We Just Like Watching Clint Hill.......

Today the R's faced their second long journey for an early kick off in front of the Sky TV cameras as we visited Leeds, home of the European Champions........ in their dreams!

It was an early start for Jess and myself as we set off from South London at 6.15am. We had the company of Jess' brother James for the trip today, his first proper away day.
Unfortunately we were missing gang members for a variety of reasons. Lofty missed out due to a family holiday, Sam and Luke were looking after the twins, PK was tied up wih work and Jenson was sunning himself in Cyprus.

The journey up was a humerous one, with Jess and James completing a stunning version of Celine Dion's Titanic song deafening me and then moving onto Michael Jackson. They were clearly getting in the moo for X Factor tonight!!
We arrived shortly after 11 and made our way into the ground and met Zach and Michael for a pre-match chat and deliberate what was ahead for us over the next 95 minutes.

Today was also Jess's birthday and she chose to make the trip today. Everyone at LH wishes you a happy birthday!!!

I now pass you on to Jess for her first ever match report.................

Rangers were unchanged from last Saturday's impressive win over Bolton. After missing out through injury recently Junior Hoilett returned to the bench. We headed into the game attempting to equal our away win total for last season and started brightly with Shaun Wright Phillips having his header collected by Paddy Kenny. Soon after Rangers managed their first meaningful attempt at goal. Gary O Neils pin point ball finding Barton to slide the ball home, only to see the goal chalked off for offisde, despite replays showing otherwise. A rare bit of action in a somewhat dull first half lacking any kind of clear cut chances.

I think everyone was pleased to hear the half time whistle and we were treated to a rather unexiting highlights package of the first half. Two well off target shots and one quite Zamora esque from Ross McCormack, quite comfortably nestling into row Z.

We hoped for much better in the second half as Ex R Paddy Kenny waddled over to the goal nearest the away fans, who continued to poke fun at him  for the entire second half. It wasn't long before Rangers gave him something to think about as Austin broke clear, but from a narrow angle, he could only muster up a corner.
Leeds weren't looking threatening at all and with Rangers holding on to the ball very well McDermott made a double change on the 57th minute, bringing on Poleon and Smith for the ineffective Varney and Noel Hunt. Soon after Poleon nearly punished some poor Rangers defending, toe poking the ball straight to Green in what was their first shot on target. Rangers were lacking that final ball and in the 60th minute Redknapp opted to replace O Neil with the fit again Junior Hoilett. Hoilett was looking very lively and what we had been missing especially in the first half as he continued to try and drive forward and press the Leeds defence. It wasn't long before the second change was made for Rangers, Faurlin coming on to replace the tireless Karl Henry. After missing a chance to impress on Tuesday night, everyone was pleased to see the fans favourite restored to the team with Rangers piling on the pressure for that all important first goal. It wasn't long before the pressure paid off as Barton's free kick caused confusion in the penalty area. Charlie Austin grabbed hold of the loose ball and managed to loop the ball to Clint Hill who was in the right place to fire the ball into the roof of the net and give Rangers a deserved lead! A collectors item from Hill and yet another assist for Austin, I doubt it'll be long before the goals come along for him, but his contribution to the team so far can't be knocked. This set up a nervous finale as Rangers tried to hold on to their 3rd 1-0 result in a row. Leeds were pressing for the equaliser and started to look slightly more threatening. It wasn't long before the 'sewer rat' made an appearance, much to the disgust of Rangers fans, wishing every possible injury on him. How the home fans can abuse Barton for being a w@nk£r yet give a horrible character like Diouf a standing ovation is nearly as ridiculous as singing songs about being champions of a tournament which they never actually won. Rangers were proving difficult to break down and soon broke away, Junior Hoilett spurning arguably a great chance to double the R's advantage. We always feared their would be another chance or two for the hosts and a good one arrived five minutes before time, the lively Poleon forcing Green into a save. As Rangers tried to see out the game in the dying seconds Austin (their one!) hit a thunderbolt from a good 35yards out, leaving Green helpless, only to see his effort hit the top of the crossbar! Needless to say plenty of pairs of pants were ruined as that proved to be pretty much the last kick of the game.



