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








Sunday, March 17, 2013

The True Meaning of Pain...


Villa 3-2 QPR

QPR suffered a heart breaking defeat at Villa Park yesterday, in what was the proverbial game of two halves. How we came away with nothing, I will never know...



Despite another away sell out, it was a depleted LH gang that took to the motorway to Birmingham, with the Ladies amongst us missing out, Sam at home with the twins and Jess and Lorna falling ill. I met PK and Jenson in Wycombe at around midday and had a trouble free journey to the Midlands. Unfortunately, we didn't see Lee and Luke on the motorway and met them inside. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I felt the nerves for the this one, but the gang and a huge away following all seemed in upbeat mood in what was a massive game for both clubs...

It was an edgy start for both sides with Villa starting slightly the better, but Rangers were soon getting into their stride. Sadly, they found Brad Guzan was to have the game of his life in the Villa goal. Bosingwa's free kick was met by Samba who looped a header towards goal - just as the away end was about to celebrate, the hand of the flying Guzan tipped the ball away! A quite unbelievable save! From the resulting corner and after a scramble in the box, the ball fell again to Chris Samba and this time, saw his side footed effort palmed away.

The R's were well in control now and on 23 minutes, deservedly took the lead - Jenas broke forward and found Zamora on the left, his shot was saved by the legs of Guzan, but Jenas was first to react to slide the rebound home.



Rangers were now going for it and Guzan again was at his best, tipping Remy's curling effort over the bar. A Bosingwa free kick then smacked the Villa post as half time approached and then disaster happened - Lowton's cross, found Agbonlahor unmarked to head home from close range. Serious questions were being asked about the defending but the reaction from the players seemed to indicate that they expected Cesar, who stayed rooted to his line, to come for the cross.

Onto the second half and Rangers looked a mere shadow of the team that had dominated the first. Villa were pouring forward and Cesar was called into action, tipping Weimann's header over the bar. As the R's failed to clear the resulting corner, the ball found it's way to the impressive Weimann, who turned and lashed home from 15 yards out. Again, perhaps Cesar could have done better as he got a good hand on the ball, but nevertheless, Villa were now ahead.

It was all Villa now, but on 73 minutes, Rangers broke away and levelled the scores - Townsend found Remy on the right, who found Park, who layed the ball off to Townsend who's slightly deflected effort flew into the corner of the net. The game was there for the taking now...



It was Villa again that got the upper hand with 8 minutes left - a defensive mix up saw Weimann get to the bye line, expose Cesar before cutting the ball back to find Benteke who side footed home. Almost instantly, Remy went close and perhaps should have done better, when unmarked heading down and wide.

But as the time ticked away, Rangers were pouring forward and with the very last kick of the game, Clint Hill fired a powerful 18 yard effort just over. It was close, but not close enough as the final whistle blew on a thrilling encounter, that left R's fans feeling mugged...

Queens Park Rangers

  • 33 Julio Cesar
  • 05 Samba
  • 06 Hill
  • 19 Bosingwa
  • 20 Fabio (Taarabt - 66' )
  • 07 Park Ji-sung (Mackie - 87' )
  • 16 Jenas
  • 29 Townsend
  • 40 M'bia Booked
  • 18 Remy
  • 25 Zamora (Hoilett - 46' Booked )

Substitutes

  • 26 Murphy
  • 15 Onuoha
  • 10 Taarabt
  • 11 Wright-Phillips
  • 14 Granero
  • 23 Hoilett
  • 12 Mackie
Man of the Match - spilt amongst the gang, which can only be a good thing? PK opting for Clint Hill, Lee and Luke for Park - Ji-sung. But with votes from myself, Jenson and the clincher by text from Jess, the award goes to Jermaine Jenas

Awayday Pie Rating

Now, I think the word has got out as on arrival at the kiosk, the Villa staff wasted no time in telling us that their pies are homemade and not bought in.. So...

Lee - Chicken Balti - a firm 8

Lofty - Chicken Balti - very good, pastry tasty but flaky and has to be eaten with a fork - 8

Luke - Chicken and Mushroom - very nice - 9

and then the unusual...

PK - Chicken and Chorizo - lovely!! - 9

Jenson - Chicken and Chorizo - lovely but chicken a tad dry - 8.5

So, a valiant effort, but the Villa Pies get an expert rating of 8.5/10

Unfortunately, some over zealous policing after the game meant that we didn't get to say our goodbyes to Lee and Luke, but despite the torrential rain, the gang all got home safe and sound.

In summary, I, like Rangers fans everywhere feel completely shell shocked after this one and with the gap now 7 points, it's not looking great. But let's have this right, Rangers did not play badly yesterday and if it wasn't for Guzan, no one would complain if we were 3 or 4 up at half time. The goal on half time gave Villa a great lift and the second half was completely opposite to that of the first for QPR. But there is still plenty of football to be played and plenty of twists and turns ahead of us yet, we will have to see...

