun Wright-Phillips. Despite his one error that cost us the gosl (even though it came from us not being awarded a corner), the rest of the game he showed his class and this came from us actually passing the ball to his feet rather than lumping high balls up to him. If we can continue to use SWP to his strengths then we will see the best of him in 2012.


Arsenal: Szczesny, Mertesacker, Vermaelen (Coquelin 54), Koscielny, Arteta, Van Persie, Walcott (Gervinho 74), Ramsey, Song, Djourou, Arshavin (Rosicky 67).

Subs: Almunia, Oxlade-Chamberlin, Chamakh, Benayoun.

Goals: van Persie (60)

Bookings: Vermaelen (37), Djourou (40)

QPR: Cerny, Gabbidon, Taarabt, Bothroyd (Campbell 74), Faurlin, Mackie (Smith 64), Traore (Orr 77), Connolly, Barton, Young, Wright-Phillips.

Subs: Murphy, Hill, Derry, Helguson.

Bookings: Barton (27), Young (54)

Referee: Mr M Atkinson

Attendance: 60,076


Happy New Year to You All!!!! Hope you have a great 2012!!!!!

U R'SSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Mackie stops the Swans from flying away


After suffering the disappointing defeat to Sunderland just five days ago the R's were aiming to bounce back against Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.
The R's have never won or even scored a goal at the Liberty so getting any kind of result looked to be an uphill task.
As always the Lofty Heights gang were in attendance.


The day started early for myself and Jess as we hit the road at 11 in Surrey as we made our way to pick up Sam and Luke from Henley and finally got onto the M4 at 2pm. It was at this time that we realised that the kick off was at 5pm and not at 5.30pm as we all thought! Uh-oh!! Now we was in a race against time to get to Swansea in time for kick off as the traffic in Bristol was a nightmare! With Jenson, Lofty and Smithy ahead of us on the motorway we were provided with the updates needed to ensure we arrived in time.
We finally arrived at our destination with 25 minutes to spare and a 15 minute walk to the stadium ahead of us and a poor Lorna who was awaiting our arrival as we had her ticket with us, we were only an hour late!
We promptly made our way into the ground and straight up to our seats just in time to see the players walk out onto the pitch.

There were three changes from the side that lost on Wednesday. Fitz Hall, Clint Hill and Adel Taarabt took the place of Danny Gabbidon, Matt Connolly and Shaun Wright-Philips.


Rangers' started the game strongly with Taarabt pulling the strings early on. It wasn't long until the R's fashioned their first chance of the game with Mackie forcing a fine save from Vorm in the Swansea goal.
However our defensive frailties were soon exposed with the R's midfield and defence allowing Swansea to waltz towards Paddy Kenny's goal and with their first real effort on goal.
Routledge was allowed to run down the Swansea right and his ball was controlled by Graham, who with his back to goal managed to turn before curling in an accurate shot into the bottom corner with Kenny having no chance. Having seen the replays there are obvious shouts for handball as Graham controlled the ball from Routledge. Thats just the way its going for us at the moment!
Just moments after the restart Swansea had a chance to make it 2-0 when Williams headed just over from a corner.
Apart from a Barton shot that was expertly tipped over by Vorm on the 20 minute mark, there was a lack of pace and urgency about the R's. We seemed to be content with Swansea running at us and seemingly having not learned from the Carrick goal a few weeks ago we still allowed this to happen. However despite this, Hall was keeping tabs on Graham and did not give him much chance to crate many more problems.

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At half time he gang got together to find out what goodies we all received for Christmas as well as discuss our views on what was not great viewing from those of us in the stands. Some inspiration, energy and movement was badly needed if we were going to cause any sort of problem for the Swansea defence.

