QPR v. Swansea City (24 Aug: Carling Cup - Round 1) [R]

[Atouk]

QPR -- 23rd in the Championship (0-2-2)
v.
Swansea City -- 18th in League Two (1-1-2)
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24 August 2004 19:45
Loftus Road
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Rangers News:

Marc Bircham and Richard Edghill returned to training last week and both are cleared to play tonight. I don't know that Birch is the answer in central midfield, but we seem so bereft of ideas at the moment, that he could really help change the way we're playing. Dan Sh!ttu was on the bench on Saturday, came through Monday's practice well, and is expected to be in the 16 tonight, too. Arthur Gnohere and Gareth Ainsworth, who missed on Saturday, are both still out, as it Matthew Rose, who left at the half against Derby. Gnohere may be back by Friday, while Ainsworth is targeting Tuesday.

The Opponent:

Former Rangers Number 2 Kenny Jackett brings his new charges to Loftus Road. They've opened the season 1-1-2, with a win at Rochdale, losses at home to Northampton and away to Macclesfield, and a draw last Saturday at home against Cheltenham. They've scored 3 goals in their four matches, with three different players getting on the score sheet. The only former R he signed, Dennis Oli, isn't having his short-term contract renewed at the end of August and is not expected to feature tonight (at least he won't score on us then, eh? ;) )

The Series:

Rangers lead the series 14-8-9, but the only meeting between the two clubs since 1981 was one remembered well by QPR supporters, with the R's crashing out of the FA Cup with a 0-4 loss at Swansea in 01/02. In League Cup play, the R's lead 2-0-1, with the last win being a 2-0 home win in 78/79.

The Referee:

Steve Tanner gets the call. Both games he's worked this season have been down in League Two. Last season, he worked our home draw against Oldham. In that game there were four yellows, all against Oldham, and a red issued for receipt of a second yellow. He saw Swansea once last season also, a home win over Huddersfield. This is only his second season in the Football League (his games in 02/03 were limited to the Conference and one FA Cup early rounder).

[QPR Kevin H]

Hey - we won 3-nil! Not quite as encouraging as the scoreline suggests. I'll post some more comments later.

[QPR Kevin H]

Quite a change from 1st to 2nd round opponent (just drawn)...

away to Aston Villa. Good team, big test

[Atouk]

Overall, not a bad day from our boys in this one.

Rowlands and Cook were clearly superior to the guys trying to mark them. With those two, Gareth Ainsworth, Kevin McLeod, and potentially Aaron Brown, if we sign him, we're going to cause people all kinds of problems down the wings, if we play well enough in the center of the park to play the ball to those guys in dangerous positions.

Cook is so good in tight spaces, often finding a way out with the ball still at his feet even when surrounded by two or three guys. Cook may have actually had a more dangerous game against Derby, but he still had quite a few moments of individual brilliance in this one that show his potential.

Day had a good night, I thought. He wasn't overly troubled, but seemed to come out for a few balls and take control of the box.

Gino and Bignot continued their good play, with Gino's nicely placed free kick to Cureton leading to the first goal.

Forbes and Santos were fair in central defense. Santos won a good few balls in the air. Sh!ttu seemed to play well in his 20 minutes, really getting into the action and winning a few with his head. Even with his limited fitness, he clearly looked our #1 at that position. Hopefully he's just a couple of weeks away from action.

Santos may have actually looked better in the beginning, when playing a defensive midfield role behind Gallen in attacking midfield. Gallen played well both in the middle and up front. His penalty miss was disappointing, so it was nice to see him score his first goal of the year afterward with a well-taken chip.

Considering Bircham had one day of practice before getting injured and had just returned to training a few days before playing, he looked pretty good.

Overall, for the R's, not the kind of performance that was a major step forward from Saturday, but not bad against a side they were clearly superior to and it probably served as a bit a confidence boost nonetheless. It was probably closer in the first half than the second, but we never looked too troubled and were not about to slip on a banana peel in this one -- a good sign.