Rangers Pay the Penalty with Missed Chances...

QPR 1-1 Burnley

A wonder goal from Adel Taarabt, was not enough as although the R's unbeaten run continues, the current reign at the the top of the Championship has for now, been lost to Cardiff City.



The above has led me personally to become a bit frustrated - not with the results themselves, but the increasing negativity amongst QPR fans as over the past few weeks, the 6 point lead at the top has gone. All I can say really, is that if someone had said to me that after 14 games, we would be undefeated and 2nd in the table, I would have certainly have said 'yes please'. With every good run, there is going to be a blip at some point and I actually think that at the moment, this is it, yet we remain undefeated.

All in all, it lead to what became a frustrating afternoon at Loftus Road. The gang were at full strength but arrived in dribs and drabs to the Springbok, including a surprise but welcome appearance from Corinne for her first viewing of the season and with the exception of the latecomers, Corp and California Hoop, we were all in our seats in good time to see the Club lay on a moving tribute to to the late Acting Corporal David Barnsdale, who lost his life while serving in Afghanistan.

Despite a couple of early half chances for the R's, Burnley had started the brighter and Rangers had Paddy Kenny to thank for a superb double save - the R's keeper failed to keep hold of Chris Eagles' 20-yard drive but when he spilled the ball at the feet of Rodriguez, the keeper recovered superbly to palm his effort clear. On the subject of Chris Eagles, a player that I have often admired, the Burnley midfielder tried to win his side 2 penalties with two ridiculous dives in the penalty area, the second of which earned him a deserved yellow card from what was, all in all, a quite awful referee.

The R's took the lead on 33 minutes with an absolute peach of a goal - Adel Taarabt picked up possession midway into the Burnley half, before he drove at the defence and unleashed an effort from about 25 yards out that flew into the top right-hand corner of the net. It could well have been two minutes later but Rob Hulse and Alejandro Faurlin got in each other's way as they went for Taarabt's cross.

On the stroke of half time, it was third time lucky for the Clarets with penalty shouts as Connolly was adjudged to have felled Marney in the box - it looked soft but with this referee, anything was possible and Alexander sent Kenny the wrong way to level the scores.

The second half was as equally as frustrating as the first and Rangers created plenty of decent chances - Kaspars Gorkss blasted over from close range midway through the half and last week's hero, Patrick Agyemang perhaps should have done better with Mackie's cross, failing to connect with his header fully as the ball ran loose - and he headed agonisingly wide from Taarabt's corner on 77 minutes.

Burnley had their chances also, with Chris Iwelumo lashing his shot high over the bar and Rodriguez's toe-poke bouncing narrowly wide of Kenny's goal. But the R's almost nicked all three points in the dying minutes when Tommy Smith curled inches wide and Derry crashed a shot over.

QPR: Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill, Shaun Derry, Adel Taarabt (Tommy Smith , Alejandro Faurlin, Jamie Mackie (Patrick Agyemang 62), Kaspars Gorkss, Kyle Walker, Matt Connolly, Rob Hulse (Leon Clarke 64), Hogan Ephraim. Subs not used: Radek Cerny, Bradley Orr, Mikele Leigertwood, Martin Rowlands.

Lofty's Man of the Match - I have to be honest, the gang and I, for the first time this season, struggled badly with this one and it was even mentioned that it should be given to former R's defender, Clarke Carlisle, who was immense for Burnely this afternoon - but it was decided that after the superb double save that brought Loftus Road to it's feet in the first half, the award today goes to Paddy Kenny.

In summary, frustrating is the word many of us used today and it looks very much as though a shake up is needed - Smith should now be starting in place of Ephraim for one and we certainly missed the work rate of the injured Heidar Helguson.Mackie's work rate certainly isn't lacking, but he is definitely off colour. But in saying all this, you can certainly see Neil Warnock's dilemma - going into the game we were top of the league and undefeated - would you change that team??

See you next week and Come on You R'ssssssssss!!!

Agye the man Stead-ys Rangers unbeaten run.

I write this report on last nights game against Bristol City on a Saturday afternoon still feeling slightly frustrated by last nights game.

Apologies for the lateness of my report, phone problems in the car stopped me from doing my write up after the game so I have instead waited until now to write this with a clear head.