Buoyed made what must've been a good talking to by Mr Warnock, the R's came out for the second half posing a lot more threat, urgency and even created some good chances.
Taarabt had the first chance of the half s he run at the Swansea defence before seeing his shot deflected just wide of the post.
However on 56 minutes the R's were back on level terms.
Kenny's long kick was headed backwards by Britton and past the Swansea central defenders into the path of Jamie Mackie. Mackie took control of the ball before side-footing the ball through Vorm's legs into the back of the net!
Finally the R's fans found their voices having previously been drowned out by what was a buoyant home crowd over in the corner by our fans.
Mackie was determined to grab some of the morning headlines himself as he run through two Swansea defenders and just as he was going to pull the trigger he had theball nicked off of him.
On 73 minutes Swansea had very strong calls for a penalty, well I say strong calls, I mean a definite penalty waved away. Traore clumsily clattered into the back of Graham and flattened him, how a penalty was not given I will never know. But it wasn't and we have to be very very grateful of that!
Just after the penalty incident Faurlin and Taarabt combined with Taarabt unleashing an effort from 25 yards out which looked to be heading for the bottom corner but Vorm out stretched his left arm and just managed to tip the ball around the post.
The final 10 minutes went a bit stale with the R's looking to settle for an away point when we seemingly had Swansea on the ropes and we were looking to deliver the killer blow and become only the second team to take all three points away from the Liberty this season.

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I must say that I walked away from the game today feeling quite disappointed that we did not try to take a much needed three points as we really looked as we had the opportunity to take advantage of a Swansea side that looked slightly short of confidence in the second half. Scott Sinclair was awful in my opinion and with Nathan Dyer being left on the bench until late in the second half, this was a chance to get a confidence boosting win under our belts ahead of our next "easy" game at Arsenal.
I just hope that this point proves to be a much needed one rather than two points that we should have gone searching for.

Man of the Match proved to be a difficult one for the gang as there were three players that received tonight's eight votes. Faurlin got two of those votes for a much improved second half performance and managed to have a greater influence on the game. Adel Taarabt got three votes for his majestic performance, creating much of the R's attacking threat and completed 51 of his 52 passes in the game. However getting the nod ahead of Taarabt despite also getting three votes but a "special mention" from a gang member swayed the decision in the favour of Sam's favourite player Fitz Hall, for his great performance in a back four that was previously shaky, Hall and Hill shored up the defence and restricted Swansea to few chances.

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Swansea City: Vorm, Williams, Caulker, Britton, Graham, Sinclair, Routledge (Dyer 57), Rangel (Moore 57) Allen, Agustien, Richards.

Subs: Tremmel, Dobbie, Monk, Lita, Gower.

Goals: Graham (14)

Bookings: Richards (42)

QPR: Kenny, Hill, Derry, Hall, Taarabt, Faurlin, Mackie, Traore, Barton, Young, Helguson.

Subs: Cerny, Orr, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Connolly, Smith, Wright-Phillips.

Goals: Mackie (57)

Bookings: Hill (35), Barton (65), Taarabt (90)

Referee: Mr L Probert

Attendance: 19,570


On our way back to the car we said goodbye to Lorna who was staying in South Wales for the evening and we made our way to a grub van in the industrial park.
As we were all waiting for our food to be cooked we were joined by Paddy Kenny's mum in the queue who herself had the same idea as us ahead of a long journey home. Having been introduced, Jess took centre stage and showed Mrs Kenny a signed photo that she has of him on her wall and even managed to say that she knew what car he drove whilst trying not to sound too stalker like. Mrs Kenny was very pleasant and very easy to talk to and hopefully we will be bumping into her at a few more away games this season, she will remember Jess that is for sure!


I will be back on New Years Eve(ish) for our report on the trip to the Emirates.

I will wish you all a Happy New Year now and I hope 2012 is as great as 2011 was for us all! Take care and be happy!


U R'SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Wes Leaves Rangers Feeling Brown-ed Off...


QPR 2-3 Sunderland

Sunderland threw away a two goal lead, before Wes Brown struck in the last minute to give the Black Cats, a not so lucky win at Loftus Road last evening.












