QPR served up a dull goalless draw for the tenth time this season as Crystal Palace left Loftus Road with a point from a lifeless game on Saturday.

In the interests of starting with some positives QPR are now four unbeaten, have kept three clean sheets in their last four games and were the better team on Saturday against Crystal Palace. Rowan Vine also made his first appearance for more than a year, coming off the bench for the last twenty minutes or so. Once again though this was a match that had nil nil written all over it from very early on. A tenth scoreless draw, and this was very bit as dull as those that had gone before, actually took Rangers up a place above Ipswich but that’s really about all you can say about it.


While some fans may have been hoping for a sight of Rowan Vine’s name on the team sheet the big news before kick off turned out to be the absence of Jordi Lopez, man of the match against Bristol City last time out, from the midfield. The Spaniard’s injury necessitated a reshuffle across the midfield with Mikele Leigertwood dropping back into the holding midfielder role against his former club and being replaced further upfield by Liam Miller. Taarabt and Routledge, another former Palace man in the Rangers ranks, started on the flanks which meant Lee Cook again had to make do with a place on the bench. Fitz Hall’s continued absence through injury meant Matt Connolly partnered Gorkss at the heart of the defence between Ramage and Delaney and in front of Cerny. Damion Stewart had to make do with a place on the bench. Sam Di Carmine was given the thankless task of playing up front by himself.


Palace were without winger John Oster coming into the game but did welcome back two crucial parts of the spine of their side – midfielder Nick Carle returned in the middle of the park, giant defender Claude Davis was back in defence alongside Matt Lawrence. The game too soon for Patrick McCarthy.


With plans already being made for this website next season one thing I might like to consider is not picking any opponents out as potential weak links in the match previews. Kevin McNaughton has been the top Cardiff man whenever I’ve seen them since I said he was poor in the run up to our game at Ninian Park and having described Palace’s Shaun Derry as a player so poor “he makes you wonder why you’re not playing professional football somewhere” the crusty old midfielder took little more than two minutes to almost make me eat my words. Two lofted balls towards Kuqi in the QPR penalty area were both won in the air by Gorkss but his second clearance fell to Derry who launched an astonishing 30 yard half volley that flew a couple of inches wide of the top corner with Cerny well beaten.


Speroni’s first save of the match saw him deny Liam Miller a first goal for QPR. Wayne Routledge controlled a loose ball well over by the dugouts and set off on a typical run down the flank that ended with a great through ball to Miller – he shot for the near post from a narrow angle and Speroni comfortably turned it behind for a corner.


Palace’s Argentinean goalkeeper looked a lot less happy ten minutes later when Taarabt tricked his way to the edge of the box and unloaded a fierce strike that seemed to catch the goalkeeper by surprise and smacked him straight in the chest before, luckily for Palace, bouncing away to safety.


Palace almost fell behind on the half hour in what would have been farcical circumstances. Hogan Ephraim broke from midfield and crossed the halfway line before feeding a great ball into Sam Di Carmine down the left flank. Di Carmine was left all alone and unmarked by the Palace defence and was able to race into the penalty area before cutting a ball back from the byline. Nathaniel Clyne attempted to clear at the near post but could only divert the ball towards his own goal and Speroni had to be alert and get down smartly to save and deny his young team mate a moment of great embarrassment.


The first booking of the game came just before that incident, Clint Hill cautioned for an obvious foul on Wayne Routledge. Hill is what I would call a typical Neil Warnock player – big, nasty, physical, experienced and as slow as a bus. The idea of Routledge running at him excited me when I saw he was starting at left back and with an early yellow card to his name as well that seemed like a real area for QPR to target. Sadly though the Palace man seemed to come out of the yellow card incident the worst physically and within ten minutes he had trudged off to be replaced by Jose Fonte. Palace reshuffled their defence, Lawrence went to right back, Clyne to left and Fonte joined Davis in the middle. An avenue of opportunity closed before it had ever really opened.


The main talking point of the half came in stoppage time at the end of it. Sam Di Carmine attempted to control a bouncing ball tight to the touchline on the South Africa Road side of the ground and as he leaned in to try and get a head on the ball Claude Davis arrived with an uncompromising challenge that did take the ball, but also delivered a kick to the Italian striker’s head.


