QPR's final match of the season takes place at Preston on Sunday. The home side need a win and favours to extend their campaign into the play offs and Rangers would appear to be ideal cannon fodder for the occasion.

Preston North End 7th v Queens Park Rangers 11th
Coca Cola Championship
Sunday May 3, Kick Off 1.15pm
Deepdale, Preston

Well here we are, the fifty second and final game of a tumultuous season following QPR. Off the field the long suffering supporters of our football club have sat open mouthed at the behaviour and decisions from supposedly experienced and successful businessmen. If this season has taught us, and them, anything it is that QPR isn’t a clothing range, isn’t a Formula 1 team, isn’t a steel mill, isn’t a project – it’s a football club, and the way they have run it this season has not been conducive to success in football. We wait with baited breath to see which poor schmuck they rope in to manage this farce next.

Almost all the column inches generated by our club this season have been by the board rather than the players. Things have rarely been dull off the pitch, rarely been anything but that on it. QPR have failed to score in 23 of their 51 matches played so far and have played out a goalless draw on eleven occasions. The 3-2 win against Preston in December was a rare highlight and means that Rangers do get a final chance to complete their first double of the season on Sunday – although the attitude of the QPR players to last Saturday’s game with Plymouth and the annual dinner afterwards suggests there s about as much chance of them coming to Deepdale and giving a toss on Sunday as there is Flavio leaving whoever the next manager is the hell alone to do his job.

Nothing annoys me more than listening to Alan Green, a man paid excellently to do one of the best jobs in the world, moaning on about how awful the game he is watching is. His coverage of the Chelsea game in midweek was a disgrace to his profession. Does he really think football supporters who want to know what is happening are enjoying his exaggerated fake laugh at dives and constant reminder that “this is awful”?

I’m a believer in there being something to admire in every sporting fixture. I can drive to Scotland ever summer and watch eight days of practice rounds and competitive action and love it, even though it is essentially middle aged men playing golf, I can sit in The Crucible for hours, for days, watching Peter Ebdon play snooker and enjoy it, I can sit through one goalless draw after another and admire the defending – but even I have been bored at times this season. After Southampton away and Plymouth at home in particular I sat here in this chair with this computer and stared into space for some considerable time trying to think of something, anything, to write.

Plans are already being put in place for LofforWords next season – some new ideas, improvements in news reporting and revamps and makeovers for existing features should all be expected. I have at times this season found myself in the role of ‘busy fool’ – working on the site for hours late at night with little to show for it, so expect more structure next year with things like awayday reviews, news updates and travel guides in regular time slots rather than just appearing sporadically whenever I get a moment. We are always keen to hear from people interested in writing for us.

A full list of thank yous will appear in the next ‘This Week’ column but for now, at the risk of recycling an old joke, let me thank both regular readers of these match previews for your support and keep checking back over the summer for various updates and features designed to get us through to August as quickly as possible.

Five minutes on Preston
Preston are one of the mainstays of the Championship now finishing their ninth season at this level and are a fine example of a well run second tier club. This will be QPR’s first visit to Deepdale since the redevelopment of the ground was complete and a well designed single tier stand down the left side as away fans look at the pitch has improved the place immeasurably. It also means Rangers fans no longer have to look at that low, open terrace where we had to stand at the end of Gerry Francis’ second spell in charge and watch us lose 5-0.

Preston are very similar in many ways to their near neighbours Burnley who were promoted to this division at the same time. A famous old name in English football currently in recovery after decades of decline. Preston is a club well aware of its history and the four new stands built at their Deepdale ground bear the names and images of past heroes. Like Burnley they have flirted with promotion and relegation since arriving here in 2000 and look set to do the former again this season although whether clubs with their support and resources could make a go of life in the Premiership is doubtful.

The Lilywhites have been blessed with an ability to appoint the right manager in recent times. Their ascent to this level between 1998 and 2002 was overseen by current Everton boss David Moyes who had been a PNE player after spells at Celtic and Cambridge but always maintained from a young age that he was looking forward to being a coach and manager. Moyes, as we all know, was taken to Everton in 2002 after leading PNE to the play offs in their first season at this level – they lost to Bolton at Wembley on that occasion.

