With QPR at Barnsley on Wednesday, LFW looks back to a memorable win for the R's at Oakwell back in 1996 when Billy Bonds and John Hollins were in caretaker charge of the team

Memorable Match

Barnsley 1 QPR 3, Saturday September 14, 1996, First Division

There was an odd atmosphere around Loftus Road the last time Queens Park Rangers were relegated from the Premier League. Demoted following the sale of Les Ferdinand just as the television money in the top flight as about to explode you’d have forgiven the faithful in W12 for being downbeat about the situation. But with hated chairman Richard Thompson ousted and music mogul Chris Wright now in charge there was a sense of optimism around the place as a Rangers team still boasting the likes of Kevin Gallen, Danny Dichio, Andy Impey and Trevor Sinclair along with up and coming starlets like Nigel Quashie and Paul Murray began the 1996/97 campaign in the lower tier.

The optimism seemed well founded as Gallen starred in the first two matches of the season — both of which Rangers won 2-1 against Oxford and Portsmouth. Of course, as we know now, Gallen ruptured his knee ligaments in the act of scoring the winner at Fratton Park and things rather unravelled from there with Bolton Wanderers snatching a late winner at Loftus Road in a subsequent televised game and West Brom winning in Shepherd’s Bush with embarrassing ease.

Manager Ray Wilkins resigned or was sacked, depending on who you believed, in the midst of that tumultuous start to the campaign. Nick Blackburn, brought onto the new board at Loftus Road by Wright, later told A Kick Up The R’s: “It’s a complete myth that he was sacked. He resigned. What happened was, we asked Ray to come to the board meeting. We were nearly all new directors, and we asked him to set out how he worked, how many scouts he had, was he watching games, did he prefer playing, how could he play and keep himself fit and watch players, all this kind of thing. It was fine. At the end of the meeting, when Ray had gone, Clive Berlin said, ‘I don’t think Ray will make a manager’. We all said, ‘Look, come on, let’s give him a chance.’ Next morning, Ray rang up and resigned. He’d booked a flight that day to go and see a midfield player in Scotland called Dave Bowman, who played for Dundee United. But Ray cancelled the flight and resigned. We think one of the directors rang him up and told him about those comments. I know for certain it wasn’t one of the new directors. We were new to it. We didn’t really know the inside of football that well and however much you think you know about it, nothing really prepares you for it.”

That left Wilkins’ coaches in caretaker charge and so on a sunny September afternoon the R’s travelled to Oakwell to face Barnsley with Frank Sibley, John Hollins and Billy Bonds directing operations from the dugout. The Tykes were a stick to beat the relegated Premier League teams with at the time — perennial dwellers of the second tier and a real culture shock for those used to trips to Liverpool and Arsenal. In 1996/97 though rookie manager Danny Wilson had them firing on all cylinders. They’d won 2-1 on the opening day at West Brom and followed it up with successive home wins against Huddersfield and Reading scoring six goals in the process. Andy Liddell was in good form up front and the diminutive Clint Marcelle was making a name for himself. In the week leading up to the QPR game Barnsley won 2-1 at newly relegated Man City with Marcelle scoring an injury time winner and then thrashed Stoke 3-0 at Oakwell to move top of the table.

But QPR were in fine form that day. They laid down their intentions early when Sinclair crossed from the right, Dichio nodded down and Simon Barker arrived late in the box to slam an opener past goalkeeper Dave Watson from 12 yards out after just six minutes. That lead was doubled five minutes before half time when Alan McDonald nudged Sinclair’s corner back out to him and his second attempt at a cross was nodded down at the near post for youth team graduate Mark Perry to stoop and head home unmarked from four yards out.

Any hope of a second half rally from the hosts was killed off immediately when Impey took his man to the byline, cut back infield and teed up Murray for a low drive that Watson parried into the path of Dichio who could hardly miss when presented with an open goal from point blank range. The QPR fans basking in the sun in the side stand were in raptures at this stage and when big target man Paul Wilkinson poked home Barnsley’s first goal of the afternoon with 21 minutes still remaining it was mere consolation.