Overall the R's were fully deserving of the three points, with Leeds only having two shots on target all game and that thunderbolt strike that come off the top of the bar.
Rangers' looked a lot more comfortable when Junior Hoilett entered the fray, with his width and energy making an immediate impact and he had numerous chances to get on the scoresheet and should've sealed it at the end but his shot was wayward and could've even squared the ball to Jenas or Austin.
The Leeds fans provided us their usual entertainment, thinking their club is much bigger than what it really is. In the 70's, early and late 90's they were big but they have been ruined by the likes of Peter Ridsdale and the spending spree that left them close to financial ruin. Those days have gone but unfortunately the fan still think they are too big for everyone else, quite funny in all fairness and it was nice to get oe over on them after they completed the double over us in our Championship winning season.

The Man of the Match received the full quota of results from the gang as we compiled the votes from in the stadium and from the gang at home.
All receiving one vote were - SWP (Lofty), Richard Dunne (Luke) and Clint Hill (Jess). With four votes from Sam, Jenson, James and myself, winning this week was Nedum Onuoha for another outstanding and solid performance at the heart of the R's defence. Onuoha really is establishing himself as a key member of the first team and has impressed many sections of the R's supporters, including those that have decided to set up the Nedum Onuoha Society, with Block HU taking responsibility for this (a cheap plug for you Perry).



SWP was especially delighted with his Man of the Match vote.......



Now we have the international break to enjoy and will return to match duty on the 14th September for the home game against Birmingham.

We will see you all again on Monday, depending on whether we make any new signings.

U R'SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! 

Normal Service Resumed.............

In an unusual event the R's hosted a Second Round League Cup tie at Lotus Road this evening with Charlie Austin's former employers Swindon Town being the visitors.

Much like the game at the weekend, many of the gang chose not to attend for one reason or another as Lofty was down in Devon on a family holiday, Jess was working late, Sam and Luke were looking after the beautiful twins and I was away on business in Chester and this left just Jenson in attendance at Loftus Road for the evening.

As I was awaiting the commentary to start I took to the hotel restaurant to sample a usual football favourite of ours, a pie!! I must say that if this was a football pie then it would've won the contest at the early part of this season with the Beef and Ale pie I sampled was an absolute delight, however it wasn't so this cannot go forward for the vote at the end of the season.

After missing the opening 25minutes due to my dinner I was reliant on tweets for updates and the majority were complaining about the commentary on offer, a female commentator was in place for the game and as I did join the action I can admit that I see what they were on about!
At one point we had Diego Forlan in our midfield........... says it all really!
From what I was hearing it sounded like Swindon were enjoying the better of the game and just five minutes from half time Swindon made the most of their chances.
Swindon's corner was not dealt with by the R's defence as the usual frailties from set pieces and the rebel that is Nile Ranger popped up from a few yards out to poke the ball home and give the visitors a deserved lead.
The R's had a weak penalty appeal waved away as Yun Suk-Young was booked for diving seconds after Rangers' had conceded.
Right on the stroke of half time the R's broke away and as you would expect from our resident donkey Bobby Zamora, rather than crossing to Austin in the middle, he decided to go it alone and fail to get his shot away on target.

Well I enjoyed the half time interval as I did not have to listen to the tedious commentary. I lost count of how many times we were called by our full Queens Park Rangers' name, it took 44 minutes for us to finally be called QPR.
It's unfortunate that the half time interval only lasted 18minutes because I was enjoying not having to liten to the dross we were being put through!

The second half really didn't get much better and the commentary felt like it got even worse!
The one highlight I can pick out is that Zamora was removed from the field of play and we got back to having eleven men on the pitch with Mo Shariff getting his opportunity to impress in what was a poor performance from the home side.
With 10minutes left the R's thought they had equalized as Charlie Austin finally managed to find the back of the net, however very frustratingly the linesman's flag was raised and the goal was chalked off for offside.
As the R's were pushing for the equalizer it was Swindon that managed to break clear of the R's defence and slot home in the first minute of injury time and give Swindon a deserved victory!!

Jenson reported back a simple frustrated text, "Awful" and Yun Suk-Young has been given his Man of the Match vote.

Normal service resumed in the League Cup, now we can wait until January until we have to go through the cup pain once again!!

We will return on Saturday as Jess and myself take the trip to Leeds, for our sins!!