Another Scot, former national team boss Craig Brown, took over from Moyes but rarely looked like doing anything other than holding them in midtable. It was only when Brown left and was replaced by his assistant, former Motherwell boss Billy Davies, that things started to motor again in Lancashire. Davies, a man who once described himself live on BBC Radio Derby as “a bit of a c***”, was a relative unknown when he took the Preston job but he took them to the play offs twice – losing to West Ham in the final on the first occasions and then losing to Leeds in a bad tempered semi final where the Yorkshire side accused Davies of celebrating victory prematurely after the first match.

When Davies left for Derby, perceived as a bigger club with more chance of making the top flight, the club appointed Paul Simpson who had done a very poor job at Rochdale, and a very good one at Carlisle United. Simpson seemed to be taking Preston to the play offs again in his first season but a disastrous run of results at the end of the campaign, including a dramatic 1-0 defeat at Loftus Road when Dexter Blackstock smacked in a piledriver from 25 yards in a crucial game in hand for both clubs. They missed the six altogether, lost David Nugent to Portsmouth during the summer, and then started last season in rotten form with just three wins through to the start of November when Simpson was sacked.

Charged with keeping the Championship’s joint longest serving team in the division was David Moyes’ assistant at Everton Alan Irvine in his first full managerial role. It looked like he had bitten off more than he could chew to begin with but intelligent loan signings like Chris Brown and Jon Parkin gave tem the necessary firepower to survive, comfortably in the end in 15th place.

Preston are somewhat more direct tat Burnley but are only two points away from the Clarets going into the final day – the two seem destined to remain at close quarters geographically and on the league ladder. Expect much of the play to go through the giant Parkin in attack, and Preston to be severely handicapped by the harsh suspension of two of their best midfielders, but they are a side with the best home record in the league and are hardly ideal opponents for an out of sorts QPR side to be meeting away from home on the final day.

This is the third time since promotion to the second tier that Preston have gone into the final day needing a win and favours to make the top six. On the two previous occasions they won, with late goals against Forest in 2002 and Birmingham in 2007, but didn’t get the required results elsewhere. Irvine will be hoping for better luck on Sunday.

Men to watch
He may be a figure of fun for opposition supporters by Preston’s giant striker Jon Parkin clinched the club’s Player of the Year award last week and will be the man QPR have to stop on Sunday. Parkin is built like a pub footballer and sticks out like a sore thumb in the Championship. All the acceleration of a fully loaded articulated truck and about the same weight but is colossal frame and upper body strength make him a very useful target man and at Loftus Road in December Preston played everything through him when they went forward.

Parkin made his names in the lower leagues with Macclesfield after initially coming through the ranks at Barnsley. Hull snapped him up as part of their climb up the Football League but fell foul of managers there because of his weight and spent time at Stoke before joining Preston permanently at the start of this season. He has 11 goals this season, including five in his last ten appearances.

Up front alongside Parkin is another lad who cops a fair bit of abuse over the size of his gut – Neil Mellow. He burst onto the scene at Liverpool, and bagged a memorable 30 yard last minute winner against Arsenal live on Sky, but has slipped down into the Championship after suffering a series of injuries. He caught the eye in a 2-2 draw at Loftus Road last season with an excellent all round striking display that has since had many Rangers fans suggesting him as a potential target for QPR to be looking at if we were to splash the cash on a striker.

Ordinarily I would be pointing towards Ross Wallace, Preston’s best player at Loftus Road for me, and Lee Williamson, who has impressed me several times in Watford colours. However thanks to a combination of poor refereeing and pathetic rules neither can play this weekend through suspension. Williamson was the innocent victim of Lee Bowyer’s latest temper tantrum but found himself red carded as well and the suspension upheld by the seen to be there but not there to be seen appeal procedure. Wallace’s was even more ridiculous, sent off for over celebrating a 25 yard, last minute winning goal that kept Preston’s season alive. Thoroughly pathetic, but good news for us on Sunday.

