Rovers Don and Dusted...

QPR 3-0 Doncaster

QPR extended there lead at the top of the Championship(boy, it feels good writing that!) to six points with what was a somewhat less than comfortable win against a good, well organised, Doncaster side.



Of course, I will begin with an apology for the lateness of the report, but with the Birthday's of Sam, PK and Matt, there was a bit of serious celebrating to be done. With that, the gang assembled nice and early at the Springbok and were in almost full strength, with myself, PK, Lee, Jenson, Corp, Sam, Jo, Phil, Jack and Luke all in attendance. You may notice California Hoop's name missing, more on that later...

As I am still a bit bleary eyed, I will move swiftly onto the game and it would be fair to say that despite Rangers having a lot of the ball, Doncaster were the better of the two sides in the first half and certainly frustrated the home side - and could well have gone ahead when Martin Woods fired a 25-yard free-kick that keeper Paddy Kenny could only divert onto the inside of the post and James O'Connor saw his rebound effort superbly cleared off the line by Clint Hill, which brought the Loftus Road crowd to it's feet.

It was all change after the break and the gang were on their feet once more when on 52 minutes, California Hoop finally arrived to rupturous applause. He barely had time to take his seat when the R's took the lead - Gorkss met Akos Buzsaky's corner with a firm header which was blocked, but he reacted quickest to slam the loose ball past Sullivan. You could just feel the tension lift in the Stadium and it was party time again.

With chances for both sides a few, we had to wait until the 81st minute to breath easier - Heidar Helguson burst into the area chasing a through ball from Adel Taarabt, toed the ball past Neil Sullivan and then hit the deck under heavy contact from the keeper. It was a clear penalty but Helguson bounced back up and stuck the ball into the empty net anyway. Sadly for the Iceman, the Howard Webb look-a-like referee had already pointed to the spot. Strangely, Adel Taarabt stepped up and calmly sent the keeper the wrong way.

Kaspars Gorkss got his second of the game with two minutes to go, powering home Taarabt's corner to give the scoreline a slightly flattering look to it.

It wasn't until the early hours of this morning, when we found out that Lee has put the disappointment of losing his prediction contest monopoly, firmly behind him, banking a whopping £217 for correctly predicting a 3-0 win with Kaspars Gorkss to score first. Not bad for a £1 stake, well done mate!!

QPR: Kenny, Hill, Derry (Leigertwood, 76), Taarabt, Helguson (Agyemang, 88), Buzsaky, Mackie (Smith, 89), Gorkss, Walker, Connolly, Ephraim. Subs: Cerny, Borrowdale, Parker, Rowlands.

Lofty's Man of the Match - a very slight difference of opinion with two of the gang opting for Kyle Walker, but the majority went for the lovable Latvian with his two goals - Kaspars Gorkss!!

In summary, well, with a 6 point lead at the top, with 22 points and a plus 20 goal difference, I just completely refuse to be negative! But huge credit must go to a decent Doncaster side who certainly made life difficult for the R's and perhaps with a bit more luck, may have been leaving Loftus Road with a more favourable result.

Anyway, from the game we adjourned to the British Queen to continue the Birthday celebrations - unfortunately, previous arrangements had been made by Sam, Jack,Matt and Corp who continued there evening's elsewhere. However, myself, Lee, PK and bro Steve and friend, California Hoop and Jenson, were joined by DJ and Tony C at The BrookHouse in Hayes to see a superb Ska Band called, The Refinements. A great night was had by all and we drank and danced our way into the early hours of this morning...