Four of us made the journey down to Bristol. Jenson took the wheel on this occassion as Sam, Iceman and myself joined him on the trip down the M4. Traffic was pretty steady all the way down but the general feeling amongst us was that this may be the night that the record start to the season was going to end. Top vs Bottom, unbeaten all season and then putting that together with us being live on Sky, it was just written in the stars that our first defeat would be dealt out, or would it?

After grabbing a quick KFC next to the ground we made our way to the turnstiles and bumped into Matt and Gobi along the way for a quick chat about our views of the game before making our way in and finding our way to our seats.

Rangers' fielded an unchanged side from the 0-0 draw at Swansea midweek. Rob Hulse took his place on the bench for the first time since his transfer over from Derby.



The game started off very lively as both sides looked to break at pace. Rangers' had the first real opportunity as Taarabt found Kyle Walker and the Spurs loanees effort was drilled just wide of David James' post.
The atmosphere in the away end was very good as R's fans and Bristol City fans exchanged songs, City started to sing "we're bootom of the league, we're Bristol City, we're bottom of the league" in response to our top of the league chants, fair play to them!
After quarter of an hour the deadlock was broken and it didnt go with the run of play.
Taarabt's poorly taken free kick allowed Bristol City to break away at pace with Danny Rose down the City left, he cut in and laid off to Jon Stead and the former Ipswich man unleashed an unstoppable shot that hit the underside of the bar into the back of the net. A truely brilliant goal that no goalkeeper would've stopped. On a side note, I had placed a bet on Stead being first goalscorer at 7/1, had to be done seeing as he ALWAYS scores against us.
The goal seemed to liven up the home side and they continued to use the pace of Haynes, Rose and Adomah on the counter attack.
City nearly went two up as Danny Rose sped down the left hand side and forced Paddy Kenny into a good save.
Despite being behind Rangers' were far from being the worse of the two sides, it was just the final ball and finishing touch that was lacking from the visitors.
Just before half time Walker, who was Rangers' best player in the first half by a mile, went on a mesmerising run as he beat two defenders before unleashing a fierce drive that flew just past the upright.

At half time we remained in our seats as the queue getting to the concourse was too long to battle through, however Iceman did brave it and grabbed a coffee for Jenson and a tea for Sam. Sam had asked for two sugars in her tea but little did Iceman know, the two white packets he picked up and put in the tea wasn't sugar, it was salt!! Ice had given Sam a warm salty treat that she wasn't expecting!



As Sam was trying to get rid of the salty taste in her mouth the second half started and Rangers' broke away with Mackie down the right, beating his defender and then saw his shot rebound off of David James back into his path and the R's top goalscorer headed towards the empty net and into the empty net. On the way in the ball hit Heidar Helguson despite his best efforts to get out of the way of the ball and unfortunately Helguson had strayed into an offside position so the goal was ruled out, pretty harsh on Helguson as he had no intention of interfering with the path of the ball.
City nearly went and grabbed a second straight after as Haynes broke clear of Gorkss and saw his shot deflected wide for a corner.
The Robins pace up front was proving to be difficult to deal with as City had two further chances to extend their lead as Marvin Elliott had a 30 yard effort tipped over the bar by Kenny and then soon after Kenny pulled off another fantastic save from Jon Stead and kept the lead down to just one goal.
Rangers' introduced Tommy Smith, Rob Hulse and Patrick Agyemang as they replaced Hogan Ephraim, Heidar Helguson and the out of sorts Adel Taarabt.
Rangers' came close once more as a Smith corner was met by the head of Connolly and his header looked destined for the bottom corner but saw it cleared off the line by a City defender, however five minutes later the R's got the goal they deserved.
Again it was a Smith corner that was met by Connolly and he swept the ball on target and there was Agyemang, who was on loan at Bristol City last year, as he put the ball in the back of the net via his knee.
Rangers' did try and push for the winner but it came to no avail.