With Rangers seemingly free falling towards the bottom three in the Premier League, many were calling this the biggest game of the season so far and there was no doubt, that three points would be vital for both sides.

A bit of a change to the routine for me personally. As I was off work, I took up Jenson's offer of a few beers in Paddington beforehand and joined him, plus Mark Banks, Paddington Trev and Craig. From there we hit the White Horse on the Uxbridge Road before making our way to the ground and arriving just before kick off. On arrival, we found that the rest of the gang were somewhat depleted with Corp and PK surprisingly missing, reasons unknown. California Hoop, out on an Xmas work do, somehow ended up in the School End Lower Tier for this one.

Onto the game and two changes were made from Sundays defeat against Man United - Shaun Derry came in for Bothroyd and Paddy Kenny returned to the R's goal, in place of Radek Cerny - the R's reverting back to the 4-2-3-1 system.

Rangers had the first chance of the game, but Shaun Derry headed harmlessly over from a corner. From there on in, the first half belonged to Sunderland as, inspired by the impressive Sessegnon, they completely over ran Rangers in the midfield - Bendtner hit the post early on with a header when in truth he really should have scored. But on 19 minutes, he made amends as he headed home unchallenged from a corner and the visitors were in front.

Just one minute later, Kieron Richardson went close with a 20 yard drive and Sessegnon's goalbound effort was blocked by Gabbidon on 37 minutes.

Onto the second half and Adel Taarabt was brought into the action, but somewhat surprisingly in place of Shaun Wright-Phillips, who was one of the few who starred for the R's in the first half. Rangers first real clear cut chance came on 51 minutes, when Helguson's close range header was cleared off the line. The missed chance proved extremely costly just a minute later - Sessegnon got on the end of Bendtner's flick on, went through on goal, easily sold Paddy Kenny a dummy before tapping home into an empty net.

Just as R's fans were giving up all hope, Rangers pulled a goal back and very much against the run of play - excellent work from Traore, found Faurlin who's dangerous low cross was bundled into the net by R's top scorer, Heidar Helguson.

The R's crowd were alive once more and just 4 minutes later, absolutely erupted - Faurlin's ball into the box was headed back across by Helguson, into the path of Jamie Mackie who's diving header flew into the net for his first goal of the season.

There was only one winner in this game now, or so it seemed...

The impressive, Adel Taarabt went close with a low drive on 68 minutes, but from there, Sunderland were starting to exploit the gaps and were breaking with pace as they had been throughout the evening - Gardner bringing the best out of Paddy Kenny on two occasions.

But just as the game was petering out into draw, which after the first half, R's fans would surely be happy with? - Wes Brown's near post header from a corner in the 89th minute found it's way into the roof of the net and Sunderland had stolen the victory.

QPR: Kenny, Derry, Gabbidon, Faurlin, Mackie, Traore (Hall 80), Connolly (Bothroyd 90), Barton, Young, Helguson, Wright-Phillips (Taarabt 46). Subs: Cerny, Hill, Campbell, Smith.

Man of the Match - with some extra voters this evening, we had single votes for Mackie, Helguson, Faurlin and Kenny. But with a massive 6 votes, it was in the end a landslide victory and a well deserved acolade for Adel Taarabt, who made such an impact when he came on in the second half.

Heartbroken? Frustrated? Disappointed? Either one of them led to R's fans feeling very flat after the result and dare I say, performance. It all led to the rest of the evenings festivities falling a bit flat as shortly after a very nice curry in the Goldhawk Road, we all headed for home. Shepherds Bush closing for business at midnight also didn't help matters...

Anyway, with two away games on the horizon, this is the last you will hear from me until the New Year now and the home game v Norwich. So I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Come on You R'ssssssssssss!!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

The Devils Own Job for Rangers...


QPR 0-2 Man United

Manchester United, temporarily went back to the top of the Premier League, after what I am sad to say, was a pretty comfortable 2-0 win at Loftus Road this lunchtime. At the time of writing, Man City have just beaten Arsenal and are back on top again.