That result sparked a mini-collapse from the Tykes who subsequently lost their next home league match 3-1 to lowly Grimsby prior to a run of six draws from seven matches. But Wilson’s team never went away all season and, despite QPR subsequently beating them at Loftus Road in both the league and the cup, they clinched the second automatic promotion spot behind Bolton and four points ahead of Wolves with a game to spare. QPR appointed Arsenal coach Stewart Houston as their new manager soon after this match but won just three of the next 15 and finished ninth, five points shy of sixth placed Palace who eventually won the play offs.

Barnsley: D Watson, N Eaden, M Appleby, D Sheridan (M Bullock, 45), S Davis , A De Zeeuw, C Marcelle, N Redfearn, P Wilkinson, A Liddell (D Regis, 65), N Thompson

Subs not used: J Bosancic

Goals: Wilkinson 69

Bookings: Sheridan, Davis

QPR: J Sommer, M Jackson, A McDonald, S Yates (D Maddix, 57 (M Brazier, 68)), R Brevett, S Barker, P Murray, M Perry, A Impey, T Sinclair, D Dichio

Subs not used: L Charles

Goals: Barker 6, Perry 41, Dichio 50

Bookings: Barker, Brazier

Attendance: 13,003

Recent Meetings

Barnsley 2 Queens Park Rangers 3, Saturday May 3, 2014, Championship

Barnsley were already relegated and QPR already secure in the play-off zone when these sides last met at Oakwell in May 2014. But any win on this ground isn't to be sniffed at for though QPR's home record against Barnsley is imperious, wins at Oakwell have been few and far between. This one looked like it was going to be simple enough when Charlie Austin banged on in and then home defender M'voto turned a Kevin Doyle cross into his own goal but Chris O'Grady halved the deficit after half time. A mazy run and emphatic finish had many wondering why Yun Suk Young hadn't seen more game time instead of the lazy Benoit Assou Ekotto, but Rangers were made to sweat for their win by another O'Grady goal, this time lashed home from long range, in injury time.

Barnsley: Steele 6; Kennedy 6, Ramage 6, Cranie 6, M'voto 5 (Bree 72, 6); O'Brien 6, Dawson 6 (Hassell 80, -), Jennings 6, Cywka 6 (Noble-Lazarus 72, 5), Rose 5, O’Grady 7

Subs not used: Dibble, Oates, Boakye-Yiadom, Cowgill

Goals: O’Grady 54 (assisted Jennings), 90 (unassisted)

QPR: Green 6; Hughes 6, Donaldson 6, Onuoha 7, Suk-Young 7; Henry 7, O’Neil 5; Benayoun 6 (Petrasso 76, 6), Doyle 6, Traore 6 (Kranjcar 57, 6); Austin 6 (Keane 57, 5)

Subs not used: Carroll, Hoilett, Murphy, Gibbons

Goals: Austin 42 (assisted Traore), Mvoto og 43 (assisted Doyle), Suk-Young 68 (unassisted)

QPR 2 Barnsley 0, Saturday October 5, 2013, Championship

QPR cruised to a routine win against relegation haunted Barnsley at Loftus Road at the start of October that season. It was only thanks to the heroics of visiting keeper Jack Butland that the R’s weren’t in front at half time — he saved well with his feet from Charlie Austin and then sprang up to block the rebound from Ale Faurlin. But the England youth international was beaten by Austin just after the hour after Junior Hoilett had dribbled in from the left flank and forced the issue with a low cross. The game was sealed by Austin from the penalty spot after he had dribbled around Stephen Foster and forced a foul.