The whole thing then descended into a farce with lots of players crowding around who were not involved in the incident, possibly pointing out that Di Carmine had now twice received blows to the face although in fairness he hits the deck and feigns injury that often it’s hard to tell when he is genuinely fouled and hurt and when he’s just putting it on. Then Paulo Sousa came across to see how Di Carmine was and remonstrate a bit with the officials. Warnock tried to get the Portuguese to go back to his technical area which he did. Di Carmine headed straight down the tunnel for treatment while referee Mathieson held a long conversation with Sousa resulting in the QPR manager being sent to the stand for the first time in his fledgling career. Sousa didn’t seem to entirely understand what had happened and had to have the situation explained to him by Gareth Ainsworth who then went onto the pitch for a chat with the referee at the half time whistle. Much ado about nothing really, it was a foul and nothing more on Di Carmine and the scenes afterwards were all a bit daft to be honest. Davis was booked for his part in it all.


The players were very late back for the second half, it was nearly ten past four when we eventually got kicked off, but it was apparent long before they re-emerged that Lee Cook would be coming on for the second half. It was no surprise to see Liam Miller taken off for him, another totally ineffective game from the former Sunderland midfielder, and Cook’s introduction allowed Taarabt to move infield where he could perhaps have more influence on the game and provide some much needed support for the beleaguered Di Carmine.


It was Palace that started the second half the stronger though and they almost took the lead within sixty seconds of the restart. The impressive Victor Moses cut in from the left, dummied in front of Peter Ramage causing the former Newcastle man to lose his footing and then sent a dipping, curling effort towards goal – Radek Cerny did superbly to claw it behind right up in his top left hand corner.


That shot sparked Rangers into life a little bit and they had a chance of their own to take the lead three minutes later. A deep cross from down by the corner flag by Damien Delaney found Wayne Routledge at the back post and his instinctive first time volley bobbled all the way across the face of the goal and a foot or so wide of the upright.


Then Di Carmine found himself with the ball at his feet and some space to move into in the Palace half. The ball was on his left foot but he clearly didn’t fancy taking on a shot on that side so having reached the penalty area he tried to cut back onto his right foot and that gave Davis an opportunity to execute a well timed block.


The best chance of the match fell to QPR just before the hour mark and really only Adel Taarabt will know how he didn’t score. Radek Cerny miscued a kick out of his hands but it fell just right on halfway for first Wayne Routledge and then Sam Di Carmine to flick it on into space, the Italian’s header put Taarabt away but after accelerating away from Davis and committing Speroni he somehow lifted his shot over the gaping goal and into the Loft. Perhaps the Moroccan could point to the abysmal playing surface at Loftus Road – the summer relay cannot come a moment too soon.


Palace’s physical approach to the game continued with a third yellow card on the hour – Matt Lawrence fouled Lee Cook.


The flick for Taarabt and shot blocked by Davis were probably the best moments of an otherwise poor display for Di Carmine. He’s a player that continues to divide supporters – some saying his movement, awareness and hold up play make him a key figure, others failing to see that and questioning his goal record, lack of pace and body language. I’m not a fan as you know and I felt he was pretty rank on Saturday except for one or two nice touches. Yes he is young and inexperienced, but there are plenty of people younger than he is playing the game these days. Yes he is in a foreign country and a different league to anything he’s ever experienced before but he’s been here for nine months now. Yes occasionally he does hold the ball up well, create space for others or pass a nice ball but these occasions are greatly outnumbered by examples of him hitting the deck under minimal contact, ambling around with his head down and shrugging his shoulders at the bench and his team mates.


Playing alone up front in a team that provides poor service and no support from midfield is a thankless task, but he would win more friends if he at least looked like he gave a bit of a toss about it all. It’s like he wants to be absolutely sure that everybody realises what a thankless task it is. He has the body language of Kevin the Teenager and looks like a man ready to go back to Fiorentina. Assuming, heaven forbid, that we’re not trying to do a deal to keep him I’m forced to wonder exactly what we are getting out of picking him every week at the moment – certainly not a great deal of goals that’s for sure. He was poor on Saturday but can’t have been helped by the chants of Rowan Vine’s name after every mistake he made, the booing of the Taarabt substitution because they thought Di Carmine should have gone off and the huge cheer that went up when his number did eventually go up. I feel sorry for all sides really – Di Carmine didn’t get much support from his team mates but supporters who’ve paid a lot of money to watch matches can’t be expected to sit there and mindlessly clap along when they don’t think a player is making the effort. I gave him plenty of stick myself on Saturday and didn’t feel particularly good about it afterwards but it’s hard and frustrating and like I say his body language really isn’t that of a player that gives much of a toss about anything. It’s a situation where the only winner is the opposition really and one occurring far too often at Loftus Road this season.