With the lunchtime kick off, it was an unusually early start this morning and I left for Loftus Road at around 9.30am. Thankfully, it's also a pretty local game for Man United fans so at least they didn't have far to travel either.

The gang slowly but surely assembled, unfortunately minus Jenson today as a foot injury kept him home and watching in the warm. California Hoop, who has seemed to have gone awol, was also missing. But after missing out at Liverpool last week, it was great to see Sam making her first appearance at home since the birth of her twin boys. It has to be said that Motherhood is fully agreeing with Sam who was absolutely glowing!!

With it being so early and indeed, cold, having a drink wasn't a major priority and we were all in our seats in good time for kick off. The R's crowd were loud and proud and were out to try and unsettle the Champions, the 'Channel 5 on a Thursday night' chant particularly amusing.

Personally, I had a gut feeling that Rangers could turn cause an upset today, but after just 52 seconds of the game, I was thinking that maybe this gut feeling was something dodgy I had eaten as Man United took the lead - Wayne Rooney lost his marker in the box and headed home Valencia's cross. He didn't make the best of connections with the header and perhaps his new, expensive hair transplant, weave or whatever it is, helped the ball on it's way past Cerny in the R's goal.

United were well on top early doors as Rangers seemed nervous and maybe in awe of their formiddable opponents, but Rangers were slowly starting to dig in. Wright-Phillips shot over the bar and maybe Helguson should have done better with Barton's set piece delivery, heading just wide. On 18 minutes, Mackie teed up Bothroyd who again, should have done better but fired over.

On 28 minutes, Johnny Evans struck the Rangers bar with a close range header and two minutes later, Evans was through on goal but Cerny was equal to the task once more, saving superbly. As United piled on the pressure, Cerny had to be at his best once again and pulled off a quite astonishing save, denying Danny Welbeck.

Rangers responded and Helguson saw his shot saved by the legs of De Gea and Bothroyd blasted the rebound over. More frustration followed just before half time as Bothroyd's cross was just that little bit to quick for the on-rushing Jamie Mackie, who had a superb half.

Onto the second half and it was an almost carbon copy of the first, but this time Rooney fired straight at Cerny. Unfortunately, on 55 minutes, it was 2-0 and practically, game over - Michael Carrick intercepted Barton's awful pass and advanced unchallenged towards the area before scoring with a low drive.

It was simply all United now and Neil Warnock made the changes - Taarabt replacing SWP and DJ Campbell, replacing Helguson, much to the annoyance of the home crowd who for the first time this season, showed their displeasure at one of Warnock's decisions.

United continued to press and Jones smashed the Rangers post on 65 minutes, but Rangers were slowly getting back into things with Taarabt looking extremely hungry. It was Taarabt thar provided the R's best chance on 70 minutes, crossing superbly to find Campbell, who put the ball over from 6 yards out when it seemed easier to score.

Despite a late half chance from Clint Hill, United remained in control and cantered over the line to a victory that put the Champions back to the top of the league.

QPR: Cerny, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Faurlin, Mackie, Traore, Connolly, Barton, Young, Helguson (Campbell 66), Wright-Phillips (Taarabt 66). Subs: Kenny, Orr, Hill, Derry, Smith.

Man of the Match - wasn't overly difficult today and despite a few half shouts for Mackie, Gabbidon and Young, everyone was firmly agreed on Radek Cerny, for another superb display in the R's goal.

In summary, although it's a defeat to the current Premier League Champions, I can't help but feel a little bit flat as I feel we didn't really get in their faces much, like in previous matches against Chelsea and Man City - and as mentioned, at times we seemed in awe of Man United. But some of the visitors play was quite superb at times and at the end of the day, we were well beaten by a much better team.

I will return shortly after Wednesday's important game at home to Sunderland, but in the meantime....

Come on You R'sssssss!!!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Luis the Rat Hits Back.