All in all a point was hard earned but well deserved against a Bristol City side that were very lively on the counter and if they continue to break in that manner then they are going to cause many teams a lot of difficulty this year and will pull themselves up to a top half finish, well thats my opinion anyway.
As for the R's, I felt we didnt make the most of a productive opening 45 minutes and Taarabt just wasn't at the races today, he gave the ball away too cheaply and didnt release the ball to players in space at the right times. Hopefully its just one of those games as his creativity will change games for us this year and with us having players like Smith on the bench who are looking as if they can really bring something to the table then he may find himself looking at being on the bench for a game or two. Having said that, when Taarabt did go off we did look more lively as Mackie, Smith, Agyemang and Hulse all looked hungry up front with Derry and Faurlin also looking to join the attack, thats the beauty of having the squad that we do.

Tonights Man of the Match saw the usual people gain nominations with Derry getting plenty of shouts, Matt Connolly had a great game once again but we couldn't ignore a superb first half performance and a retty good second half from the man of the moment Kyle Walker!

Bristol City: David James, Jamie McAllister, Liam Fontaine, Louis Carey, Marvin Elliott, Lee Johnson, Danny Haynes, Albert Adomah (Kalifa Cisse 58), Jon Stead, Danny Rose, Steven Caulker.

Subs: Nicky Hunt, Damion Stewart, David Clarkson, Dean Gerken, Ivan Sproule, Kalifa Cisse, Brett Pitman.

Goals: Stead (16)

Bookings: Rose (45), Elliott (77)

QPR: Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill, Shaun Derry, Adel Taarabt (Patrick Agyemang 78), Heidar Helguson (Rob Hulse 64), Alejandro Faurlin, Jamie Mackie, Kaspars Gorkss, Kyle Walker, Matt Connolly, Hogan Ephraim (Tommy Smith 57).

Subs: Radek Cerny, Bradley Orr, Fitz Hall, Gavin Mahon.

Goals: Agyemang (83)

Bookings: Walker (31), Derry (36), Gorkss (66), Faurlin (72)

Referee: Mr L Mason

Attendance: 14, 552 (1204 QPR fans)

R's on the Road To.......... Bristol City.

On Friday night the R's take their Club record equalling unbeaten start to the season down to Bristol City as the R's pay in front of the Sky cameras for the first time this season in the top versus bottom clash.
City got only their second win of the season as they beat Reading 1-0 at Ashton Gate so could this be the kick start to their season or will Rangers continue with their fantastic start to the season?
Here are a few hints and tips for the trip on Friday night.



The Stadium.

Ashton Gate. Current Capacity - 21,479

Bristol South End was the original name of the club until they turned professional and founded the club under the new name of Bristol City. In 1900 the club merged with local rivals Bedminster, who themselves were founded in 1887 under the name of Southville. Bedminster’s home was Ashton Gate but when the two teams merged together under the name Bristol City, they played very few games at Ashton Gate and it wasn’t until 1904 that this ground was made the permanent home for the club.
In 1934 Bristol City won the Welsh Cup, despite being an English team.
In 1994 the Blackthorn Atyeo Stand (named after the clubs highest goal scorer John Atyeo) was transformed from an open terrace into an all seater stand. This is behind the goal at one end of the ground.
In 1995 the Dolman Stand had the lower tier of the Stand added. This is also has the Evening Post Dolman Exhibition Hall, home to the Supporters Club.
Opposite the Dolman Stand is the Prime Time Williams Stand. This is a very old looking stand and still has wooden seats for fans in this area. The directors box and press are accommodated here.
Then behind the other goal is the Micra Wedlock Stand, this is where the visiting support will be housed for this fixture. Again this is an old stand and is all seated but the chairs don’t have backs on them so be very careful if you do decide to sit down. The view is restricted slightly by pillars in various positions in the stand.



The History between the teams.

At Bristol City (38)

Bristol City 18
QPR 9
Draw 11

Rangers haven’t won at Ashton Gate since the 2002/2003 season. It was the 21st September and a 3-1 victory courtesy of goals from Karl Connolly (2) and a certain Kevin Gallen.
The last three fixtures at Bristol City have ended with two draws and a 1-0 victory to the home side. Last season a closely fought contest was separated by a superb Nicky Marnard strike from just outside the box. The previous season saw a 1-1 draw with Blackstock getting the goal. The most memorable game was the opening fixture of the 2007/2008 season and a 2-2 draw in an exciting encounter between the two teams. Bristol City seemed to of nicked a win at the death with a late goal from Scott Murray and it was a superb strike which was worthy of winning any game. Rangers didn’t give up on the game and equalised almost instantly via a Damion Stewart header right at the death when it seemed the game had been lost for the visitors.



