QPR slipped back to the foot of the Championship table after a frustrating goalless draw against Wolves at Loftus Road.
Lowest home scorers in the league against the best away defence - we really shouldn't have been surprised with this result, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. Regardless of who we bring in during January, and a 15-20 goal a season striker must be a priority, we must develop an ability to turn games we play well in into wins rather than these frustrating draws. This was almost a carbon copy of the Sheff Wed match at Loftus Road last month that also finished 0-0 - entertaining, good to watch, lots of positives, but only one point. That means we're back on the bottom and all the Little England "what does an Italian know about the Championship" nonsense can continue for another week. You'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb to miss the improvements in our team, and frankly De Canio deserves the league's coach of the year award for turning that back four into a reasonable defensive unit, but we just can't convert performances into wins. In the end here we were hanging onto a point against Wolves despite dominating them for the thick end of an hour - we should have been home and hosed ten minutes after half time, in the end only the miss of the season from Stephen Elliott denied Wolves all three points. This point does keep us in touch though, ahead of a relegation six pointer against Colchester next week. Staying in touch is the best we can hope for with our current group of players - if we are going to bring in new players in January we've got to hope they enable us to win games like these. Rangers were forced into changes following the 2-0 midweek win at Burnley. Rowan Vine and Adam Bolder were both suspended for accumulating five yellow cards this season, Dexter Blackstock came into the attack alongside Nygaard, Martin Rowlands returned from his own ban in the midfield. Akos Buzsaky was also fit and available again and he replaced Scott Sinclair in midfield. That meant the back four of Malcolm, Rehman, Stewart and Barker remained intact ahead of Camp - the four of them had been terrifying in the Palace and Scunthorpe matches but were much more solid against Burnley and picked up where they'd left off at Turf Moor again on Saturday. Gareth Ainsworth and Mikele Leigertwood were the other midfielders. The big news of the pre-match centred around Jude the Cat though - the Italian fear of black cats dictating a serious hair die number on our beloved mascot - he's now a very distinguished shade of grey. Wolves seemed to select a strange side to me. If Andy Keogh, Freddy Eastwood and Matt Jarvis, who all started on the bench, aren't good enough to get in a Wolves side that looked poor on paper and played badly for a good portion of the match then I'm watching the wrong sport. It does go without saying that all three of those reserves would be the first name on our team sheet. They started with Jay Bothroyd and Stephen Elliott up front and frankly they didn't look half as threatening as Keogh and Eastwood on paper or on the pitch. Wolves forced the first corner of the game inside the opening ten minutes and it was something of a surprise to see their tall target man Jay Bothroyd come across to take it - I would have thought he'd be better off meeting a cross in the penalty area but it quickly became apparent that he's something of a corner specialist as he delivered a wicked outswinger into the heart of the penalty area onto the head of Neil Collins but Camp claimed as his knock down threatened to cause problems. Seconds later Bob Malcolm showed coolness and confidence that belies the poor start he's made to his QPR career by chesting back to Camp under pressure from Stephen Ward deep inside the QPR six yard box. At the other end Buzsaky cracked a free kick straight at Hennessey and Stewart headed wide from a corner kick by the Hungarian. Wolves looked a poor side in the first half, particularly at the back, and there was no better example of that than in the 18th minute when a nothing ball from the right by Ainsworth was allowed to bounce between Foley and Gibson and Dexter Blackstock reached it when he originally looked third favourite to get there at best. The ball sat up nicely for Blackstock to repeat his goal of the season strike against Preston but rather than searching for the top corner he hit a low drive this time from 20 yards out and it deflected wide for a corner. Ainsworth was at the heart of everything good Rangers were doing and moments after Blacksock had tried his luck from distance Ainsworth had a go as well, sending a dipping 30 yarder in on goal which Hennessey saved comfortably in the bottom corner. Much as I love Ainsworth and his all action style of play he really is going to have to realise he'll never score a goal like that one at Rushden and Diamonds again and should probably stop trying - too often he'll take on an improbable shot ahead of better options around the penalty area. Still, all of us there that day at Nene Park can probably forgive him the odd speculative attempt. Between the half hour and half time Martin Rowlands twice troubled Hennessey from distance. On both occasions the shots came as the result of QPR stealing the ball from Wolves in midfield. Clearly the most important player in McCarthy's team is Olofinjana, the muscular midfield player, and Rangers paid him a great deal of attention throughout the afternoon - Rowlands, Buzsaky and Leigertwood were in his face throughout the game, stopping him playing and consequently gaining the upper hand in the middle of the park. Twice Rowlands robbed him of the ball before half time, twice he cracked a low shot on goal from outside the area and twice Hennessey got down quickly to divert the ball wide with two handed saves. In between the attempts from Rowlands Blackstock should have given QPR the lead when Ainsworth toasted Gray for the umpteenth time in the half, got to the byline and hammered the ball low into the six yard box. Somehow Blackstock contrived to fire wide from a matter of yards out