A Win Away, A Win Away...

Bolton 0-1 QPR

QPR, for a couple of hours at least, went top of the league yesterday, following an excellent away win at the Reebok Stadium yesterday lunchtime..

With this being changed to a lunchtime kick off for the Sky cameras, it was a pretty unanimous decision from the gang not to travel to this one so the game was watched on the TV, along with the numerous interruptions from the weather knocking out the TV signal.

I don't know about anyone else, but when watching the R's on the television, turns me into a bag of nerves and it was no different yesterday. In what was all in all, a pretty dull first half, Bolton had the best chances with Beckford cashing in on some sloppy work from Dunne and Barton, to race through on goal, only to screw his shot wide when he really should have done better. Later, Medo's strike from distance brought a superb save from Rob Green, pushing his effort onto the post and wide.

Onto the second half and Green was again, called into action, saving well from Spearing. But Rangers were starting to up the tempo and were ahead on 54 minutes following a superb move - SWP fed Clint Hill on the left, who played a neat one-two with Charlie Austin, before driving across the face of goal to find Andy Johnson waiting to tap home, a lovely goal!!

The remaining half hour or so, saw substitutions from the R's to try and shut up shop and go home with a valuable three points. Bolton did press hard for the equaliser but Rangers did well with dealing with everything thrown at them and to be honest, didn't really look like they were going to lose their precious lead. The best chance of the half for the home side, falling to Davies who could not beat Green from what was a tight angle.

Queens Park Rangers

• 01 Green
• 02 Simpson
• 05 Dunne
• 06 Hill
• 15 Onuoha
• 11 Wright-Phillips (Traore - 77' )
• 17 Barton
• 20 Henry
• 36 O'Neil
• 08 Johnson (Jenas - 84' )
• 09 Austin (Zamora - 71' )

Substitutes

• 26 Murphy
• 03 Traore
• 13 Suk-Young Yun
• 16 Jenas
• 32 Faurlin
• 25 Zamora
• 29 Hitchcock

Man of the Match

These are becoming an absolute pleasure to write with again, so many good performances on display, but with the texts etc coming in from the gang.. Lee and Jess went with the Sky panel and selected Clint Hill as their choice, but with 3 further votes from myself, Jenson and Luke, todays winner goes to Karl Henry who had his best game to date in an R's shirt!!

Hitch Cocks It Up For Ipswich..........

This afternoon the R's played host to Mick McCarthy and his Ipswich Town team that have enjoyed an encouraging start to the season after being unlucky to lose to Reading on the opening day and then thrashing Milwall at Portman Road last week. This was certain to be a challenging test for the unbeaten R's.

Due to the M25 being it's usual unreliable self, Jess and myself did not end up arriving at Loftus Road until late and ended up having to park miles away from the ground due to our late arrival. It wasn't until 2.40 that I managed to meet up with Lofty, PK and Jenson along with Pete outside the Blue and White bar as we had a quick catch up before heading to our seats ahead of kick off.

Several changes were made to the team that drew at Huddersfield.
Richard Dunne made his full home debut as SWP and Zamora come in to replace Suk-Young, Granero and the injured Andy Johnson.
Clint Hill captained the side as he made his 100th appearance for the club.

The R's started the game slowly and found it very hard to break down a resolute Ipswich defence, as you would always expect from a Mick McCarthy team.
In fact there were so few chances that PK, Pete and myself were left counting the amount of headers that Zamora was winning during the first half, with minutes 12, 23, 24 and 37 being the four occasions that he managed to get his useless legs off the floor! Even SWP was giving a good account of himself and giving Zamora a good run for his money, winning two headers in the first half alone.
Rangers' finally managed to create a chance on the half hour mark with SWP having his volley charged down and blocked for a corner. There were a few penalty appeals from the players but they were nmore hopeful than anything!
From the resulting corner Nedum Onuoha came close with his header but some more good Ipswich defending prevented the R's getting the opener.
Just a few minutes later the R's counter attacked Ipswich with Charlie Austin running at the Ipswich defence before releasing Simpson, who in turn played a delightful through ball to Austin, as he took aim on the run with a volley and Scott Loach produced an excellent save and concede a corner.
Rangers' didn't have it all their own way and came very close to going behind just before half time.
The dangerous McGoldrick crossed to Cresswell and even though Richard Dunne produced an excellent tackle but the ball rolled straight to Daryl Murphy and his shot was destined for the bottom corner but Rob Green's outstretched arm turned the ball around the post before being cleared to safety. A brilliant save from Green and he rightly received the chants of 'Greeno' from the Loft faithful.

