Redknapp's Rangers' Frustrated Once Again.......

Today opened a new chapter as Harry Redknapp took charge of his first home game of the season against fellow Premier League strugglers Aston Villa. Could Redknapp's Rangers' get their first win of the season? We were about to find out.

The gang assembled slowly at Loftus Road and we all ensured that we parked within a parking space today as the trigger happy Hammersmith and Fulham Council had issued two parking tickets to myself and Jenson. They have now changed the reasoning as to why we were handed tickets and still expect us to pay the fine, think again you muppets!!
The gang were in full attendance as Lofty, Jenson and I were joined by the late arrivals of PK and Lorna, whilst Sam and Luke were in their usual position and Jess was situated in the West Paddock.

One change was made to the side that drew at Sunderland on Tuesday. Cisse dropped to the bench as SWP was restored to the starting 11.



Rangers' started the game well and had a sense of purpose and energy about them.
Mackie was starting as the lone striker, a position that he has been vying for since he joined the club over two and a half seasons ago and looked determined to impress his new manager.
Despite the good start Rangers' fell 1-0 behind after 8 minutes. The R's failed to clear on several occasions and Taaabt failed to stay with Brett Holman and he managed to get two yards of space and hit a fierce drive that Rob Green managed to get a hand on but the shot was so good that it still hit the back of the net.
Despite the set back the R's still looked to probe the Villa defence and were duly rewarded in the 18th minute. Bosingwa and Diakite combined well down the right before the latter whipped in a delightful ball and Mackie was on hand to head home and get the hosts back on level terms. A true centre forwards goal!
On 29 minutes the R's were dealt a hammer blow as Stephane Mbia was left in quite some pain after an accidental collision with Agbonlahor on the halfway line. I didn't see what happened but Jess did say that he was in a bad way as he was stretchered past her and was in the concourse until 10 minutes into the half time interval and left via ambulance.



Mbia was replaced by Shaun Derry.
Once Mbia had come off we looked like we lost our rhythm and started to misplace a lot more passes, with Taarabt becoming very sloppy and conceded easy possession to Villa.
SWP had two glorious chances to put the R's in front. His first effort when one on one with Guzan was placed right at the Villa goalkeeper. His second chance, again when one on one with Guzan, this time SWP decided to hit the ball on the half volley and somehow the ball hit the inside of the post and bounced clear. He done everything right and was so unlucky to of not scored!

At half time we were all feeling very positive about what potential outcome we would see and thought that if we continued to play the same way then we would create enough chances to win the game.

The second half started with one change being made. Park replaced the out of sorts Granero.
Rangers' started the second half as they finished the first and were probing the Villa defence, however the final ball was always lacking and we were too slow to get sufficient bodies in the box to present any danger to Guzan's goal.
The closest the R's came to a goal in the second half was a Clint Hill header that came off the top of the bar.
The final 20 minutes were very nervy as Villa began to stamp their authority on the game and retained possession very well, frustrating the home crowd but were very effective.
Benteke looked like he was going to win it right at the end but did not manage to hit the target.

Today looked very promising from the outset and despite falling a goal behind the fight and passion managed to get us back in the game. We really lost momentum when Mbia went off injured and struggled to really get back to that level of performance. If only SWP had taken one of his two great chances then we would be speaking about this game in a very different light, however this is the second draw in a week against teams that are in the mini league of sides that are looking like they are in the relegation battle and we need to pick up wins against them in order to drag them closer to us and give ourselves a chance of crawling out of the mess we are in. We need to start this sequence of wins next week in what is going to be an extremely tough encounter at the DW Stadium.

Today's Man of the Match is a clear choice from the gang. Luke gave his vote for a good performance from SWP, Jess' vote went to the greatly improved Bosingwa and his best game in a Rangers' shirt. With the remaining votes this meant that our Man of the Match for his tireless efforts and a great goal is Jamie Mackie.

Queens Park Rangers

• 01 Green
• 03 Traore
• 06 Hill
• 17 Nelsen
• 19 Bosingwa
• 02 Diakite (Hoilett - 69' )
• 10 Taarabt
• 11 Wright-Phillips
• 14 Granero (Park Ji-sung - 46' )
• 40 M'bia (Derry - 39' Booked )
• 12 Mackie

Substitutes

• 26 Murphy
• 05 Ferdinand
• 20 Fabio
• 04 Derry
• 07 Park Ji-sung
• 09 Cisse
• 23 Hoilett

Aston Villa

• 22 Guzan
• 06 Clark
• 30 Lichaj
• 32 Baker Booked
• 34 Lowton Booked
• 15 Westwood
• 25 Bannan (Delph - 67' )
• 31 Herd (Williams - 65' )
• 11 Agbonlahor
• 14 Holman (El Ahmadi - 70' )
• 20 Benteke

Substitutes

• 01 Given
• 37 Williams
• 07 Ireland
• 08 El Ahmadi
• 16 Delph
• 09 Bent
• 26 Weimann

Ref: H Webb

Att: 17,387

Next week we travel to the DW Stadium for our important game against Wigan.

Will Lofty get the first report were we can give you news of our first win?? I really hope so!!!

Keep The Faith!!!!!!!