at the near post. Not since Watford's Jermaine Darlington played at Loftus Road for the Hornets has a full back been given quite such a torrid time by Gareth Ainsworth. He absolutely slaughtered him in the first half with the ball, and thanks to some very lenient refereeing he beat him up a few times as well. Some robust and at times dangerous tackles were allowed to play on by referee Fred Graham and Ainsworth made the most of this by gleefully flying into Gray at every opportunity. The former Sunderland man looked thoroughly fed up by half time and he can't really have appreciated Ainsworth sledging him off the ball all the time as well - no doubt telling him there'd be more punishment coming his way soon. Mick McCarthy didn't seem to appreciate the way the referee was handling the first half, and he was furious when Ainsworth got away with shovelling Gray into the West Paddock as the ball went out for a throw in. We all like to see a game allowed to flow, but Graham was letting some ridiculous behaviour go unpunished. Ainsworth thought he'd got his reward for a superb first half display when he tapped home from close range five minutes in but Graham, suddenly remembering he had a whistle in his hand, decided to award a free kick for a push by Blackstock at the back post. Considering some of the assaults he'd allowed to go unpunished in the first half to penalise Blackstock for a debatable climbing offence seemed a little strange to me. He only got stranger though because within seconds Wolves had broken down the other end and won a free kick of their own for a foul on Jay Bothroyd. He'd become exasperated with the lack of protection received from the officials in the first half but when they finally did get a chance to deliver the ball into the box from a set piece they were denied an attempt on goal by a fantastic defensive header from Zesh Rehman. The ball flew into the Lower Loft off Rehman and the referee awarded a goal kick, overruling his assistant who had correctly pointed for a corner. One of numerous extraordinary decisions on the day. The final action of the half saw Buzsaky crudely chopped down on the edge of the area but Graham again waved play on and Wolves broke downfield with a move that culminated with a shot by Gibson that flew well wide. The QPR players and fans continued to express their displeasure to the referee as the teams left the field for the half time oranges. The second half started as the first half had ended, with Wolves looking nothing like the play off contenders they profess to be and QPR on the attack. More indecision from Collins at the back under a through ball gave Blackstock a sight of goal. The striker caught Hennessey by surprise with a first time volley on the run but the ball dipped a yard or so wide of the post with many Rangers fans in the Loft expecting the net to bulge. From a corner a moment later Damion Stewart got to the cross first but could only direct his header down into the turf and it bounced up and onto the roof of the net. Still, it's good to see Stewart looking like a threat from set pieces more and more with each passing game because it was an element of his game missing when he first arrived with us. Then the big controversial moment of the game. Just before the hour Nygaard won back possession from Kevin Foley right in the corner of the penalty area by the byline. The Dane turned on the ball and then looked set to hammer it across the face of goal but Foley clamped his arm tightly and wouldn't release, eventually wrestling the QPR player to the ground. Graham was a matter of feet away, looking right at it, but was unmoved. I still can't believe a penalty wasn't given now looking back, what on earth was the moron looking at? Why would Nygaard go down? He'd turned his man, he was away and heading for goal. A scandalous, pathetic piece of refereeing from an official who was incompetent to the point of endangering the players' safety all afternoon. Nygaard, Barker and several others protested long and hard for more than a minute afterwards. From that moment on though Wolves took over the game. Damion Stewart and Zesh Rehman both produced magnificent clearing headers from deep in their own area and twice Wolves sent low crosses flashing right through the six yard box with nobody able to get a touch. The third time they did it, just after the hour, Stephen Elliott got on the end of it but inexplicably side footed wide from a yard out. A massive let off for Rangers. Mick McCarthy defended his striker afterwards, talking about work rate and runs off the ball and all round performance, but he knows he had two strikers sitting on the bench who would have scored that chance with their eyes closed and however hard Elliott worked on the day that doesn't cover up the fact Wolves had the best chance of the match and he made a total pig's ear of it. Again, I don't understand the team selection from our visitors. Olofinjana thought he was going to tap the ball home from close range in Wolves' next attack but Dexter Blackstock showed a great work ethic to get back into his own area and force the ball out for a corner with a great last ditch tackle. Wolves increased dominance of the game seemed to come on the back of QPR tiring. Obviously we'd played on Tuesday night when Wolves didn't but even so it was still alarming to see just how knackered most of our players looked in the last half an hour compared to our opponents. Ainsworth, Nygaard and Blackstock were absolutely out on their feet with 75 minutes played and I'm at a loss to explain why really. Olofinjana, so closely shackled by Rowlands, Leigertwood and Buzsaky to this point, started to have a growing influence on the game and Wolves started to tick as a result. Elliott forced a good save from Camp before he realised he'd been flagged offside. The organisation and performance of the four defenders was fantastic compared to the shambles we saw at Scunthorpe last week. Rehman and Malcolm were particularly impressive - but for two occasions in quick succession when he got too tight to his man and allowed him to turn Rehman was