How to get there.

By Car:- For those with the benefit of sat nav the post code you require is BS3 2EJ.
There are two ways you can attack the journey into Bristol. One way is to come off the M4 at junction 20 and drive down the M32 which leads into the City Centre, from here you will see signposts for the ground and is relatively easy to find.
The easiest route is to come off the M4 onto the M5 and come off the M5 at junction 18. From here travel down the A4 along Portway and follow the signs for Bristol Airport/Taunton (A38). Go over Brunel Way Bridge and branch to the left hand side onto Winterstoke Road and you will see the ground on your left hand side.
In regards to parking there is a car park on Ashton Vale Road which is just off the Winterstoke Road on the right hand side.

By Train:- You are most likely to arrive at Bristol Temple Meads station which is a good two miles or so away from the ground. You can get a taxi to the ground from here and will cost you roughly £6 for the trip. I wouldn’t advise walking to the ground as it is a fair trek .

Pubs 'n' Grub.

There are no pubs near the ground that would be advised to be used by the travelling support so if you feel like a beer then I would point you in the direction of the City Centre and enjoy a tipple there.
No alcohol is sold inside the away stand.
Food is available outside the ground in the form of KFC, otherwise most of the food options would have to be relied on the in ground catering or once again the City Centre for all your favourite food retailers.

Paddy makes Swans pay the penalty.

Tonight the R's faithful travelled over the border to Wales, in the first of two away games in four days, to battle against a high flying Swansea side sitting in fourth place in the table. Here is how the Lofty Heights crew saw the evening unfold.

Due to difficulty getting time off work the crew were down to three members tonight with Sam and Jenson being given the honour of being driven by me in what is the first away game I have driven to since Barnsley away last season.
On our journey I received a text from Gobi at about 16.30 saying that he had just won £70 on a fruit machine at Cardiff Gate services..... jammy git is all I can say!
Having stopped ourselves at Cardiff Gate services we managed to get to the Liberty Stadium at 18.45 and got ourselves in the ground so we could relax with a drink before taking our seats shortly before kick off.

One change was made to Saturday's team that drew 0-0 with Norwich, Akos Buzsaky dropped out through injury and was replaced by the returning Alejandro Faurlin.
Gavin Mahon, who signed a one month contract yesterday, replaced Mikele Leigertwood on the bench.


Before the game both sets of fans gave the family of a fallen soldier in Afganistan as they laid a wreath on the centre circle. The crowd showed the upmost respect, a great way to honour such bravery and bought two sets of footballing fans together before the starting whistle.



The game started off free flowing with both sides looking to use their crisp passing styles to try and create openings and it was on nine minutes that the first chance came about, and it was the visitors that created it.
Swansea failed to clear a corner properly and Hogan drove a cross in and Mackie got onto the end of it only to hit the outside of the post and side netting.
Swansea were enjoying the possession side of things but it was the R's that were the more dangerous attacking wise in the first half, however Swansea were given the perfect opportunity to take the lead as Clint Hill was somehow adjudged to of fouled Nathan Dyer in the box and the Referee pointed to the spot altho it looked as if the Linesman/3rd official, whatever name they go by now, had awarded a free kick and Swansea were given a great opportunity to open the scoring.
Before the penalty was taken I said to Jenson that the penalty would go bottom right as we looked at it, so when Cotterill placed his penalty to the bottom right and Kenny pulled off a good save to push the ball around the corner and justice was done as it was never a penalty, well from our angle anyway.

At half time the scores remained 0-0 and it was then that I received a text from Michael Whelan, despite having a near dead phone battery, saying that Swansea World had said on air that the penalty should never of been given and that it sounded like the R's were on top. Personally I thought it was a fairly even half and Rangers' had the better of the chances, was just hoping that the second half would be better attacking wise for us.

The second half saw Rangers' sit back a lot more and allowed Swansea to dictate possession a lot more as we looked to hit them on the counter attack.
Chances were few and far between during the second half but its without doubt that the best chance fell to Mackie twenty minutes into the half.
Connolly found Taarabt and the R's captain flicked a ball through to Mackie as he ran on one on one with Swans 'keeper De Vries and the Scottish International took one to many touches in my opinion and De Vries made a decent save from close range.
Later in the half Hogan cleared a Pratley effort off the line as the teams played out the half and the game ended 0-0.