At half time the gang assembled at the bottom of the Loft again as this time Michael and Corinne joined us for a natter as we all felt that although we were unlucky with the great save produced by Loach from Austin, that we were also on the lucky side as we felt Ipswich could've easily taken the lead with their chance. Being level at the half way point was probably a fair result.

On to the second half now and Ipswich started the brighter of the two teams and had a good ten minute spell, putting the R's defence under pressure without creating any clear cut chances.
Injury put paid to Junior Hoilett's game as he pulled up lame when chasing a long ball down the left. He made way for Gary O'Neil as the former West Ham man took his place on the right flank, as SWP switched over to the left.
O'Neil was enjoying an encouraging start to life in a Hooped shirt, showing class and excellent touch that looked of Premier League class.
The R's came close to scoring through Clint Hill's close range header, it looked to be going well over the bar but dipped to hit the top of the bar before falling to Dunne, who fluffed his effort into the side netting.
With ten minutes to go the R's couldn't of come any closer to scoring. SWP played a wonderful ball over the top of the Ipswich defence and found Austin who in turn chested down before throwing his left foot through the ball, only to see it cannon off off the bar!! The bar is still shaking now!
It realy wasn't looking to be the R's day and when Dunne suffered a lapse in concentration and mis-judged his header back to Green and let in McGoldrick. If it wasn't for quick covering from the back line then it could've easily been 1-0 to the visitors.
In the closing minutes Tom Hitchcock was given the final few minutes to show the R's faithful to show what he is about after hearing so much about him from his performances for the EDS squad and Reserves. He replaced the in-effective, as ever, Bobby Zamora.
Hitchcock looked sharp and lively and his moment of glory was about to arrive.
SWP excellently broke down the left before cutting in to lay the ball back to Austin. Charlie's shot was blocked by the Ipswich 'keeper but the ball rolled nicely for Hitchcock to tap home from two yards and grab the headlines!!



I must say my instinct was to look at the linesman as I thought he was offside, we shall see if it was when we see the highlights later! It was just excellent to finally grab a last minute winner, the last time we done so was against Stoke at the end of the 2011/12 season! That feeling has been sorely missed!!!!
Jess has told us that Rob Green's celebrations for the goal and after the final whistle were borderline excessive.... well he was given plenty of stick from the travelling Ipswich fans so who can blame him!

All in all it was a good performance today with plenty of chances being created and the crossbar saving the visitors on two occasions and Scott Loach proving to be a really tough goalkeeper to beat. Ipswich made a good account of themselves and were exceptionally difficult to break down. They will be a tough team for anyone to beat and should easily make the top half of the table.

On to our Man of the Match. Gary O'Neil gets the first mention for a brilliant half an hour after replacing Hoilett, he really could turn out to be a class player for us this year. Two votes from Lofty and Jess go to SWP for his tricky performance and great play in the making of the winning goal. The winner this week with votes from Sam, Luke, PK, Jenson and myself is the brilliant Joey Barton. He was at the heart of everything that was good about the R's play and pulled the strings in the midfield.

Queens Park Rangers

• 01 Green
• 02 Simpson
• 05 Dunne
• 06 Hill
• 15 Onuoha
• 11 Wright-Phillips
• 17 Barton
• 20 Henry (Jenas - 77' )
• 23 Hoilett (O'Neil - 56' )
• 09 Austin
• 25 Zamora (Hitchcock - 83' )

Substitutes

• 26 Murphy
• 13 Suk-Young Yun
• 28 Ehmer
• 16 Jenas
• 36 O'Neil
• 29 Hitchcock
• 34 Shariff

Ipswich Town

• 01 Loach
• 02 Hewitt
• 03 Cresswell
• 04 Chambers
• 05 Smith
• 07 Edwards
• 08 Skuse (Tunnicliffe - 46' )
• 18 Tabb Booked
• 19 Hyam
• 09 Murphy (Taylor - 63' )
• 10 McGoldrick

Substitutes

• 38 Crowe
• 06 Berra
• 20 Veseli
• 11 Anderson
• 16 Tunnicliffe
• 26 Taylor (Nouble - 86' )
• 35 Nouble

Ref: Naylor

Att: 17,075

R's Leave the John Smith's Bitterly Disappointed...