QPR: Green 6; Simpson 7, Dunne 7, Hill 7, Assou Ekotto 6; Carroll 7, Barton 7, Kranjcar 6 (Chevanton 88, -), O’Neil 7 (Henry 81, -), Faurlin 6 (Hoilett 62, 8); Austin 8

Subs not used: Traore, Ehmer, Jenas, Murphy

Goals: Austin 66 (assisted Hoilett), 85 (penalty — won Austin)

Barnsley: Butland 7; Cranie 6, Ramage 6 (Hassel 67, 6), Wiseman 6, Kennedy 6; Mellis 6 (Cywka 71, 6), Perkins 5, Fox 6, McCourt 7; Scotland 4 (Pedersen 54, 5), O’Grady 5

Subs not used: Noble-Lazarus, Dawson, Etuhu, O’Brien

Bookings: Mellis 59 (foul), Perkins 63 (foul)

QPR 4 Barnsley 0, Saturday August 7, 2010, Championship

Neil Warnock's QPR side started their march to the Championship title with a convincing 4-0 win against Barnsley on the opening day of the 2010/11 season — although the scoreline didn't quite tell the full story. Debutant goalkeeper Paddy Kenny, perhaps a little rusty after a year out with a drugs ban and nervous having only just arrived from Sheffield United, dropped a routine cross in his six yard box on the stroke of half time which should really have seen Barnsley go in at the break level. Then after half time Fitz Hall inexplicably punched a ball clear inside his own area but referee James Linnington failed to award a penalty kick. To exacerbate the visitors' frustration two of QPR's four goals came from the spot — Adel Taarabt was obviously fouled during a typically mesmeric run in the first half and Heidar Helguson converted, then in the second the Moroccan took responsibility and made it 3-0 although had Linnington played on through a foul on Helguson the ball had ended up in the net anyway. Between those two goals Jamie Mackie had scored his first for the club when goalkeeper Luke Steele fumbled the ball at the worst possible moment, and Hall swept in a fourth from a low Hogan Ephraim cross with nine minutes remaining.

QPR Kenny 5, Orr 7, Hall 6, Gorkss 7, Hill 7, Ephraim 7,Derry 7 (Leigertwood 79, 6), Faurlin 7, Taarabt 8 (Parker 77, 6),Helguson 7 (German 83, 5), Mackie 7

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Clarke, Connolly, Borrowdale

Booked: Orr (tripping)

Goals: Helguson 41 (penalty, assisted Taarabt), Mackie 53 (assisted Ephraim), Taarabt 63 (penalty, assisted Helguson), Hall 81 (assisted Ephraim)

Barnsley Steele 5, Hassell 2, Shackell 5, Foster 4, McEveley 2,Hammill 6 (Neumann 76, 5), Doyle 5, Lovre 5 (Butterfield 86, -),Devaney 5 (Hume 46, 6), Colace 7, Gray 6

Subs Not Used: Preece, Dickinsone, Boulding, Potter

Booked: Foster (foul, penalty concession), McEveley (professional foul)

Barnsley 0 QPR 1, Tuesday April 12, 2011, Championship

Things were very different by the time the two teams met again in April. QPR eventually built a 19 match unbeaten run at the start of the season and had led the division pretty much since day one, but a 4-1 defeat at lowly Scunthorpe on the Saturday before a trip to Oakwell hinted at a few jitters starting to set in. When Adel Taarabt scored a fine first from long range in the very first minute of the game all seemed well with the world, but the match turned into a backs to the wall effort from that point on with Kaspars Gorkss particularly impressive in the face of 89 minutes of Barnsley attacking and a truly horrific display from match referee Tony Bates. Barnsley hit the post twice, including once through Jacob Butterfield from long range in injury time at the end of the game, and had two very decent penalty appeals for handball waved away.

Barnsley: Steele 6, Trippier 7, McShane 5, Shackell 7, Hill 6 (McEveley 77, 5), Mellis 6 (Clark 77, 6), Doyle 6, Butterfield 7, Haynes 6, Harewood 5, Gray 6 (Noble-Lazarus 82, -)

Subs Not Used: Preece, Foster, Arismendi, O'Brien

Booked: Butterfield (foul)

QPR: Kenny 7, Orr 7, Gorkss 8, Connolly 7, Hill 7, Derry 6, Faurlin 6, Routledge 6, Taarabt 6 (Ephraim 69, 6), Smith 6, Helguson 7

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Buzsaky, Agyemang, Hulse, Miller, Shittu

Booked: Taarabt (foul/reaction)