It would've been nice to see the R's be more adventurous in the second half as me did look content to sit back and let Swansea control the midfield up until the final ten to fifteen minutes when we did come on strong. The first substitution could've been made earlier as we could've gone and nicked a late winner, but who am I to question Warnock's tactics after the fantastic start to the season that we have had.

Tonights Man of the Match drew three different votes from us three in the car with Paddy Kenny being voted for by Jenson because of his penalty save and another clean sheet, Sam voted for Shaun Derry for another battling performance in midfield and I voted for Heidar Helguson as I felt his work rate tonight was superb, he was chasing down defenders and done well to hold up the ball as we broke away. With it being a tie we did seek further votes from Shamie and Gobi and our eventual winner with three votes goes to........ Shaun Derry.


Swansea City: Dorus De Vries, Ashley Williams, Alan Tate, David Cotterill (Joe Allen 46), Darren Pratley, Andrea Orlandi (Craig Beattie 85), Nathan Dyer, Stephen Dobbie (Frank Nouble 66), Garry Monk, Scott Sinclair, Angel Rangel.

Subs: Yves Makabu-Makalambay, Neil Taylor, Albert Serran, Marvin Emnes

Bookings: Monk (20), Tate (37), Pratley (41)

QPR: Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill, Shaun Derry, Adel Taarabt (Tommy Smith 80), Heidar Helguson (Patrick Agyemang 80), Alejandro Faurlin, Jamie Mackie, Kaspars Gorkss, Kyle Walker, Matthew Connolly, Hogan Ephraim (Leon Clarke 90).

Subs: Radek Cerny, Bradley Orr, Fitz Hall, Gavin Mahon.

Bookings: Gorkss (17), Faurlin (60), Taarabt (80)

Referee: Mr S Hooper

Attendance: 16, 742 (470 QPR)

The journey home saw me challenge myself against the clock to see how quickly I could get us back to Jenson's as last year he posted up an impressive 2 hour 15minute journey time from the Liberty Stadium to his, so I thought I'd see if that could be beaten. After the 170 mile journey back I posted a time of 2 hours and 4 minutes, which included the time it took to get out of the car park not bad really I thinks. The nicknames of Rubens and Schmacher are now being touted for me..... we'll see what happens from here.

Mahon re-signs!

This afternoon the club have announced that Gavin Mahon has managed to earn himself a one month deal.



Mahon has been out of action since last November and with his contract running out last summer Mahon was given assurances that he would be given the opportunity to earn himself a new deal upon recovery and proving his fitness to Neil Warnock.
Now having made a complete recovery and getting himself fully fit, Mahon has agreed a one month deal which effectively acts as a trial and gives him a chance to work his way back into first team contention.

Mahon is due to travel with the first team to Swansea on Tuesday and could be called to the bench now Akos Buzsaky seemingly out of the running whilst he recovers from a knee injury.

Welcome Back Gavin and we hope you earn a longer contract here with us!!

R's on the Road To.......... Swansea City.

On Tuesday night QPR fans face a long away trip as they travel across the border into Wales and to Swansea City. It's first verus fourth as Rangers' look to extend their unbeaten start to the season.
Here are a few hints and tips for your journey.



The Stadium.

Current Capacity – 20,500

Swansea Town were formed in 1912 and played at the Vetch Field. They joined the football league in 1920 and have been members ever since. In 1970 they changed their name from Swansea Town to Swansea City.
The early 1980’s were the clubs most successful years when under the guidance of Cardiff born manager John Toshack. He guided ‘The Jacks’ into the top flight in 1981 before leading the club to three successive Welsh Cups which lead to the club playing in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.
After suffering years of rapid falling down the leagues and financial meltdown in 2003 the club finally found some stability and started to build towards the future.
Swansea moved into the Liberty stadium in 2005 having been at home at the Vetch Field since 1912 and spending 93 years there.
The stadium cost £27 million to build and is fairly conservative in design. It is another of the familiar bowl shaped stadiums that we are now becoming accustomed to in this day and age.
A few useless facts about the stadium include- there are 1,450 pre-cast concrete piles in the ground. If you laid out the piles end to end then they would stretch to almost 13miles! Also, The upper floors and roof structure will be supported by 2,500 tonnes of structural steelwork, which is equal to the weight of 300 average sized African elephants or 1,400 Ford Focus’. Now if they are not useless facts then I don’t know what is.



