Gone in 60 Seconds...

Tottenham 2-1 QPR

Spurs came from behind to win a very entertaining London derby at White Hart Lane this evening, but I, along with R's fans everywhere, am still wondering how on earth Rangers came away from this game with nothing...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gang as always were in good numbers, but today, taking 4 seperate journeys. With myself and Jenson, fresh from his holidays in Cyprus, arriving first. Sadly, he didn't bring any weather back with him and it was peeing down all afternoon. We had a brief chat with Jointy, before meeting Lee, Jess, Sam, Luke and finally PK on the concourse. Myself, Jenson and Lee sampled a pie each, only for the ratings of course... more on that later, before we all took our seats in the Upper Tier. Amongst the away following were Anton Ferdinand and former Rangers, Lee Cook who we saw on a number of occassions, singing his heart out for the lads.

 

Rangers suffered an early setback as Jose Boswinga had to leave the field with a hamstring injury and another addition to our ever more populated treatment room. He was replaced by Kieron Dyer.

 

From here on in, we witnessed a quite superb first half performance from Rangers who took the game to Spurs right from the off.  Brad Friedal was the busiest of the keepers, saving well from a Clint Hill header early on and a stinging drive from Junior Hoilett. Ryan Nelsen perhaps should have done better with a header from a corner, but the R's were dominant and their reward came on 34 minutes - good work from Faurlin saw him play in Zamora who lofted the ball over the advancing Friedal. Amongst the celebrations, Anton Ferdinand took upon the firing the guns type celebrations, to which Sam and I thought a Usain Bolt celebration would have been so much better from the R's defender.

 

It was no more than Rangers deserved and could well have been 2-0 had Friedal not parried away another Hoilett effort just before the break. We all assembled on the concourse at half time, simply enthusing about the half of football we had just witnessed.

 

Onto the second half and after AVB had shuffled his pack, Spurs expectedly came at Rangers and Julio Cesar had to be at his best to parry away Dempsey's piledriver. But on the hour, disaster struck as Bale's corner was headed towards goal by Caulker when the ball deflected off Faurlin and into the net. There was barely time to catch breath and just a minute later, Spurs were in front - a Rangers attack broke down and Spurs launched a quick counter. Vertonghen found Bale on the left of the area and though his shot cannoned back off the underside of the bar, the ball fell to the unmarked Defoe, who made no mistake from close range. The R's fans sat completely gobsmacked at what had just happened, to be in control of a game and then losing in the space of a minute was incredible.

 

Rangers were now chasing the game which had become wide open and with Rangers pressing for the equaliser, Spurs were hitting us on the counter with pace. Dempsey and Bale went close to extending the lead and at the other end, Hoilett had a great chance to bring the scores level, but seem to hesitate a bit, leaving Vertonghen to slide in and clear the danger. The R's contiued to press but after being so dominant earlier in the game, just could not find their way through.

 

Queens Park Rangers: Cesar, Hill, Park, Wright-Phillips (Cisse 77), Granero, Onuoha, Nelsen, Bosingwa (Dyer 4), Hoilett, Zamora (Cisse 73), Faurlin. Subs: Green, Diakite, Derry, Ehmer.

 

In summary and as already mentioned, I am still baffled as to how Rangers have got nothing from this game. For 60 minutes of this match and with no bias or exaggeration, QPR were awesome! There were some superb performances throughout once more, which leads me nicely onto the Man of the Match - wittled down to 3 contenders from the gang, with Luke opting for Junior Hoilett. But we have our first deadlock of the season, with myself, Jenson and Sam going for another fantastic showing from Esteban Granero and Lee, Jess and PK singling out a superb attacking full back display from Kieron Dyer, to which you can now certainly see just why Mark Hughes gave him a new contract in the Summer.

 

Awayday Pie Rating - some unexpected offerings from Spurs with flavours such as Pea Supper, Beef and Beer and Bombay Vegetable on offer, as well as the more well known, Balti. Just myself, Jenson and Lee sampled today and the results are as follows;

 

Jenson - Beef and Beer - much enjoyed but commented that it was hard to eat with just hands and a fork was required  - 9/10

 

Lee - Beef and Beer - enjoyed and demonstrated it could be eaten with just hands, although the filling was already scooped out at the time - 8/10

 

Lofty - Chicken Balti - enjoyed as I am a fan of hot curry and the balti was very hot and spicy. However found it a tad messy and difficult to eat - 8/10

 

Tottenham Hotspur Pie Rating - 8.33/10 - New Leaders

 

We now turn our attentions to the Capital One Cup and a home tie with Reading on Wednesday. Lee will return with what is a massive game for him, Sam and Jo. I am looking forward to this one immensly!!

 

Come on You R'ssssssssssssssssssss!!!!