Today the Lofty Heights gang took to the road on the long trip to Merseyside for the second time this season, this time to visit Anfield. Would Warnock's charge's bounce back from last weeks frustrating draw against West Brom? Or would it be Liverpool that bounced back from their 1-0 defeat at Fulham on Monday night?
We were about to find out.


The gang left in two cars this morning with Luke, Jess and the returning Sam, making her comeback just over two weeks after giving birth to Noah and Louie, in my car. Joining Jenson was Lofty, PK, Smithy and Jo G.
The trip to Liverpool started off very smoothly up until we reached the final hour of the journey when the M6 became very stop/start and quite frustrating. However I arrived at Anfield with Jess, Sam and Luke at about 1.30 and claimed the final parking space in the Stanley Park car park.
We made our way to the Lower Anfield Road Stand and met up with Iceman, Lorna, Jack and Zack for a catch up and arriving with Sam came as a complete surprise to them as no-one had expected her to make the comeback s quickly.
Jenson and the gang finally arrived at Anfield on time, however the two parties never got a chance to meet up before kick off.

Neil Warnock was dealt with a huge blow before the game as Heidar Helguson completely missed the game with no-one really aware as to why the in-form R's striker was not even on the bench. Tommy Smith returned to the starting line up for the first time since the Wigan game at the end of August.
On a more positive note, both DJ Campbell and Matt Connolly returned to the bench after both overcoming injuries that have plagued them for the last few months.


At the start of proceedings the traditional Liverpool 'You'll Never Walk Alone' rendition was sung out by the home faithful, it was quite something to experience............... however where the Liverpool fans went after singing that is a mystery! The game was to be played in a library with 3,000 QPR fans doing everything they could to wake up the scousers and ruin their afternoon nap.

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The first half was not the greatest spectacle in the world and as you would expect the R's were taking no risks and playing a safe game. Very few chances were created by the visitors so it was up to Liverpool to make the most of things.
Some of the passing by the home team was impressive at times and with some one touch football created a lot of space in the final third.
Suarez was guilty of missing three fantastic opportunities in the first half as he headed straight at Cerny, scuffed a shot wide when it was harder to miss the target and then again proving to be wasteful when put through on goal.
Maxi wasted Liverpool's best chance of the game as he was put through one on one with Cerny but the 37 year old veteran managed to oil down his joints with WD40 before the game and get down very quickly to push the ball wide before Traore cleared the danger.

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As we enjoyed half time in a cramped concourse for a brief period of time, I seeked the opinion of a Liverpool fan that I previously worked with and knew that they were in attendance. He said to me that the R's fans were great, very noisy and very funny! Especially with the banter being hurled at Jonjo Shelvey, who was a sub warming up for Liverpool in front of the R's fans, with the R's fans singing "Jonjo Shelvey, he looks like ET". Jamie Carragher enjoyed it almost as much as what we did and ust showed the good humour being shared by the travelling R's fans.

The second half started and for the first time in the afternoon the R's fans sat down and just as everyone had sat down it was the Liverpool fans that were getting out of their seats.
Rangers' cleared a Charlie Adam corner only as far as the Scottish International and his second cross found Luis Suarez unmarked and four yards out to finally hit the target and put the hosts in front. For the first time since 14.59 we heard the Liverpool fans actually sing, it only lasted 3 minutes but at least they bothered to make an effort!
The R's were dealt with yet another blow as Anton Ferdinand limped off just two minutes after the goal. Ferdinand appeared to be clutching his hamstring as he left the field. The injury came as he skipped over a challenge from Adam and then fell to the floor as the tweak occurred. In all fairness it did look as if he had been taken out by a sniper at the back of The Kop.
Rangers' pushed Liverpool after the goal and with DJ Campbell coming on for Tommy Smith, we finally had a front man to link up with Jay Bothroyd.
The R's enjoyed their best spell of the game yet not creating any clear cut opportunities. There were two half hearted penalty appeals by the R's when Bothroyd appeared to be tripped and then right at the end Skrtel kicked Faurlin in the chest, from our angle, yet we were awarded nothing and Skrtel aggressively stood over Faurlin yelling at him whilst the ref allowed him to do so. Obviously the Liverpool players and fans have short memories as it was Suarez and Johnson that went down in the box very easily in the first half in a desperate attempt to break the deadlock. Suarez continuously fell to his knees during the game, in fact I think he spent more time getting on his knees than one of the girls down the local scouse brothel.

