QPR fought hard for a 1-0 win at Norwich last Wednesday, off the pitch it turned out to be a long but rewarding night.
1 – The Match Discuss this story on the Message Board Click here and be the first user to comment on this story
Tense and tetchy rather than thrilling. I’m not sure what a neutral would have made of it but for us in the away end it was edge of the seat, finger nail destroying stuff once Matt Connolly had been sent off in the first half. It was hard to argue with that decision, Matt Pattison was lucky to live through the second tackle, but between the red card and half time QPR actually had three great chances to score. Martin Rowlands took his from a thrice taken free kick, Emmanuel Ledesma and Dexter Blackstock both missed sitters. In the second half Norwich brought on Lee Croft and relied exclusively on him to get them back into the game, only in the final five minutes and stoppage time did they really start to threaten. QPR made no secret of their lack of attacking desire and set themselves up to defend what Norwich had to offer – they did it well although Sibierski really should have scored with a header in stoppage time. He planted it wide, and was rewarded with a corner by the increasingly eccentric match officials. Still, it didn’t matter for Rangers in the end.
7/10
2 - QPR Performance:
Superb. A very even game until the sending off and after that QPR really did themselves proud. Once Connolly had gone off you could have forgiven the R’s for clinging onto 0-0 for dear life but they scored one and should have had two more as the dominated the final 20 minutes of the first half. The backs to the wall effort in the second half was something else, rarely have I seen it done so well, and Stewart and Gorkss were at the heart of a fantastic defensive display. If I do have a criticism it’s that our ball retention was poor when we should have done what we did at Bristol City – kept the ball for 30 passes at a time and not encouraged the opposition.
8/10
3 - QPR Support:
I’d say there were about 800 QPR fans in the side stand for this one which isn’t too bad for a Wednesday night match at a real ball ache of a place to get to. Those that did make the effort sang almost constantly throughout the match which took some doing at times in the second half when the team was hanging on and most of us could hardly bare to watch. The animosity and heightened expectations causing rows that we saw in the first few matches has now thankfully subsided and it felt like we were all together again as a group supporting the team – unlike at the Barnsley and Sheff Utd matches. A point added for the gentleman sitting across the aisle from us who shouted "I've got a train to catch" at every player who dared to go down injured, and could play is hands like a trumpet to great affect.
8/10
4 – The Ground:
Carrow Road is a terrific ground now it’s completely finished although I can’t for the life of me understand why they went for a Holiday Inn in the corner rather than more seats considering they have plenty of demand for tickets – 25,000 in for this one. Of course I can understand really, it was worth a lot of money to them, but it’s a shame because a corner of seats in there would put this right up there with Bramall Lane as the best ground in the league in my opinion. As it is it’s not quite as good for my money, but it’s not far off. Great view from the away end seats and excellent facilities downstairs. It’s been redeveloped on all four sides now but it retains character and atmosphere unlike a lot of the brand new stadiums that are dotted about. Great place to watch football.
8/10
5 – Atmosphere:
Absolutely brilliant for the first ten or fifteen minutes with both sets of fans really belting out the songs in support of their teams. Things settled down a little bit after that with QPR silenced briefly by the sending off and then Norwich likewise by the Rangers goal. In the second half frustration and impatience got the better of the home fans who started to get on the backs of their own player while the QPR fans did their best to roar their team home to a victory.
7/10
6 – Pre Match
After parking up at the side of the road in God knows where we immediately decamped to the nearest boozer which was fairly full with Norwich fans but had a friendly atmosphere and food and that was all we were looking for really. The pub, strangely, had two different menus: a football matchday menu of various burgers which I ordered from, and an Indian menu the likes of which I haven’t seen in a public house before. Young North ordered a curry from that and we waited with baited breath to see what would arrive. The curry came first, and was of Indian restaurant quality, really excellent. My burger arrived sometime, nearly 20 minutes in fact, afterwards and was also pretty decent. The delay between the different meals, the extent of the Indian menu and the large amount of cardboard cartons stacking up on the bar had us intrigued and after a quick investigation we quickly discovered that the pub was actually bringing the food in from the Indian takeaway next door – phoning the orders through as they arrived and having them delivered. I’ve never seen anything like it. A very decent place, two locals allowed us to share their table when we short of a place to sit and I was impressed. We could well be back here next year, if only I could remember what it was called… The Rose is my guess, could be wrong.
7/10
7 – The Journey
I’ve thought for some time that somebody didn’t want me to go to this match. When it was originally scheduled for Tuesday (busiest day at work) I had no holiday left to take for it and wasn’t going to go. Then it was moved to Wednesday (quietest day at work) and I didn’t think there would be a problem with me taking some lieu time and nipping out early to make it. Then I had an appraisal scheduled for Wednesday at 4pm, and when my boss kindly moved that it turned out a colleague was taking a driving test and needed covering for. It was just one obstacle after another but ultimately 3pm came and I hit the road, long and winding though it was, to East Anglia.
Young North and myself had agreed to stop in Peterborough to pick up Polish Paul, a good friend of ours over the years, who had caught a train that far and was rather merry by the time we pulled into the car park at the station – so merry in fact that he originally tried to get into the car in front of us. The drive to Norwich from there can at best be described as a ball ache. Two lane road for most of the way and we ended up behind a caravan for a good 50 minutes – message to the caravan club, your inconsiderate bastard members do not, ever, ever, ever pull over to let people past like you keep insisting they do. Stop peddling these lies you devil worshipers.
Rather annoyingly after finally snapping and performing a risky overtaking maneuver on a roundabout near Wisbech both passengers decided within five minutes that they wanted to stop for a slash and so while they stood on parade in the layby I had to sit in the driver’s seat disconsolately as the bloody, bastard, f****** caravan trundled past and resumed its position in my bloody way. We eventually arrived in Norwich at twenty to seven, three hours and forty minutes from Derby.
Going back we’d agreed to take Paul back to Hinckley which meant A11 and A14, pig ugly roads but better than the A47 and it was a pretty uneventful journey once we got going. I say ‘once we got going’ because as Paul had stayed in the pub while we went to the match, and then sat in the Norwich end by mistake, and then left the game early, we did have to spend an hour or so wondering around Norwich looking for him, asking over and over down the phone “what can you see, tell us some things you can see”. In the end it turned out he was back in the original pub looking out of the window saying “church, shop, cars”. Hinckley at 1.20am, Derby at 1.50am, back indoors for half two, Young North was in for three and back out to work again at five.
4/10
8 – Police and Stewards
One steward was a complete arsehole, picking on QPR fans for standing up, hanging their coats on empty seats and all manner of heinous crimes. Luckily one of the many cheerful, happy, good at their jobs stewards was following him around and immediately telling the people the officious one told off “don’t worry about it, he’s an arsehole”. The police were very understanding with Young North when he lost the plot in stoppage time and set off down the steps to try and put forward a point of view to the linesman who he believed was mistaken in awarding Norwich a corner. I’d have nicked him.
7/10
56/80