The Rangers’ coaching staff finally gave the fans what they wanted with about seventeen minutes left to play when they sent Rowan Vine on for Adel Taarabt. The cheers for the striker’s return were mixed in with boos from some sections of the crowd when they realised it was Taarabt making way, and not Di Carmine as many thought was probably inevitable. Vine looked lively but a little rusty on his return, his main piece of action was a penalty appeal in the final minute of the game. Inside the penalty area with his back to goal he attempted to flick the ball over his head and that of his marker Jose Fonte who was very tight to the Rangers man. The ball appeared to strike the Palace defender’s raised arm and Vine immediately appealed, along with the entire Loft and Ellerslie Road stands, but referee and linesman stood unmoved. I have to say from my seat in F Block it looked like it would have been a very harsh penalty to give.


Before that Palace went reasonably close to a goal of their own when Cerny saved smartly down in the bottom corner after a turn and snap shot from Stokes. Kuqi headed wide from their final corner of the game and sub Paul Ifill hit a shot wide but Palace never really got going as an attacking threat and only looked remotely dangerous when Victor Moses had the ball. One of the dullest and least inspiring visiting teams to come to Loftus Road this season for sure. In the end all Moses had to show for his efforts was a late booking for a foul on Damien Delaney. Moses, and lookalike Neil Danns, spoke with the referee at length about the decision before retreating for the free kick that QPR wasted – again the quality of set pieces from wide areas was dire from QPR.


Once again then a goalless draw, another very dull afternoon watching QPR. This game was like so many that have gone before it this season – with no goals to talk about the major debating points became decisions from the referee and the reaction of QPR fans towards their own players. The end of the season cannot really come quickly enough for me.


This match serves to highlight further is the strengths and weaknesses in the QPR team. We have excellent options in defence – even with our two first choice centre halves from the start of the season out on Saturday the best two players on the pitch were the ones in the middle of our back four and this was a twentieth clean sheet of the season. We are however poor in attack. Di Carmine had a very poor match but the support coming from midfield both in the form of bodies in attack and service to the front man was almost non-existent at times.




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QPR: Cerny 7, Ramage 7, Gorkss 8, Connolly 8, Delaney 7, Leigertwood 6, Routledge 6, Miller 4 (Cook 46, 5), Ephraim 6, Taarabt 6 (Vine 73, 6), Di Carmine 4 (Balanta 85, -)

Subs Not Used: Stewart, Alberti


Crystal Palace: Speroni 7, Lawrence 7, Davis 7, Clyne 7, Hill 5 (Jose Fonte 40, 6), Danns 6, Derry 6, Carle 6, Moses 8, Kuqi 6 (Scowcroft 83, -), Stokes 6 (Ifill 79, 6)

Subs Not Used: Hills, Rui Fonte

Booked: Hill (foul), Davis (high boot), Lawrence (foul), Moses (foul)


Man of the Match – Matt Connolly 8 Once again the two stand out performers in the QPR team were the centre halves. Connolly and Gorkss formed a classy partnership that kept Kuqi and Stoke well under wraps. Connolly may prefer to play full back, and he’s certainly not bad there, but he’s a terrific centre half at this level and his ability to bring the ball out of defence and pass it well adds a welcome dimension to our play. Combined with Lopez picking the ball up in deep midfield areas and distributing it the two of them could improve our football no end if selected together down the spine of the team.


Referee: Scott Mathieson (Cheshire) 6 Couldn’t argue with any of the bookings and as I have no idea what was said on the touchline when Paulo Sousa was sent off hard to say if that was harsh or not although if he really has been sent to the stand simply for leaving the technical area to check on an injured player that’s pretty poor in my opinion. Palace were very physical and Sam Di Carmine could perhaps have been given more protection in the first half when Davis, Lawrence and Hill all had good cracks at him. I didn’t have the best view of the late penalty appeal but from what I did see it would have been a harsh one to give.


Attendance: 15,234 (2000 Palace approx) Same old same old. QPR fans arguing amongst themselves about abusing their own players, chanting a substitutes name and ultimately signing the name of Dexter Blackstock who isn’t even with us any more. For me the stick that Di Carmine got was harsh at times but as somebody who gave him plenty myself n Saturday I have to say it is hard to sit on your hands and say nothing when you perceive, rightly or wrongly, that a player has given up, dropped his work rate or made little effort. The reaction to the Taarabt substitution was bizarre because while many expected De Carmine to go off Tarrabt didn’t have his best game and the coaches probably wanted to go to two up front – something many of those same fans booing have been asking for all season. Singing Dexter Blackstock’s name was utterly pointless – ironically it’s probably the best reaction Blackstock has had from QPR fans all season. Palace didn’t fill their end, they never do, and didn’t make a great deal of noise either.

Photo: Action Images

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