I will return after the Easter Break to review the Bank Holiday game against Fulham, but until then...

Keep The Faith!!! It's not over until it's over...

Come on you R'sssssssssssssss!!!


Saturday, March 09, 2013

Sunderland Town' N Out


The R's went into today's game looking for their first back to back victories in the top flight since December 1995. The opponents were Sunderland, a team that defeated the R's 3-2 in the same fixture last year. Could the R's do it? We were about to find out.

Today Lofty celebrated his birthday and was hoping that the R's would give an additional birthday present of a win and a few goals to send us all home happy.
The gang assembled in the Loft after the Springbok was too busy for all of us to go to. Lofty, PK and Jenson  all met up and I joined them at 2.30 after Jess and myself had our pre-match Westfield walk and grabbed some food before heading to Loftus Road.
When the team was announced the general consensus was that we were all very happy with the selection and that we looked as if we had a team that would attack Sunderland and create problems for them.

There were four changes to the team that beat Southampton last week. Julio Cesar (injured), Armand Traore (injured), Esteban Granero (bench) and Jay Bothroyd (bench) were replaced by Rob Green, Fabio, Andros Townsend and Bobby Zamora.

The R's started the game very strongly and looked very threatening as for the first time this season we had two strikers up front that were looking to be supplied by two natural wingers. Townsend and Hoilett were causing all sorts of problems for the Sunderland defence and both went close with shots from distance.
Sunderland delivered a shock on 20 minutes as they took the lead with their first real attack.
Sunderland broke away after the R's failed to make the most of a free kick. Sessegnon broke down the Sunderland right and got the better of Park before crossing to Johnson at the far post and he put the ball on a plate to Fletcher who managed to just about steer the ball past Rob Green. Fully undeserved but you have to take your chances in this division and the visitors certainly done that.
Ten minutes later and the R's drew level. Bosingwa found Townsend, who in turn run at the Black Cats defence and took aim. His shot hit the heels of O'Shea and luckily for the R's Loic Remy was on hand to pounce and coolly slotted home.



At half time the gang got together and were really happy with how we were playing. It was excellent to see us looking like were wanted to attack a team rather than sit back and try to play on the counter attack. Townsend and Hoilett were adding a different dimension to our play and must've been a nightmare to try and contain.

The opening 15 minutes of the second half were quite nervy and the R's seemed to go into their shell and allowed Sunderland space to breathe, however the visitors did not seem to be too interested in winning the game, it seemed like they were happy to take the draw and add another point to their tally.
The R's had different ideas and on 70 minutes they took the lead in spectacular fashion.
Firstly the R's were awarded a free kick (that from my angle was never a free kick!). Bosingwa lofted the ball into the Sunderland box, Mignolet cleared as far as Hoilett, who had his initial shot blocked and the ball fell to Townsend and the impressive winger hit the ball on the volley and it dipped and swerved beautifully into the top left hand corner!!!! Mignolet had no chance whatsoever and the R's took a deserved lead.
When we thought we had seen goal of the day from Townsend, we were given another choice in injury time from Jermaine Jenas!
SWP done superbly well on the right and drilled a cross in, that was only cleared as far as Jenas. As the ball dropped to him he hit a sweet volley that flew through a group of Sunderland defenders and hit the bottom right corner! Two goals that will be fantastic to watch on Match of the Day tonight!



Overall an excellent performance by every member of the R's team today, no-one can be faulted for their effort or commitment at all. I am usually the first to say when Park has a bad game but today I can say nothing bad at all. His effort, quality and execution was much better today and his confidence looks to be coming back to a level that he produced at Man United. Other stand out performances today came from Bosingwa, Hoilett and Townsend.
On the other foot I must say (quite shockingly) that I thought Titus Bramble had Zamora in his back pocket and won pretty much every header that came his way today.

On to our Man of the Match. The gang were again in total agreement with our candidate, gaining a clean sweep is Andros Townsend.




Queens Park Rangers

  • 01 Green
  • 05 Samba
  • 06 Hill
  • 19 Bosingwa
  • 20 Fabio
  • 07 Park Ji-sung
  • 29 Townsend
  • 40 M'bia
  • 18 Remy (Jenas - 80' )
  • 23 Hoilett (Wright-Phillips - 78' )
  • 25 Zamora (Mackie - 73' )

Substitutes

  • 26 Murphy
  • 15 Onuoha
  • 11 Wright-Phillips
  • 14 Granero
  • 16 Jenas
  • 12 Mackie
  • 37 Bothroyd

Sunderland

  • 22 Mignolet
  • 16 O'Shea
  • 19 Bramble
  • 04 N'Diaye Booked (Vaughan - 77' )
  • 07 Larsson
  • 08 Gardner Booked
  • 14 Colback (Bardsley - 81' )
  • 21 Johnson
  • 28 Sessegnon
  • 09 Graham (Rose - 57' )
  • 26 Fletcher

Substitutes

  • 20 Westwood
  • 02 Bardsley
  • 12 Kilgallon
  • 24 Cuellar
  • 03 Rose
  • 15 Vaughan
  • 18 Mangane

















































A great win and a great day for us all to celebrate Lofty's birthday in style!! Happy Birthday sir!!!!!