Left behind in midfield is Chris Sedgwick, a steady winger who has a good eye for a pass and cross wile lacking the blinding pace of somebody like our own Wayne Routledge. Also Paul McKenna, a central midfield general who also as an eye for a long range shot and always plays very, very well against us.

At the back another winner from Preston’s player of the year event Sean St Ledger anchors the defence and won a controversial penalty at Loftus Road in the corresponding fixture in December. Youl Mawene is his partner, another classy performer, and although goalkeeper Andy Lonergan always seems to play very poorly against us he picked up the Players’ Player of the Year award a week ago so has obviously had an impressive and consistent season. Looking through the Preston side it is hard working, well balanced, well settled and it’s easy to see why they are on the cusp of the play offs. Probably not good enough for promotion this season but building steadily.

Previous Meetings
These sides fought out a five goal thriller at Loftus Road in December with Dexter Blackstock rising from the bench to win the game for QPR four minutes from time. Things started well for Rangers when a beautiful cross from Lee Cook was headed powerfully into the net by eider Helguson and although Preston quickly drew level through Chris Sedgwick the R’s went back in front before half time when Helguson bundled home a corner after Damion Stewart won the initial header. PNE came out firing after the break but owed their equaliser on the hour to Premiership referee Alan Wiley who disgracefully adjudged Radek Cerny to have fouled Sean St Ledger when he clearly and obviously took all the ball. Callum Davidson slammed in the resulting penalty. There was more drama to come though as Blackstock, on for Ramage, climbed highest at the back post to magnificently head home a cross from Martin Rowlands to win a fantastic game 3-2.

QPR: Cerny 6, Delaney 4 (Hall 80, 6), Stewart 7, Ramage 7 (Blackstock 80, 8), Gorkss 7, Ephraim 7, Rowlands 7, Mahon 4 (Leigertwood 62, 6), Cook 8, Agyemang 7, Helguson 8
Subs Not Used: Ledesma, Di Carmine
Booked: Delaney (foul)
Goals: Helguson 16 (assisted Cook), 34 (assisted Stewart), Blackstock 86 (assisted Rowlands)

Preston: Lonergan 6, Davidson 7, Mawene 5, St. Ledger 5, Nolan 7, Nicholson 6, Sedgwick 7 (Whaley 90, -), McKenna 7, Wallace 8, Parkin 7, Chris Brown 7
Subs Not Used: Neal, Hawley, Carter, Jones
Booked: Sedgwick (foul)
Goals: Sedgwick 28 (assisted McKenna), Davidson 60 (penalty)

Match Report

There was nowhere near as much drama or excitement on our last visit to Deepdale.. With referee Trevor Kettle in typical whistle happy, card flashing form the game struggled to get going at all and only Lee Camp’s fine save from Paul Gallagher’s penalty, harshly awarded for hand ball against Martin Cranie, got the fans on their feet.

Preston: Lonergan 4, Jones 8, St. Ledger 7, Mawene 7, Hill 8, Sedgwick 5 (Mellor 82, -), Davidson 6, Nicholls 7,Gallagher 5 (Whaley 67, 7), Hawley 6 (Ormerod 69, 6), Agyemang 6
Subs Not Used: Chris Neal, McKenna
Booked: Davidson (foul), Mawene (foul)

QPR: Camp 9, Mancienne 7, Stewart 7, Cranie 8, Barker 7, Ainsworth 5 (Nygaard 57, 7) Bolder 4, Leigertwood 7, Rowlands 5, Ephraim 6, Vine 6
Subs Not Used: Cole, Bignot, Moore, Sahar
Booked: Mancienne (foul) Bolder (dissent) Vine (dissent) Rowlands (dissent) Stewart (tackle from behind)