Huddersfield 1-1 QPR

QPR maintained their unbeaten start to the season, in what was a scrappy game at the John Smith's Stadium yesterday. It's always nice to get a point on the travels but it really should have been all three..

The long trip started just after 10am when Jenson and PK collected me, a rare lie in for me as the journey was mainly M1 and was good to see PK making his first appearance of the season. Also making her first appearance was Sam, who was on board with Lee, Jess, Luke and Perry. Sadly, due to timings, we didn't get to meet on the relatively easy journey North and we arrived at the Stadium at approximately 1pm.

We had a stroll around the Stadium, looking for some refreshment which was sadly lacking, we came across a friendly pub called the Rope Walk and we joined, mainly home fans for a pre game drink. After being served by a bloke dressed as a hot dog, we decided to take seats outside the pub to wait for the others, who on  arrival, sadly went in the opposite direction to the Gas Club. So after meeting Lee to collect tickets, we were finally all re-united inside the Stadium for a pint and a pie and amongst a very upbeat and healthy R's following. The main point of discussion was that Ale Faurlin was missing from the line up, unfortunately injured..

Onto the game in which Rangers started very brightly, with Andy Johnson and Danny Simpson both having good chances, the latter whistling a low drive past the post. Charlie Austin then completely fluffed his lines whilst bursting through on the left. Rangers passing was superb at times and Austin was unlucky seeing his volley from a quickly taken Suk -Young throw go just wide.

But the home side became more confident and the half wore on and Paterson shot just wide when perhaps should have done better and on 35 minutes, they made the break through - Granero was slow to close down Norwood, who in acres of space, fired the ball across to the oncoming Vaughan to power home his header from close range.

Happily, the R's hit back quickly and the lead lasted only three minutes - Suk-Young crossed from the left but Norwood failed to clear leaving Hoilett free to fire home at the back post with a smart finish.

Most of the gang assembled on the concourse at half time and were all in agreement that if the R's stepped up their game, the 3 points would be coming home.. and step up they did with a Hoilett effort being well saved and Charlie Austin's header smacked the crossbar, Joey Barton followed up but under pressure, could not force his header in.

Further R's chances came with Austin hitting the side netting with a low drive and Barton bringing yet another save out of Smithers in the Huddersfield goal. Smithers was again forced into action palming away a powerful effort from SWP and later, a fine passing move found Jenas on the edge of the box who blasted just over.

The home side had a great chance to nick it in the final minute when the impressive Scannell was first to a ball over the top, nicked the ball past Green but the ball trickled just wide.

Queens Park Rangers

• 01 Green
• 02 Simpson
• 06 Hill
• 13 Suk-Young Yun
• 15 Onuoha
• 14 Granero  (Wright-Phillips - 70' )
• 17 Barton
• 20 Henry (Jenas - 84' )
• 23 Hoilett
• 08 Johnson
• 09 Austin

Substitutes

• 26 Murphy
• 05 Dunne
• 28 Ehmer
• 11 Wright-Phillips
• 16 Jenas
• 36 O'Neil
• 25 Zamora

Man of the Match

Nice again to see so many contenders, with myself and Luke picking out a faultless performance from Danny Simpson. Lee had it down to a close 2 but chose Nedum Onuoha over Barton. Jess picked out Suk-Young for a decent Championship debut, but the winner with 3 votes from Sam, Jenson and a reluctant PK, was Joey Barton who game by game is continuing to win people over with decent, committed performances. Long may it continue..