Lofty will return with his report after our visit to Villa Park, another massive six pointer!!

Keep the Faith!!


Sunday, March 03, 2013

Happy Birthday Harry!!


Southampton 1-2 QPR

It was a great day for QPR as teams around us dropped points and goals from Remy and Bothroyd, gave the R's a superb win at St Mary's this afternoon and Harry got three points for his Birthday!!



It was, lets just say, quite a mixed start to the day. Unfortunately, we heard from Jenson who couldn't make the trip as a family member was taken ill. It started a brief bit of panic before I met PK at Northolt and then joined Lee and Jess on the M3 for a two car convoy into Southampton. Sam, Luke and Lorna had decided to make a weekend of it and although we saw Lorna at half time, we sadly never got to see Sam or Luke today. A trouble free journey saw us parked up and inside the ground at about 2pm for a couple of beers and of course, a pie for the rating competition... that's our excuse and we are sticking too it! More on that later...

Onto the game and there were a few surprises in the team selection, with no Taarabt, Townsend or Fabio, but we still joined the rest of the 3200 odd R's fans in the away end, full of hope.  But the R's started nervously and it looked at times just how 'up' for the game Rangers were at all? Cork and Lallana both had half chances and an extremely soft shout for a penalty was waved away as Puncheon went over in the box. But somewhat against the run of play, Rangers took the lead - a superb ball from Hoilett found Remy at full pace, who finished coolly and danced at the corner flag in front of the ecstatic away end!!



Rangers were pretty comfortable following the goal with Remy looking a danger on the right, but just before the break, Rodriguez ran towards goal and unleashed a powerful drive which moved in the air and Cesar, who could have done better, only parried to Ramirez who chipped exquisitely into the net to level the scores. There was a further half chance for Bothroyd following a Granero free kick, but the teams went in all square at the break.

Onto the second half and it was the home side making all the early running - Jose Fonte firing wide before Rodriguez curled an effort on to the roof of the net. At the other end, Remy and Hoilett combined well but sadly couldn't finish. Struggling from an earlier challenge, Cesar was replaced in the R's goal on 74 minutes by Rob Green. Three minutes later, Rangers went ahead for the second time - some great work from Park on the right, who won the ball from Yoshida, got to the line and crossed low to find Bothroyd waiting to tap home!! Cure more bedlam in the away end once more!!



With four minutes to go, Rob Green pulled off a sensational one handed stop to keep out Fonte's powerful header and minutes later, denied the number 6 once more, palming his low shot away to safety. The first save was simply, breathtaking and looked even more so on Match of the Day!

As the time ticked away, the tension was growing amongst the away end, who had to endure an incredible and painful, 6 minutes of stoppage time. But finally, Homer, Howard Webb blew the full time whistle on a superb away win for the R's!!

Queens Park Rangers

  • 33 Julio Cesar (Green - 74' )
  • 03 Traore
  • 05 Samba
  • 06 Hill
  • 19 Bosingwa
  • 07 Park Ji-sung
  • 14 Granero (Jenas - 53' )
  • 40 M'bia
  • 18 Remy
  • 23 Hoilett
  • 37 Bothroyd  (Fabio - 90' )

Substitutes

  • 01 Green
  • 15 Onuoha
  • 20 Fabio
  • 10 Taarabt
  • 16 Jenas
  • 29 Townsend
  • 12 Mackie
Man of the Match

As you would expect, a good few contenders, mentions for Hoilett and Ji Sung Park, who's persistence and determination created that all important winner. Jess went for Lioc Remy and PK picked out Rob Green for that sensational second half save. But the winner today with votes from Lee and myself, for leading the line superbly and of course, the winning goal, goes to Jay Bothroyd.

Awayday Pie Rating

Expert analysis from myself and Lee for the Balti, and PK the Steak. It was all generally the same, tasted good, just about warm enough which with the Balti, probably lessened the flavour a tad. But with firm 8's from us all, the Southampton Pies get a rating of 8/10

Very easy to summarise this one.. a great performance, a great result, great away support and all in all, with other results going our way, a great day with great company as always!! The win has restored some belief and gives us a great chance to maybe, just maybe, pull this off. Long may it continue...

The journey home wasn't as swift as the journey in with it taking an absolute age to get out of Southampton itself, but I don't suppose many of us R's fans worried too much about that.  Funny what a good away win can do...

Lee will return next week as the R's take on Sunderland in another game where a good result is an absolute must. But until then...

Keep the Faith and Come on you R'sssssss!!!