The History between the teams.

At Swansea (19)

Swansea 10
QPR 8
Draw. 1

Fixtures between the clubs have been very few and far between and when the clubs finally do play each other it is usually in a cup competition. That was until of course The Swans got promoted into the Championship with Roberto Martinez at the helm for the 2008/2009 season. A 0-0 draw for Iain Dowie’s men against 10 men and a defender in goal for over 60 minutes at the Liberty Stadium was played out last October in the R’s first visit to Swansea’s new home. The R’s did manage a 1-0 victory in the return fixture, this time Paulo Sousa was the Rangers manager before his well publicized departure. Sousa was victorious as Rangers' went down after the two sendings off of Ben Watson and Martin Rowlands, the latter just as the R's were enjoying a dominant spell and hit the bar. Two goals killed the game off and gave the R's fans a miserable long journey home down the M4.
Sousa departed the Swans during the summer to take charge of Leicester only to be sacked three months into the job. Brendan Rodgers has taken the hotseat and has enjoyed a very good start to the season and Scott Sinclair, a former Rangers' loanee, has been one of his most inspirational signings.

How to get there.

By Car:- The all important post code for sat nav users is SA1 2FA.
Otherwise here are the directions for you.
Get on the M4 and go all the way down to junction 45. From here join onto the A4067 towards the City Centre. Around two and a half miles down the road you will see the stadium on your left hand side.
For parking it is advised to supporters to use the Park and Ride facility which is located at Swansea Vale which is on the A4067, shortly off the M4 turning.
There is also street parking available just past the stadium so it will be a case of whatever floats yr boat.

By Train:- As reported on the Official QPR website this Monday the train service will terminate at Cardiff on Saturday due to works on the line. A replacement bus service will be available from here. Check out the national rail website out for details on your journey so you can allow enough time to arrive at the Liberty Stadium.


Pubs 'n' Grub.

Police have instructed pubs close to the ground to not admit away fans, however some people have said that the Harvester right outside the ground has let in away supporters is a great choice of pub for today. If you venture into the City Centre for a drink then these three pubs are recommended, Yates, The bank Statement and The No Sign Bar.
Alcohol is also served in the ground for around £3 a pint.
For food you can use the Harvester as already mentioned or use the array of restaurant or retail outlets available to you.

QPR Held by Hign Flying Canaries...

QPR 0-0 Norwich

Wes Hoolahan missed a first-half penalty for Norwich as the Canaries held Championship leaders QPR in an entertaing goalless draw, in front of a sold out Loftus Road.

After an another less than exciting International Break, the gang were at full strength and the majority at the Springbok before the match admiring PK's new haircut. California Hoop pulled out all the stops and was in his seat as the rest of us were walking up the stairs just after kick off, due to a very congested entrance to the Loft Upper. Corporate took over his mantle, arriving 7 minutes in.

Well, onto the game and with it being 1st v 3rd, on paper it looked like our toughest test yet and the game got of to a lively start with both sides playing some good football and a few half chances were created - Gorkss had the best chance for the R's but his shot was deflected wide.

The Cananries then had a golden chance to take the lead when Grant Holt and Clint Hill tussled and tangled for the ball in the box, they both went down and the ref pointed to the spot. It looked dubious at the time and after watching it on the Football League Show, I haven't changed my opinion. But thankfully, Hoolihan stepped up casually and dragged his effort wide of the rght hand post.

The second half continued like the first with the ball going from end to end as both sides looked to get their noses in front. But the R's then began to ask some serious questions and went close through Adel Taarabt. But minutes later, Loftus Road was on it's feet when the once again, impressive, Kyle Walker, drove forward and let rip a rasping 30 yard drive, which was goalbound before it struck Jamie Mackie and flew over the bar. Rangers later had a penalty appeal of their own turned down when Helguson was clumsily felled in the box late on.