Match Report

Head to Head:
Preston wins – 10
Draws – 12
QPR wins – 8

Past Preston v QPR scores and scorers:
2008/09 QPR 3 Preston 2 (Helguson 2, Blackstock)
2007/08 QPR 2 Preston 2 (Blackstock, Ainsworth)
2007/08 Preston 0 QPR 0
2006/07 QPR 1 Preston 0 (Blackstock)
2006/07 Preston 1 QPR 1 (Ainsworth)
2005/06 QPR 0 Preston 2
2005/06 Preston 1 QPR 1 (Shittu)
2004/05 QPR 1 Preston 2 (Furlong)
2004/05 Preston 2 QPR 1 (Santos)
2000/01 Preston 5 QPR 0
2000/01 QPR 0 Preston 0

Team News
It remains to be seen whether Rowan Vine and Hogan Ephraim, dropped altogether in mysterious circumstances last week wit various stories and rumours doing the rounds, return for this match. Martin Rowlands and Akos Buzsaky are long term absentees while Fitz Hall returned from his latest knock to make the bench against Plymouth. Antonio German and Angelo Balanta will be hoping for another extended run out but Gareth Ainsworth is likely to resist pleas from supporters for a final run out against his former club.

Preston’s impressive win at Birmingham last weekend came at a cost to their midfield with red cards robbing them of two of their most impressive performers for this match. Ross Wallace has been an outstanding midfielder for Alan Irvine all season but must sit out this one with a one game ban after being ridiculously red carded for removing his shirt to celebrate a last minute 25 yard winner that kept PNE’s season alive. What a joyless, pedantic bunch our referees are sometimes. Phil Dowd also sent off Lee Williamson in that match for being beaten up by Lee Bowyer and as the FA operate the same appeals procedure as the courts in Iran he too is banned for this one. Barry Nicholson, Neal Trotman and Liam Chilvers could come back into contention, as could Callum Davidson who scored in the last meeting between these sides at Loftus Road.
Injury List

Referee
Young official Michael Oliver takes charge of QPR for the first time this weekend in this, only his second full season on the league list. He has refereed at Preston twice before, on both occasions they won 2-0 at home and you certainly wouldn’t bet against that being the case again on Sunday.
Details

Elsewhere
With just 90 minutes of the regular season left to play there are still a number of issues to be settled in the Championship. At the bottom Norwich are in big trouble – they need to win at Charlton and Barnsley to lose at Plymouth. The final play off spot is still open to Preston if they beat us and either Cardiff or Burnley lose. Most eyes will be on the top of the table though where Birmingham can claim second spot by winning at Reading, Sheff Utd can claim it if Birmingham lose and they win and Reading can claim it by beating Birmingham and hoping Sheff Utd lose. For the record my money is on the Blades.
Tony’s Final Day Preview

Form
It didn’t really need highlighting further but the fact that a transfer policy heavily weighted towards defenders and midfielders has turned QPR into a negative outfit this season rather than any negative tactics employed by Paulo Sousa has been hammered home by the results since is departure. Gareth Ainsworth has overseen four games so far and QPR have failed to score in three of them. Only at Wolves did we actually look like scoring and even there we only threatened sporadically. Plymouth last weekend was a dire affair and a world away from the trilling Sheffield Wednesday comeback that stands out of our results and performances since Christmas like a pimple on a camel’s back. With three away wins and nine draws only relegated Charlton and possibly soon to be relegated Norwich have a worse record on the road.

Having initially looked well out of it Preston have played themselves back into play off contention with three consecutive wins coming into this game. If they can make it four against Rangers they must hope that either Cardiff or Burnley lose so they can make the six. Two of the three wins have been impressive away ones, at Doncaster and Birmingham, but the one everybody is talking about is a 6-0 win against play off rivals Cardiff in their last home match. That results looks ominous for a QPR side not as good as the Cardiff one and with much less to play for. Overall this season Preston have won 15 of their 22 home matches – more than any other team in the league. Ominous indeed.
Form Guide

Prediction
I think our players put their cards very firmly on the table last weekend both in the Plymouth game and at the end of season dinner in the evening. I expect them to continue that attitude on Sunday and with Preston needing to win this game we should be ideal cannon fodder. QPR are as long as 6/1 to win this game with some bookmakers.
Preston 2 QPR 0

Photo: Action Images

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