R's Off The Ground...

Norwich 1-1 QPR

Following 5-0 defeats for both sides last week, both QPR and Norwich got their seasons up and running by playing out a 1-1 draw at Carrow Road this afternoon.

 

Well as you may have already gathered, it is all change here at Lofty Heights as Lee has now moved to reporting on home games and myself, the aways and I must say, despite the result, Lee put together a very entertaining report last weekend.

As Lee mentioned, I was finishing my holiday in Mallorca last week so today was my first appearance of the season and after falling foul to a nasty tummy bug in the week, I very nearly had to give this one a miss also and only declared myself fit at 6am this morning. The gang were as always, well represented and travelling with Lee were PK, Luke and Jointy and myself and Jenson were about 30 minutes behind them. Sam and Jess were sadly missing today, with Jess on her hols and Sam, flatly refusing to pay the extortionate £48 Norwich were charging for today's game... and fair play to her for that and sticking to her guns! Why oh why are we now deemed a Category A game for Norwich is beyond me...

With some heavy traffic and some nifty driving around the A11 from Jenson, we didn't get to the ground until 2.30 so there was only a brief amount of time to catch up with the gang. Happily, Lee and PK had taken the chance to sample the pies for the long awaited return of the PIE RATING. Due to my recent illness, I decided it best me not take part in this today. But more on that later...

Onto the game and it's fair to say that Rangers started the brighter of the two sides and Jamie Mackie went close for the visitors. But as we always seem to do in Norwich, the R's went behind to an early goal on 11 minutes -  Anthony Pilkington crossed from the left and was met by the head of the smallest man on the field,  Jackson to head home from close range.

Rangers needed a response and got it just 8 minutes later, to the complete surprise of the away end. Hoilett's ball into the box found Cisse, who was clipped by debutant, Bassong before going over. It took a few seconds, there were no real appeals, but the Rangers end leaped in the air when Clattenburg pointed firmly to the spot. To be fair, there were little complaints from Norwich either and Cisse stepped up to take the resulting penalty - which Ruddy pushed onto the post before Zamora followed in to smash home - apparantly encroaching, as were plenty of others which was probably why the goal was allowed to stand.

On 31 minutes, came a memorable moment as the R's fans paid tribute to the late, Ray Jones, who died 5 years ago today, with a minutes applause and chanting of the young strikers name. A lovely, lovely moment which will be long remembered...

During the remainder of the half, Clint Hill seemed to be struggling to cope with Grant Holt... or let me rephrase that, Grant Holt was doing his normal - using his excess bulk to wrestle his opponent to the ground and then going over himself - Clattenburg like so many other referees, bought into his antics and Hill was shown a yellow card and was later, given to what looked like being his final warning. Hill was understandably substituted at half time with Onouha replacing him.

As far as the R's were concerned, the second half was pretty flat, as they continually tried to set Cisse away to use his pace, but he was continually frustrated by the offside flag. Norwich however, had their chances and Snodgrass headed over when it looked easier to score and Pilkington, saw his looping header come off the crossbar with 7 minutes remaining.

QPR: Green, Diakite (Derry 85), Traore (Bosingwa 70), Ferdinand, Hill (Onuoha 46), Park, Cisse, Mackie, da Silva, Hoilett, Zamora. Subs: Murphy, Johnson, Taarabt, Wright-Phillips.

 

Man of the Match - almost unanimous today, with all but Luke, who went for Fabio following a superb performance, covering both right and left back at times. But for the rest of us, todays award goes to the absolute workhorse in midfield, that is Ji-Sung Park.

 

Away Day Pie Rating - Not the best place to start really is Carrow Road, as Delia Smith stamps her authority all over the place and destroys the tradition of a good football pie, with roasted vegetable and cauliflower cheese being the options over the past couple of seasons - it's just wrong!! A more favourable option of Peppered Steak was taken up be Lee and PK before the match and the result was that it was a bit heavy on the crust, but tasted reasonably good, with both giving a generous, 7 out of 10.

 

All in all, it wasn't a vintage performance by any means but the first point of the season has been gained against a team that we got a zero return from last season. Personally, I think for both sides towards the end it was a case of not losing rather than going all out for the win, especially after last weeks heavy defeats. After some decent discussion after the game, the gang went upon the journeys through the oncoming storms...

 

Lee will return in the week as the R's take on Walsall at home in the League Cup...

 

Come on You R'ssssssssssss!!!