Nairn County (Scotland -- Highland League) v. QPR ------ Station Park, Nairn, Scotland (Capacity 3,800; Seating 250) 14 July 2004, 7:30 ------ Rangers News Arthur Gnohere is back in the fold. According to the official site's match preview Gnohere "joined up with the squad this morning for the first time. Ollie made only a brief reference to the centre back's absence, saying: 'He was late, he has been disciplined and that's an end to the matter. He is now back training with the squad.'" Lee Cook will sit out due to a "slight achilles problem." Richard Edghill and Marc Bircham (who is back in London) also will not play. With FIFA ending its limit of six subs for pre-season friendlies, Holloway has said that no player will play more than 45 minutes and all can expect a run out. The Opponent Nairn County plays in the Highland Football League. They don't seem to have an official team site, but an updated unofficial site can be found here and their match preview can be found here. Nairn County finished 9th in the 15-team Highland League last season with a 9-5-14 record. The league does not appear to have promotion and relegation within the Scottish game, as both last year's winner and runner-up appear on this year's fixture lists. Photos of Station Park can be found here and here.
Nairn County 0, QPR 3 Martin Rowlands, Kevin Gallen, and Tony Thorpe all scored second-half goals for Rangers. Seventeen players played for the R's. Chris Day, Gino Padula, and trialist Lewis Hamilton went the full 90 for QPR. No injuries reported. Note that Bean and Ainsworth played the first half, rested the first 20 minutes of the second half after being substitued, then came back on for Daly and McLeod in the 65th minute (each had gone the whole way), so it looks like Olly's way of getting all four of those players 65-70 minutes in the game. For QPR: Day, Perry (Bignot 46), Hamilton, Rose (Gnohere 46), Padula, Ainsworth (Rowlands 46), Bean (Johnson 46), Daly (Bean 65), McLeod (Ainsworth 65), Cureton (Thorpe 46), Furlong (Gallen 46) Rangers next face Scottish First Division champions Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday afternoon. Match report from the official site can be found at this link.