2. QPR -- 20-16-6, +34, 76 points 18. Stockport County -- 10-17-15, -8, 47 points ------ 17 April 2004 Loftus Road ------ Rangers News: Arthur Gnohere is suspended. Martin Rowlands returns from suspension. Clarke Carlisle and Richard Johnson are doubtful. BBC predicts a Rose/Palmer central defense. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_div_2/3615893.stm The First Meeting: Rangers won 2-1 away back on November 1st. The Series: Rangers lead 6-7-4.
PLYMOUTH losing to Oldham 2-0 at the 42 min mark... DAMN YOU Paul Sturrock for leaving your team in mid season!!!!
Man! You see how things could be so simple? Plymouth lost, badly So too, Brizzle. A nice late winner by Luton. (Would add reports, but they haven't been written yet) And we draw with mighty Stockport. The rate we've all been going at the top recently - it's like none of us want to go up.
No kidding. A win yesterday puts us four points clear (and with goal difference, effectively five) of Bristol City with three to go. Now, we're still in a position where one day's results can overturn our lead. Damn!
Typical ********ing Rangers! Pardon the language, but thats about all I can say after a frustrating Saturday in the Bush. Beautiful afternoon at Loftus Road, supporters nervous but enthusiastic beforehand, everyone praying for a win coupled with some good results to set up a confident run in. Stockport had all the makings of a (cliche) banana skin, with an 8 match unbeaten streak in the midst of a relegation struggle. All of the pre-match nerves/doubts were washed away in the 2nd minute by a nicely taken goal by (Player of the Season) Martin Rowlands. Rowly took the ball on the left flank and put himself into a position that he loves - ball on his right foot cutting into the center of the 18. One-nil and we all thought it was gonna be a stroll. Unfortunately, Stockport showed themselves to be the worrysome side we expected. Rangers continued to play well after the goal and throughout the 1st half - although I thought we lacked the killer instict for about 20 minutes - we could have really finished them off. The turning point (in some regards) came just before half time, when Rowlands hobbled off and was replaced by McLeod. Despite two pretty good results without Martin last weekend, we're not as dangerous without him. McLeod was pretty poor in the 2nd (till he was amazingly subbed for Thorpe). I didn't have a perfect view of the foul that led to their goal - but it looked like a rediculous dive to me. An opinion verified by others closer to the School End. The free kick led to two rebounds and the goal. Don't know who (if anyone) was at fault - besides the referee of course. For the last half hour we pressed for the winner - possibly too much at times - opting for hopeful balls to the front two instead of patiently playing football. There was definite urgency and passion from all our players - but the right chance did not come. Paul Furlong really could have, and deserved to score from his exceptional play. Kevin Gallen was not as sharp as usual, but still effective - set up the Rowlands goal with what looked to be a fine touch. Tony Thorpe got a run at the end and managed some dangerous moves into the area but could not play the perfect final ball. Cureton was hardly noticeable again. It killed me last night watching highlights from the League and Premiership. There were a lot of penalties given for hand ball and unfortunately we were not the recipients of one. We had two really clear shouts for penalties - one for handball and another when Bircham (?) was knocked to the ground by 2 County players. Nothing given. It was the kind of afternoon where we needed a break towards the end to scrap a win and we didn't get it. I guess its good news that we still gained a point on Brizzle and Plymouth - but this is CLEARLY a case of (cliche) 2 points lost. We failed against the 20th place team in the division, in April, when we are trying to go up. Can't happen to a team that has our ambitions. Hoping for a point next week, but Plymouth will probably clinch promotion with a win. Leaving two gut wrenching matches against Swindon and Wednesday with a ton on the line.
Ah, the call of the R's fan. Nice report BTW. 20 or so years following the R's, by this time it's just so much of an inevitability that they will make everything as hard work as possible - one just has to laugh and accept it.
2 points clear of 3rd place with 3 games to go. 1st place would be nice - but the only thing I am concerned about is the automatic promotion spot. We can hang on to it - we have to hang on to it. 3 games to go. Come on you RRrrrrrrrrrrr'ssssssss