almost faultless on the day. Malcolm also looked calm and competent at right back although I do fear for him against a quick winger - he was fortunate not to score an own goal when he deflected Bothroyd's shot towards the School End net but it went wide and that would have been tough luck on the much maligned Scot if it had gone wrong for him. The improved defence was helpless to prevent Stephen Ward getting a header in on goal 15 minutes from time but Camp was equal to his looping effort and pushed it out for a corner from right underneath his cross bar. A substitution was needed long before Scott Sinclair was finally sent on with eight minutes left for play. I thought it would be Ainsworth replaced and Sinclair would be given ten minutes to torment Gray but it was actually Blackstock who went off so Wolves continued to profit from Ainsworth's tiredness down their left going forward, and Sinclair only received the ball to feet once in ten minutes up front. Before going off Blackstock had out muscled Ward on the counter attack and dropped a ball back for Rowlands to hit first time from the edge of the box. Hennessey was again equal to the shot, saving high in the top corner, the third time he'd denied Rowlands a long distance goal. After Wolves lost at home to Burnley last week, a game where Hennessey had something of a nightmare, QPR were obviously told to test the young keeper whenever possible but this week he was Wolves' best player and equal to everything we chucked at him on the day. Ainsworth did have him beaten in the dying embers of the game when he turned his man on the edge of the box and shrugged off a cynical shirt pulling offence, which Graham again chose to ignore, to send a measured volley across the face of goal past Hennessey and agonisingly wide of the far post when it looked for so long like it might drop into the side netting and lift the roof off Loftus Road. So a point gained or two lost? As I dashed down the South Africa Road steps after the match a couple of people were mouthing off about "playing for a point against a crap side like that". I don't think we did play for a point, we had a good period of pressure and didn't score, and so did they. Wolves are not a poor side, the league table tells us that, although I'd be lying if I said I understood why McCarthy is picking the team he is doing and they were well below par for most of Saturday's match. Overall across the 90 minutes it was an even contest and the draw was a fair result. We certainly missed Vine in attack, and I'm very concerned about just how many of our players appeared to be dead on their feet during the second half - one of many things we have to work on sharpish if we're to get out of this mess. If we beat Colchester next week then this is a good point. That may seem a strange thing to say but if we do win that game we'll be off the bottom and more than likely out of the bottom three altogether. This point has set up that situation and this little three game unbeaten run has put us in the midst of a ridiculously tight situation at the bottom of the league. A win next week can take us up to 18th from 24th. So a good point in that respect. Defeat next week against the U's and we'll be looking at the first half here and thinking that we missed a real opportunity to take three points. The rumour that De Canio was on the verge of the sack prior to Burnley away and the little England and at times xenophobic attitude of our supporters towards the Italian continues to disappoint. If he can turn those four players into a defence capable of going 180 minutes without conceding a goal he must be a hell of a coach. You can see what he's trying to do, we are much more organised and more adventurous with the ball. Basically he's done everything he can to improve things with the players he has - who really aren't very good. He now deserves January to add to his team and work with players of a better quality. The job until then is to stay in touch with the teams around us and a win next weekend against Colchester is going to be a crucial part of achieving that. QPR Camp 7, Malcolm 7, Rehman 8, Stewart 7, Barker 7, Ainsworth 8, Leigertwood 7, Buzsaky 7, Rowlands 7, Blackstock 6 (Sinclair 83, -), Nygaard 6 Wolves Hennessey 8, Foley 6, Darren Ward 7, Collins 5, Gray 5, Gibson 6, Olofinjana 7, Henry 7, Stephen Ward 7, Elliott 6, Bothroyd 6 (Keogh 88, -) QPR Star Man - Gareth Ainsworth 8 - Narrowly beats Zesh Rehman who I thought was excellent apart from two mad minutes in the second half. This was Ainsworth's best game for some time and although he tired badly in the second half he was unlucky not to score at least one with a late shot going just wide and another goal harshly disallowed. He also provided some decent service from the right flank and was thoroughly good value for my ticket money and fun to watch. Referee: Fred Graham (Essex) 4 - Regular readers will know that I like a referee who keeps his cards in his pockets an allows a game to flow, but there is a limit to that and Mr Graham was so far past that limit at times it became farcical. Twice in the first half Wolves players were the victims of poor challenges from QPR players over by the South Africa Road stand and nothing was given, Buzsaky was chopped down on the edge of the area and nothing was given, Nygaard was blatantly wrestled to the floor in the penalty area and no penalty was given. He just gave nothing all afternoon, and that's great to a point, but as the players realised they could get away with things some really dangerous tackles went in and Graham is lucky nobody got hurt as a result of his slack performance. At one point I actually thought he'd left his whistle in the bogs, Dermott Gallagher stoned off his face would have given more free kicks than this guy. Poor to the point of being dangerous. Attendance: 13,482 (2,500 Wolves fans approx) Pretty good atmosphere overall although the QPR fans soon went quiet when Wolves started to dominate the second half. Great following from Wolves.
Subs Not Used: Cole, Moore, Walton, Balanta
Subs Not Used: Ikeme, Edwards, Jarvis, Eastwood