AwayDay Pie Rating

Certainly a tale of two pies for this one, with myself and Jenson getting in to have the last two Balti's and thoroughly enjoying , giving a 9 and 8 respectively. Just as we thought Huddersfield were going to get a high mark, I turned round to see Lee finishing his Meat and Potato, extremely disappointed and giving a 4. Now, Lee admits himself he can be critical when the need be, but at half time, PK confirmed the Meat and Potato was nothing more than a gungey mess, and awarded a 3.. Giving the Huddersfield Pies a slightly better than average rating of 6/10

Other News

Almost as soon as I pushed the publish button on the Exeter report, the news broke that R's midfield general, Shaun Derry had joined Millwall on an initial 28 day loan to get some first team football. With the exception on the doom and gloom merchants that seem to be on Twitter these days, I don't think there are many R's fans out there that would begrudge this man his move. All of us at Lofty Heights wish Lord Derry well in his time in South London.

After the game, with Lee sadly being held up by back markers getting back to the Motorway, we sadly again, didn't meet up again on our journey and went on our separate ways home...

Lee will return next Saturday for the visit of Ipswich Town to Loftus Road as the R's will look to continue their positive start to the season..

Come on You R'sssssssssssssss!!!

A Cup Shock and Other News...

Exeter 0-2 QPR

QPR caused a major cup upset last night with a comfortable, 2-0 victory over Exeter, to make it 2 wins out of 2 for the season so far to set up a 2nd Round showdown with Swindon Town at Loftus Road..

I must say, it was a late decision from myself to do this one, what with it being midweek, almost 200 miles away and all - and myself, Jenson and Smithy picked up tickets last Saturday. Lee, Jess, Sam, Luke and PK will all be in attendance for Huddersfield on Saturday, as far as I know. It was an eventful enough start, with myself picking up Smithy before getting completely lost in Maidenhead, before joining Jenson, his friend and son and setting sail for Sunny Devon at 2.30pm. Surprisingly with the M4 and M5, the journey was an absolute breeze and we arrived nice and early at around 5.30pm, via a stop at the services where a broken coffee machine led me to purchase a, lets just say, very nice but very suspect looking pink drink from Starbucks.

We then landed on the excellent and highly recommended for away fans, Wells Tavern to enjoy a pre match drink or two. Smithy liked it that much, he returned there at half time, despite the R's winning...

Onto the match and we were very pleased to see it was a very strong R's line up that took the field and it took just 99 seconds for the first goal - Barton's corner was half cleared to Jenas, whose volley was deflected into the net by debutant, Charlie Austin. The away support were over the moon once it was announced over the tannoy as the view from the shallow terrace made it very difficult to pinpoint who the scorer was. The rest of the half was enjoyable from an R's point of view as we looked very comfortable, Clint Hill nearly extended the lead but his header was well saved and Hoilett was running the home defence ragged.

Onto the second half and the game was made safe on 50 minutes - a nice passing move ended as Johnson fed the onrushing Simpson, who took a touch before hitting the back of the net with a low drive. It was very pleasing on the eye once again with the whole outfield joining Simpson in his celebrations. Where was this team spirit last season?

The 2nd goal saw Exeter come at us a bit more with nothing to lose and had a decent 10 minutes spell where they managed to rattle the Rangers cross bar, but if honest, Rangers were extremely professional with this one and with respect, never looked like they got out of 2nd gear. Shaun Wright-Phillips deserved much better when a fine run saw him also smack the crossbar late on, but there was to be no further score.

Queens Park Rangers

• 26 Murphy
• 02 Simpson
• 05 Dunne
• 06 Hill
• 13 Suk-Young Yun (Wright-Phillips - 74' )
• 16 Jenas
• 17 Barton
• 23 Hoilett
• 32 Faurlin (Derry - 63' )
• 09 Austin
• 25 Zamora (Johnson - 46' )

Substitutes

• 01 Green
• 15 Onuoha
• 28 Ehmer
• 04 Derry
• 11 Wright-Phillips
• 20 Henry
• 08 Johnson

Man of the Match - 

Just the two votes as Smithy, with the back seat to himself on the way home, completely crashed, myself and Jenson both agreed on Junior Hoilett

Awayday Pie Rating

Well, you can't come to this part of the world without having a Pasty if on offer and it didn't disappoint - nice thin pastry and packed with filling, the only thing with a pasty is that the pastry can be quite dry, but impressive all the same - 8/10

In Other News

Well QPR have been very busy since the whistle blew in Exeter, bringing in Gary O'Neill on a free transfer. The 30 year old midfielder has signed a one year deal and reunites once again with Manager, Harry Redknapp.

Welcome and Good Luck, Gary!!