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All in all you have to say that Liverpool were deserving of their victory because some of their play at times was superb. Cerny was in fine form and pulled off a number of fantastic saves, including one in the second half were he was going one way and had to dive in the opposite direction to tip the ball onto the post and keep the R's in the game.

Onto Man of the Match. This was a completely unanimous vote amongst everyone in the gang with Radek Cerny gaining a clean sweep for his fantastic performance in the R's goal.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique, Downing, Adam, Henderson, Maxi (Bellamy 78), Kuyt, Suarez.

Subs: Doni, Carroll, Coates, Carragher, Kelly.

Goals: Suarez (47)

Bookings: Bellamy (85)

QPR: Cerny, Gabbidon, Bothroyd, Faurlin, Mackie (Hill 78), Traore, Barton, Young, Smith (Campbell 66), Wright-Phillips, Ferdinand (Orr 50).

Subs: Putnins, Derry, Buzsaky, Connolly.

Referee: Mr L Mason

Attendance: 45,016

The gang all departed in there two groups and unfortunately never managed to hook up at any part of the afternoon. I'm sure that the other car do have some separate stories that are well worthy of sharing on here. The only thing I will show you from Jenson's car is the view that Jo G had in her severely restricted view seat during the first half when all of the R's fans were standing up, one piece of advice............... NEVER buy thiese tickets if you ever get the chance to........

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Lofty will be back next week for the next easy fixture we have.... Man United at home!

It's ta'ra fromme until after Christmas now so I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and I will be back for the Swansea fixture.

U R'SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, December 03, 2011

A Game of What If's....


QPR 1-1 West Brom

QPR were denied their second home win of the season by a Shane Long goal 9 minutes from time, in a game that should have been long put to bed beforehand at Loftus Road.


This report is brought to you in association with Stadium Wireless ;)








It's been a month since our last home game and it was great to get back to Loftus Road. Myself and Jenson were the first on the scene but were soon joined by PK, Luke and Corp at the Springbok for our pre match. Unfortunately, we didn't see Lee and Jess as they were bringing in last season's lucky charm, Little Jack for his first taste of Premier League football.

We were all in the ground and in our seats in good time to pay our respects to the late Gary Speed, following his tragic death last week. A minutes applause was a very fitting tribute, as well as around the other grounds in the country - Rest in Peace, Gary Speed.

It was obvious from the players on the field that a good few of them had endorsed new boot deals, as well as a certain member of the Upper Loft close to us who had obviously endorsed a certain mens hair product, which caused much amusement to us all...

Onto the game and although Rangers started the brighter, Albion had the first chance but Morrison's effort was easily claimed by Cerny. Rangers hit back immediately with half chances for Wright-Phillips and Barton.

On 22 minutes, the R's were in front - Jamie Mackie wriggled into the box but was blocked by the Albion defence. The ball fell kindly to Joey Barton who chipped to the far post to find Heidar Helguson, who headed home his 6th of the season.




















Three minutes later and Loftus Road erupted again - Wright-Phillips collected Faurlin's superb pass and smashed home an unstoppable drive on the half volley, only for the linesman to flag for offside. I deliberately delayed writing this report until I had seen it on Match of the Day, which proved that SWP was clearly onside and the goal should have stood.

