LDV Vans Trophy -- Second Round (Southern Section) ------ QPR - 3rd in Division 2 (28 points from 16 matches) Dagenham & Redbridge - 17th in Conference (16 points from 16 matches) ------ Loftus Road 4 November ------ Rangers Notes Rowlands is suspended and Bircham will sit out as a precaution (came out in early minutes on Saturday). Bean and Palmer likely to fill in. Barton will probably play for Edghill. Pacquette and/or Sabin could play up front. http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~446600,00.html Rangers defeated Division 3 Kidderminster Harriers 2-0 at Loftus Road to advance to this round: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77138 The Opponent The Daggers have QPR's goalkeeper coach (and former R's player) Tony Roberts between the sticks. In Saturday's post-match interview, Olly joked that he might have to ban Roberts from the ground leading up to this match. QPR defeated them 3-0 in a pre-season friendly at their place. Recent form in Conference play: 1/11 Lost away to Halifax Town, 0-3 18/10 Lost at home to Burton Albion, 0-2 13/10 Drew away Hereford United, 1-1 7/10 Win at home to Margate, 4-0 4/10 Drew at home to Chester City, 0-0 In the LDV Vans First Round, they defeated Leyton Orient, 4-1, at home. For more info: http://www.daggers.co.uk/ The Referee Joe Ross will work the middle. He's worked 11 matches this season (1 D1, 5 D2, 4 D3, 1 LC) handing out 33 yellows and 1 red. His last Rangers match was our 2-0 home win over Luton last April. Just one Luton card in that match.
Match today - 2:45 p.m. eastern time. Match previews: http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~446888,00.html http://queensparkrangers.rivals.net//default.asp?sid=925&p=2&stid=8328062 http://www.ananova.com/sport/story/sm_835083.html In addition to Tony Roberts, the Daggers have former Rangers Paul Bruce and Tony Scully on their roster. Both were on the team when I first got to see Rangers live (00/01), although I only saw both play once -- with crap results -- Scully as a reserve in a road debacle at Preston in our relegation year and Bruce as a starter in an ugly home loss against Northampton Town in our first year down. Come on, you R's!
Perfect, I get back into the office about 10 minutes before kickoff. Hopefully Atouk is around to give updates. Thanks in advance.
I had some stuff going on, but can now log on to World. My internet is slow today, so I hope I can get commentary. I'll post updates here in just a minute.
QPR 0:0 Dag & Red Sometime after the 35th minute (last pbp update on World) Cole picked up a 6th minute yellow for the Daggers. No other cards yet. Starting for Rangers: Culkin, Barton, Forbes, Carlisle, Padula, Ainsworth, Bean, Palmer, McLeod, Pacquette, Sabin Rangers bench: Day, Gallen, Oli, Edghill, Thorpe Edghill came on for Barton in the 5th minute. As I'm typing... GGGGOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLL! May be an own goal off the back of a defender, may be that Padula got it in, sounds like it was off of a corner -- my commentary came on in the middle of the mess. QPR 1:0 Dag & Red Hopefully I'll get an update after halftime on what exactly happened on the goal.
QPR 1:0 Dag & Red Half time The Match Live folks are crediting the goal to Padula. Commentator just recapped it: it was a Padula corner, players went up for it, it slipped in behind a Daggers player but I didn't catch whether he touched it, and they're crediting it to Padula off the corner kick! The Daggers' Bentley picked up a yellow a few minutes later. Match stats show QPR domination: Possession QPR 65-35 Shots QPR 4-2 On Target QPR 2-0 Corners QPR 8-0 Offside D&R 3-1
Bircham is sitting in on the commentary. One sub in the back for Dag & Red at the half. No changes for Rangers. We're underway in the second.
Bircham is hoping for the best for Chelsea against Lazio (yeah, right). Sabin just earned a corner. Nice through-ball by Ainsworth. Nice long cross by McLeod but defended well. Rangers pushing ahead for another, holding most of the possession.
4,464 in the house. More than the last round against Kidderminster. As Bircham said, there are many clubs in the division that don't get that for league games, so for a weeknight LDV Vans game against a Conference side, it's not bad.
Dag & Red make another change in order to try to push forward and equalize. Pacquette is running hard, winning a throw for Rangers by putting defenders under pressure. Good to hear. A minute later, a nice flick from Ainsworth with Pacquette just unable to control it. It's still mostly Rangers. Stats show us 58-42 in possession with a 10-1 lead in corners and an 9-3 lead in shots (3-0 on goal). 20-25 minutes to go. FYI, former R's Tony Roberts, Paul Bruce, and Tony Scully all started for Dag & Red.
Correction from the commentators: only 3,036 in the house. Bircham is expressing displeasure with Chelsea's lead in the Champions League. Pacquette nearly scored just now, Birch thought it was a corner, but no. Gallen comes on for Bean. The commentator asked Birch if Gallen will slot into Bean's place in midfield. "I've talked him through the game, so he might be able to do the job," Birch says.
Dag & Red used their last sub (Bruce came off). Chelsea scored again. Birch: "I'm devistated... As long as they don't win anything, they can win that game... As long as they don't win the League." Gallen just chipped in nicely but it was cleared just before Ainsworth could run on. Still mostly Rangers possession.
Carlisle made an error, giving it away. Dag & Red on the break forced Culkin into some work, but he sent it out for a corner. Carlisle headed the corner away for another corner. We clear, but they keep possession. Then Ainsworth gets the ball.... sends it up field to McLeod who slots it home "with a confident low, hard" finish to the left of Tony Roberts! GGOOOOOAAAAAALLL! QPR 2:0 Dag & Red Great counter. They put us under pressure for the first time in awhile and we punished 'em for it!
Tony Thorpe on for Richard Pacquette. McLeod took a long shot when the keeper was out of position, but it went just wide. Dag & Red just pushed down with some nice possession passing and shot into the side netting.
Former Ranger Tony Scully came back to bite us. Goal for the Daggers. With 3 minutes to go: QPR 2:1 Dag & Red
Dag & Red pushing forward to equalize. Just earned a corner. McLeod headed the ball away. They try to send it back in but it's out for a goal kick. Rangers possession. Not much time left.
3 minutes of stoppage time. Daggers just got a shot making Culkin work to send it away. Rangers only able to maintain possession for a few seconds. They send it in, but Culkin was able to gain possession. They've made the most of the final minutes, to be sure. Final whistle. QPR 2:1 Dag & Red Full time
Tony Scully! Now there's a name from the past. He could run straight ahead all right, but ask him to do anything with the ball at his feet, and he was hopeless. Who would have guessed that Gino is Hernan Crespo's best friend? That's what they just said on Sky Sports News.