Also, there has been a further two departures, with Adel Taarabt joining neighbours Fulham on a season long loan and Park Ji-Sung joining PSV, again on a season long loan. I must say I was sad to see Adel go, but it was becoming inevitable following events of pre season and of course, his desire to remain in the Premier League. I shall watch his progress with interest and see how another club handles Adel Taarabt and all that comes with his talent....

As mentioned, LH will be well represented in Huddersfield on Saturday, I will return over the weekend with the report on the days events...

Come on You R'ssssssss!!!

I Wonder If Newcastle Loic Him Now??

Last night the news that Loic Remy had joined Newcastle on a season long loan was annouced, as the French International looks to get Premier League football in the year leading up to the World Cup.



Remy was originally supposed to join Newcastle in January last year before performing a last minute u-turn and join the R's for a fee of £8 million and leaving the Geordie faithful furious.
Some labasted him as only joining QPR for the money, yet eight months later they have finally got their man, albeit for nine months.



Remy was a huge success at Loftus Road as we describe him as one of the best striker we have seen at Loftus Road since Les Ferdinand left, ironically he ended up signing for Newcastle!

Hopefully if everything goes to plan and we gain promotion this season then we can welcome him back to W12 ready for a new Premier League season next year, if not then Newcastle and their fantastic supporters can enjoy a truly brilliant player for a while longer.

Handy Andy Seals The Points

The long awaited return of the football season finally arrived today and spirits were high on the back of the fantstic signing of Charlie Austin on Thursday. The visitors to Loftus Road today were Sheffield Wednesday, a Dave Jones side looking to improve on last seasons long struggle to survive.

Jess and myself set off to Loftus Road at 11.30am from South London hoping for a quick journey around the M25 before a swift Westfield shopping trip before meeting the gang, however due to the usual unreliability of that sodding motorway we crawled around and parked up around the corner from the ground at 1.30.
Jess took to the shopping trip by herself as I went to meet Lofty and Jenson just outside the Loft entrance.
As we caught up after the summer apart the team news arrived as Jenson broke it to us seconds before Sam text the team to myself.
Unfortunately Sam missed the game due to looking after her two sons as she had no baby sitter and PK missed the game due to his Mum being poorly. Both will return for the trip to Huddersfield next week.

Joey Barton was a shock starter in the eleven as he teamed up with his good friend Karl Henry in midfield. Alejandro Faurlin was also a surprising yet pleasing selection, with the rest of the team picking itself on the back of the pre-season games. New signing Charlie Austin unsurprisingly started from the bench, however we all knew he would play some part, it was just a question of how much.

The R's started the opening ten minutes brightly, looking very dangerous when going forward and when Junior Hoilett hit his shot wide after four minutes you could sense that it could only be a matter of time before the opener would come.
Depsite all the pressure and excellent patient passing, it was Sheffield Wednesday that took the lead with their first shot on target. Nuhiu turned his way clear of Faurlin, Traore and Hill before managing to slip his shot into the bottom corner and past the despairing hand of Rob Green.
Some really poor defending that was reminiscent of what we saw last year. There were a few groans in the stands, however the majority of the packed out Loftus Road crowd got right behind the R's as they searched for an equalizer. The Sheffield Wednesday fans themselves were creating an excellent atmosphere and after Nuhiu scored a flare was lit and made it's way on to the pitch to disrupt proceedings slightly.
Shortly after the goal the visitors had a decent claim for a penalty as Traore pulled back Antonio in the box, if the winger had hit the ground on the first tug then it would have been a definite penalty but he waited for the second and lighter touch and hit the floor far too easily and probably cost his side the chance of scoring a second goal.
After battling away for twenty minutes Rangers' got themselves back on level terms through an unlikely source, albeit from a stroke of good fortune.
Junior Hoilett turned an created enough space on the edge of the Wednesday penalty area in order to get a shot in, however with his shot going comfortably wide Nedum Onuoha stuck his foot out to turn the ball into the back of the net and get the game back on level terms. This was Onuoha's first goal since November 2010 against a much hated Chelsea side.
Two minutes later and the joy turned to elation!
Hoilett's excellent cross field ball picked out the on-rushing Joey Barton but his header was saved and parried by Chris Kirkland and Andy Johnson wrapped his foot around the ball to delightfully volley home from 12 yards out.