The R's continued to press and almost won it in the dying minutes when Helguson headed across the box for Gorkss, who headed low but his headed was cleared off the line by Croft.

QPR: Kenny, Hill, Derry, Taarabt (Smith 77), Helguson, Buzsaky (Leigertwood 26), Mackie, Gorkss, Walker, Connolly, Ephraim (Agyemang 69). Subs: Cerny, Orr, Clarke, Faurlin.

Lofty's Man of the Match - despite some decent performances, notably from Matt Connoly and Kaspars Gorkss, it must go again to Kyle Walker, who was the R's most creative player today. For those of you that don't know, Kyle has signed an extension to his current loan deal, keeping him at Loftus Road until January 3rd - SIGN HIM UP!!!



In summary, with 2 tough away games coming up, this was a frustrating scoreline, esapecially when you consider Rangers goal difference and a little fact pointed out by Lee, that Norwichg haven't failed to hit the target away from home in 32 games!! Lot's of if's and but's were discussed afterwards at the British Queen, especially that why wasn't Buszaky replaced by Faurlin, instead of the sadly, quite ineffective Leigertwood, but although the atmosphere was somewhat flat afterwards, it wasn't a bad game at all. Perhaps we have all just been spoilt a bit...

QPR Official Supporters Club Fundraiser...

Lofty Heights is proud to assist and promote the QPR Official Supporters Club's, Halloween Fundraising event, which is raising funds for the QPR in the Community Trust.

Details are below and posters will be up at the Stadium this coming Saturday and there are also details on OSC page on the Official QPR Website...



Basically, a gig at the Kings Head in Acton featuring 3 live bands and alternative music DJs - Night of Treason, Dirty Love and DFCs and maybe, an open mic session.

We hope as many of you as possible will celebrate another 3 points against Burnley and make a night of it by supporting this very worthwhile cause.

Faurlin pens new contract extension.

Much earlier today the fantastic news that Alejandro Faurlin has committed himself to the club by signing a contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2014.



Faurlin signed from Institute in the Summer of 2009 by Jim Magilton for an undisclosed fee that is believed to be a club record fee.
Faurlin took time to bed into the side but soon became an integral figure in the R's midfield and after playing 44 games in all competitions last year, scoring one goal, he went on to deservedly scoop the Players Player of the Year and Supporters Player of the Year gongs at the end of season awards dinner.

Faurlin continued where he left off at the heart of the R's midfield with his new partner in crime Shaun Derry. only injury at Ipswich has halted the Argentines progress this season but he is expected to be fit once the International break is over and be in contention for the game against Norwich on the 16th October.

Neil Warnock told the Official Club Website "It's the best signing I've made - I couldn't be more delighted that he's penned a two year extension. I genuinely believe he can get better and better and that's saying something, because he's already a truly outstanding player."


In news we missed out on last week, Rowan Vine has joined Hull city on a months loan and Josh Parker has also gone got on a months loan to Northampton Town.

A Hand-y three points

This afternoon Neil Warnock took his unbeaten Rangers' team to former employers Crystal Palace as we looked to see if the incredible start to the season would continue into the International break and resume in two weeks time still six points clear at the very least.

The Lofty Heights crew took two cars to the game as PK was on call for the day, so Lofty, Sam, Jenson and myself took to the road early doors as we looked to cross West London and head South. The sat nav gave us an unrealistic estimated journey time of just over half an hour from Northolt, which was our meeting point. A mere two hours later we finally arrived at Selhurst Park after being stuck in all sorts of roadworks, anyhow when we got parked up we went on to meet Iceman at the Tasty Jerk hut on Whitehorse Lane and tucked into our food before being joined by Nik, Luke and Matt. As we were sat on the wall Sam's heart skipped a beat as Fitz Hall, joined by Bradley Orr and Peter Ramage, walked past us and went into the Tasty Jerk, her day was made before the game had already started!

Once again Neil Warnock named an unchanged side and it was time to cheer on the R's.

Today also saw the debut of Lofty Heights on Twitter, Lofty was on hand to tweet throughout the game, if you feel like following us on twitter for game updates then our username is LoftyHeights70.

