Cisse Dismissal Clatters R's....

QPR 1-2 Wolves

It seemed like it was the Norwich game all over again - Rangers leading and cruising home, a red card and defeat snatched from the claws of victory...












On another bitterly cold day, I met first with Jenson, who was lucky enough to have secured a spot in the Apex Rental box, along with Lorna and I must say, I was just a weeny it envious as they disappeared into the warmth at around 1.30pm. I then met with the rest of the gang and if any of you wondered what happened to Trevor after the Villa game, he toddled up before kick off with just minutes to spare - but on time, unlike California Hoop who made his entrance, to huge applause from us all, about 20 minutes into the game.

Onto the game and we were all eagerly anticipating the debut of Bobby Zamora and the partnership between him and Cisse. Rangers started the game brightly and Cisse had the first chance of the game - after bringing down Taarabt's long pass, he fired straight at Hennessey. Further chances were created for Zamora and Taarabt and it onlt seemed a matter of time before we broke the deadlock.

On 17 minutes, the goal finally came and a superb move involving Cisse, Taarabt and Wright-Phillips, ended with debutant Bobby Zamora drilling the ball home.

















After the goal, Wolves were starting to up their tempo, but Rangers were dealing with them more than comfortably and to be honest, were in complete control... until disaster struck on 34 mins...

Cisse picked up the ball from Taarabt and Roger Johnson went straight through the R's forward with an awful tackle. Cisse angrily lept up and pulled back Johnson and if it would have stayed at that, then it would have been a yellow for both. Instead, Cisse went on to grab Johnson around the neck (as pictured above) and was quickly pulled away by Joey Barton, but it was too late. Mark Clattenburg reached straight for the red card and to be honest, he didn't have a choice although at the time, it looked a very harsh decision. Yes, Cisse should know better but after suffering two horrendous leg breaks during his career, you can kind of sypathise with his reaction and to his credit, he has come straight out and apologised to the team and the supporters. No consolation now of course but it's done now, move on...

Perhaps Clattenburg could have been a bit more generous with another card for Jamie O'Hara after he pushed his luck shortly after receiving a yellow for fouling Barton. Bassong also, possibly deserved more than a yellow after a crunching tackle on Wright-Phillips. The half then soon came to a close...

Much of the debate on the concourse at half time was of course the red card and many of the gang had seen Cisse grab the neck of Johnson and agreed he deserved to go. Nevertheless, we were all hoping we could up our game and hold Wolves at bay.

Unfortunately, it took less than a minute of the half for Wolves to draw level - Doyle's cross from the right arrived at the feet of Jarvis, who looked up and carefully placed his shot past Paddy Kenny.

Wolves had their tails up now and Taylor-Fletcher headed onto the Rangers crossbar and moments later, saw his scrappy effort cleared off the line by Anton Ferdinand. Rangers attacks now were a rarity, but Taarabt's free kick was inches wide of giving the R's the lead. But on 71 minutes, the visitors were in front - Doyle collected Jamie O'Hara's pass before turning and beating Kenny with his shot for a very neat finish.

With 15 minutes to go, the R's went for broke. Traore tried his luck from 30 yards which was saved well by Hennessey. Five minutes later, Taarabt picked the ball up, stepped over to make space and unleashed a thunderbolt that bent and whizzed it's way to the top corner, only to find Hennessey equal to the task with a superb save.

Joey Barton then went close for the R's, shooting just wide from outside the box. Shortly after, another piece of Moroccan magic saw Taarabt beat two defenders before chipping a delightful effort that went just over. In stoppage time, Taarabt again made space on the right and his low cross was drilled wide by Ferdinand, the last action of the afternoon.

QPR: Kenny, Derry (Traore 65), Taarabt, Barton, Young (Hall 65), Cisse, Wright-Phillips, Taiwo, Ferdinand, Onuoha, Zamora (Hulse 74).Subs: Cerny, Hill, Mackie, Smith.

Man of the Match - I think I am right in saying that this is a Lofty Heights first - a clean sweep from all of the gang for an awesome performance from Adel Taarabt.

In summary, I left this match absolutely gutted. It was a game we could, should and would have won and dare I say, comfortably until the red card incident. As mentioned, Cisse has gone public and apologised and vowed that he will make up it up to the team and the fans and I'm sure he will. Despite the defeat there were plenty of postives with the new signings seeming to settle in well, Zamora in particular was doing superbly but struggled leading the line on his own in the later stages. But the performance of Adel Taarabt, showed everyone just what an important part he could well play for the R's between now and the end of the season.

The gang are again well represented next week away at a massive game against Blackburn. We will see you there...

Come on You R'ssssssssss!!!