At half time you can say that on the balance of play we deserved to be in front and created a lot of problems for Wednesday when we were attacking. A certain Joey Barton was a class above the rest and his bravery to win the header that led to the second goal just shows how he is willing to do anything to win when he is on a football field.

Just a minute into the second half and Wednesday had an excellent opportunity after a sloppy pass in midfield allowed Jermaine Johnson to wriggle free of Traore, who was having a shocker, and Antonio was free in the six yard box and could only fire wide when it seemed easier to score.
Rangers' spark had fizzled out slightly as the visitors stifled the attacking threat of Johnson and Hoilett, both of whom were impressive during the opening 65minutes. Zamora was proving to be as useful as a chocolate tea pot.
His final contribution was finally winning his first header of the game after 68 minutes, which was ironically cheered by the home fans before some sarcastic applause as he was replaced by our new shining light in attack, Mr Charlie Austin.
Within five seconds Austin won his first header of the game and created more issues for the visiting defenders than Zamora did in the entire 68minutes on the field of play.
Sheffield Wednesday came so close to levellig up with 15 minutes to go as Maghoma sent an excellent shot flying past Rob Green and hitting the post before coming out and being cleared by Traore.
Wednesday then had another penalty appeal turned away, this time Jermaine Johnson theatrically tumbled over Joey Barton's outstretched leg and at the time the yellow card that was brandished for diving looked very fair. However the replays we have seen tonight show contact and maybe the visitors can feel very hard done by on this occasion.
With five minutes to go Austin was given a great opportunity to open his R's account as he met a superb cross from the right but slightly got under the ball and his header was flighted over the bar.



Overall you could see the gulf in class between our team and Sheffield Wednesday. We looked to be a lot more superior when going forward and created a lot of problems for them, however our defensive frailties could have haunted us on more than one occasion today and the mistakes made would have been punished in the Premier League but the few occasions that arose today we got away with it.
Chris Kirkland had a great game today and saved the visitors on a number of occasions and made some brilliant saves against Hoilett and Johnson respectively.

On to our first Man of the Match of the season.
With one vote from Jointy is the impressive Joey Barton, who was superb in all areas today. One vote was awarded to Junior Hoilett by Jess, Hoilett was very troublesome throughout the game and looked a lot more like the player we bought off Blackburn last summer. The remaining four votes were awarded to Alejandro Faurlin by Lofty, Jenson, Luke and myself. Faurlin got better as the game went on and produced a great battling performance in the centre of the field.
Special mentions have to go to Andy Johnson, who was impressive in leading the line and had he been a little more selfish in the first half we could've walked away with another goal or two. The second mention goes to Nedum Onuoha who was excellent in defence today, battled well against the tricky Nuhia and took his goal well, albeit quite fortuitous.



Lofty will return with his always entertaining report after taking the trip to Exeter with Jenson on Tuesday night.

Let's hope we can win a cup game!!!!

Austin Powers To Loftus Road

The day we have been hoping for all summer finally arrived today as the R's signed an out and out goalscorer that will provide the firepower that will spearhead our challenge to reach the Premier League once again.

At twenty past one I received a text from Jess simply saying "Austin :)". With that being said I instantly looked on Twitter to see the official confirmation and finally after days of seeing people moaning about the lack of transfer activity and a few ridiculous comments about us potentially being relegated, today was the day that everyone was happy and stopped being so miserable!

Austin joins from Burnley on a three year deal and will wear the coverted number 9 shirt, finally someone who could be as prolific as the legendary Sir Les Ferdinand!!



Austin boasts the impressive figures of averaging a goal every two games during his spells at Swindon and Burnley, so you can see what a talent we have on our hands!

We are very lucky that Austin's move to Hull fell through due to a failed medical and despite this showing in his medical with the R's it is deemed as not a serious risk and this is why the R's are happy to pay near the £4.5million fee that Hull had previously agreed.

Welcome to Loftus Road Charlie, we are looking forward to seeing you scoring the goals that will hopefully lead to a successful season!

The buzz created by this signing will run into Saturday and the first game of the season at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
We will return with our usual match report on Saturday and hopefully bring some good news and three points on the board!

U R'SSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!