Palace made a bright start and soon had Rangers' hearts in their mouths as an effort smashed against the post and was eventually cleared to safety after a scramble.
Rangers' were looking comfortable on the ball but once again Palace broke clear and Zaha saw Paddy Kenny in fine form as he produced a fine double save to keep the scores level at 0-0.
This seemed to wake the R's up and we went on the attack and went a Taarabt shot was parried into the path of Mackie and was about to seemingly put the R's one up but Speroni done fantastically well to spread himself out and thwart the newly called up Scottish International.
Rangers' continued to put the pressure on Palace but were unable to create any clear cut chances and when balls were being played into the box Speroni was on his toes to put a last minute finger onto balls and deny Rangers' of the opportunity to break the deadlock.
Just before half time Palace nearly grabbed an opener when Bennett's header was cleared off the line by Hogan Ephraim.

At half time the queues getting onto the concourse were ridiculously long so we remained in our seats throughout the duration of the break. I did however manage to catch John for a quick chat and who I can only describe as beautiful, Jess Peters, quickly said hello before she went back to her seat.

The second half whistle blew and we were off once again.
Fives minutes into the half the opening goal was greeted by a very lively Rangers' travelling support.
Edgar Davids, who was having a good game up until this, attempted to pass back to Speroni but found his pass short on pace and Jamie Mackie's lightning quick reactions meant he got to the ball before Speroni, rounded him and then had to negotiate two Palace defenders, instead of going for goal himself he rolled the ball over to Taarabt, who found the back of the net with a simple tap in. Great goal and very unselfish play by Mackie. Taarabt signalled that the plaudits should go to Mackie after all the hard work he put in.
Soon after it could've been 2-0. Taarabt's corner was met by Helguson and the Icelander headed just wide of goal.
Palace then started to enjoy their best spell of the match and put the Rangers' goal under a load of pressure and on 89 minutes they got the goal that, if I'm honest, had been coming.
Zaha, who was lively throughout the second half, broke down the right hand side and his cross found the unmarked Cadogan and he slotted home to level things up and seemingly grab the home side a point.
However the game wasn't settled and once again it was a late injury time that settled things.
Smith broke down the left hand side and floated a cross in the middle, Helguson jumped with Speroni and got a touch ahead of the Palace 'keeper and the ball slowly dropped into the back of the net and once again the Rangers' faithful were going mental! There was suspicion of a foul on the 'keeper but after seeing the ref ignore the protests we allowed ourselves to go crazy!

Well once again Rangers' pulled it out of the bag and we are celebrating an injury time goal that may count for a lot come the end of the season. Rangers' had plenty of chances to win the game over the course of the game and maybe edged it but with Palace hitting the post and having a very good spell in the second half then maybe they did deserve something from the game.

Lofty's Man of the Match goes to Kyle Walker today for a menacing performance down the right flank, constantly running at people and causing all sorts of problems. He's so calm when defending also and gets in all the right positions, lets hope that his loan is extended over the international break. Other contenders today include Shaun Derry and Heidar Helguson.

Crystal Palace: Julian Speroni, Nathaniel Clyne, Patrick McCarthy, Owen Garvan, Andrew Dorman (Calvin Andrew 79), Wilfried Zaha, Julian Bennett, Edgar Davids (Anthony Gardner 59), Kieran Djilali, Alex Marrow, Pablo Counago (Kieron Cadogan 46).

Subs: Lewis Price, Charlie Holness, Alassane N'Diaye, Stuart O'Keefe.

Goals: Cadogan (89)

Bookings: Dorman (40), Speroni (90)

QPR: Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill, Shaun Derry, Adel Taarabt (Tommy Smith 72), Heidar Helguson, Akos Buzsaky (Mikele Leigertwood 83), Jamie Mackie, Kaspars Gorkss, Kyle Walker, Matt Connolly, Hogan Ephraim.

Subs: Radek Cerny, Martin Rowlands, Patrick Agyemang, Gary Borrowdale, Antonio German.

Goals: Taarabt (49), Helguson (90)

Bookings: Ephraim (18), Hill (66)

Referee: Mr K Friend

Attendance: 17, 171 (3342)

The journey home should have been an enjoyable one but as there was a collapsed lamp post that caused the closure of the Hammersmith flyover meant that driving from South to West London took us over THREE HOURS!!! Many thanks to Lofty for getting us back safely after spending all the time stood still in traffic!