Although West Brom were playing some neat football, Rangers were defending superbly and went in at the break deservedly in front. At half time, myself and some of the gang went down to the Lower Loft concourse to check on the half time scores as we had been unable to do so during the game, due to it being impossible to gain internet access in the Stadium, as it is with most of the grounds in this country. Hopefully, this will soon be a thing of the past due to (another shameless plug), Stadium Wireless. Visit www.stadiumwireless.co.uk for more details...

Onto the second half and following a pretty weak penalty appeal from Albion, Rangers could and should have made it two. Joey Barton battled hard to win the ball which fell to Helguson, who then teed up Barton, who side footed the ball agonisingly wide with Foster beaten and the goal gaping.

The chances continued to come for the R's and another golden chance went begging - Traore managed to nick the ball from a hesitant Foster, to get past the Albion stopper and at the byline, teed up Shaun Wright-Phillips who hit the shot into the ground and again, agonisingly wide with the goal gaping. In fairness to SWP, the ball from Traore wasn't the best. At this point, you just couldn't help but wonder if the missed chances were going to cost us and Albion were certainly beginning to get more and more into the match.

Chris Brunt's long range drive went just wide, but on 81 minutes, the Baggies were level - the Albion defence broke down a Rangers attack and broke away like lightning - Morrison fed Odemwingie on the left, who crossed to the far post to find Shane Long who tapped the ball home and earned Albion a point which in honesty, they really shouldn't have got.

QPR: Cerny, Gabbidon, Bothroyd (Buzsaky 74), Faurlin, Mackie, Traore, Barton, Young, Helguson, Wright-Phillips, Ferdinand. Subs: Putnins, Orr, Hill, Derry, Taarabt, Smith.

Man of the Match - once again, divided amongst the gang. Corp and Lee went for the once again impressive, Traore, whilst there was one vote apiece for Jamie Mackie and Luke Young, from Jenson and Jess respectively. But with 3 votes from myself, PK and the casting vote going to Little Jack, today's winner is Heidar Helguson.















In summary, you just couldn't help but be disappointed not to win this game and had the linesman got the Shaun Wright-Phillips decision correct, I'm sure it would have been 3 points. But it was not to be and it was again a reminder of the harsh lessons you have to learn if you don't take your chances in the Premier League. West Brom are now a well established Premier League team and battled hard for their point, credit to them for that.

Lofty Heights will be in strong force for next weeks much awaited trip to Anfield as the R's take on Liverpool. Lee will return with one of his legendary away reports as per usual but until then...

Come on You R'sssssssssss!!!!!

Thursday, December 01, 2011

Stadium Wireless....


Lofty Heights is delighted to recommend to you, our very own, Jenson's latest venture... I talk from experience when trying to log on to the internet, to check on accumulators and other scores etc. whilst watching my beloved R's this season, has been a complete nightmare. This could all change as today, Stadium Wireless has gone live....









From the website: http://www.stadiumwireless.co.uk/

Sports Fans, now enjoy the ability to use your Smartphone to share your passion, catch up on other scores, keep track of and place bets on game outcomes and stream video - all in an instant through a powerful Wi-Fi service installed in participating Stadiums throughout the UK. Stadium Wireless gives you the ability to enjoy all this freedom, in all participating stadiums, from just £2 per month.

Stadium Owners, give your loyal fans the tools they need to maximise their enjoyment factor from attending matches are your stadium. Stadium wireless offers stadiums free installation and no additional costs. We will even give you and your staff free access. Our bespoke Wi-Fi solution is fully supported requiring no involvement on your behalf.

Basic Package : Get standard wifi on your device and up to 500Mb of download allowance. Get instant access to your social media websites and betting websites for fast in-play betting.

Premium Package : Get premium, faster wifi on your device and an unlimited download allowance. Gain full access to all your favourites websites, download videos in an instant and enjoy live video streaming from Sky Go and ESPN Goals.

A great idea I am sure you will agree. Check out the above website. Stadium Wireless can also be found on facebook - http://www.facebook.com/stadiumwireless

and twitter - @stadiumwireless

Lofty Heights wishes Jenson every success with this new, exciting venture!!