Goals: Taarabt 1 (assisted Routledge)

Previous Results

Head to Head >>> Barnsley wins 14 >>> Draws 10 >>> QPR wins 25

2013/14 Barnsley 2 QPR 3 (Austin, Mvoto og, Suk Young)

2013/14 QPR 2 Barnsley 0 (Austin 2)

2010/11 Barnsley 0 QPR 1 (Taarabt)

2010/11 QPR 4 Barnsley 0 (Helguson, Mackie, Taarabt, Hall)

2009/10 Barnsley 0 QPR 1 (Leigertwood)

2009/10 QPR 5 Barnsley 2 (Buzsaky 2, Leigertwood, Watson, Simpson)

2008/09 Barnsley 2 QPR 1 (Delaney)

2008/09 QPR 2 Barnsley 1 (Hall 2)

2007/08 Barnsley 0 QPR 0

2007/08 QPR 2 Barnsley 0 (Vine, Agyemang)

2006/07 Barnsley 2 QPR 0

2006/07 QPR 1 Barnsley 0 (Rowlands)

2003/04 Barnsley 3 QPR 3 (Furlong 2, Kay og)

2003/04 QPR 4 Barnsley 0 (Gallen, Rowlands, Ainsworth, Thorpe)

2002/03 QPR 1 Barnsley 0 (Pacquette)

2002/03 Barnsley 1 QPR 0

2000/01 QPR 2 Barnsley 0 (Kiwomya, Crouch)

2000/01 Barnsley 4 QPR 2 (Kiwomya 2)

1999/00 Barnsley 1 QPR 1 (Rose)

1999/00 QPR 2 Barnsley 2 (Darlington, Steiner)

1998/99 Barnsley 1 QPR 0

1998/99 QPR 2 Barnsley 1 (Langley,Gallen)

1996/97 QPR 3 Barnsley 2* (Peacock, Spencer, Sinclair)

1996/97 QPR 3 Barnsley 1 (Spencer 3)

1996/97 Barnsley 1 QPR 3 (Barker, Perry, Dichio)

1982/83 QPR 3 Barnsley 0 (Gregory, Sealy, Flanagan)

1982/83 Barnsley 0 QPR 1 (Allen)

1981/82 Barnsley 3 QPR 0

1981/82 QPR 1 Barnsley 0 (Flanagan)

1964/65 QPR 3 Barnsley 2 (Bedford 3)

1964/65 Barnsley 0 QPR 0

1963/64 QPR 2 Barnsley 2 (Bedford 2)

1963/64 Barnsley 3 QPR 1 (Bedford)

1962/63 Barnsley 0 QPR 0

1962/63 QPR 2 Barnsley 1 (Large 2)

1961/62 QPR 3 Barnsley 0 (Bedford, Keen, Evans)

1961/62 Barnsley 2 QPR 4 (Bedford, Angell, Towers, Evans)

1960/61 QPR 4 Barnsley 2 (Bedford, Andrews, Evans, Keen)

1960/61 Barnsley 3 QPR 3 (Whitfield 2, Bedford)

1959/60 QPR 1 Barnsley 0 (Andrews)

1959/60 Barnsley 2 QPR 1 (Bedford)

1951/52 QPR 1 Barnsley 1 (Smith)

1951/52 Barnsley 3 QPR 1 (Hatton)

1950/51 QPR 2 Barnsley 1 (Waugh, Smith)

1950/51 Barnsley 7 QPR 0

1949/50 QPR 0 Barnsley 5

1949/50 Barnsley 3 QPR 1 (Addinall)

1948/49 Barnsley 4 QPR 0

1948/49 QPR 2 Barnsley 2 (Addinall 2)

1909/10 Barnsley 1 QPR 0*

* - FA Cup

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onlyrinmoray added 19:52 - Aug 16 I was there in 96 Billy Bonds was handing out tickets to those without one I was one of the lucky ones Was it really that long ago and what happened to Mark Perry ? Trouble after the game if I remember, a car full of our supporters was attacked They drove at some Barnsley who deliberately blocked them from moving down the road
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