QPR stretched their lead at the top of the Championship to three points on Friday night with a hard fought point away to the bottom side in the league Bristol City.
It was a night for living up to stereotypes for QPR at Ashton Gate on Friday.
Rangers have often suffered from stage fright when cast into the unforgiving bright lights of Sky’s television cameras and having gone into this game against the league’s current bottom side clear at the top of the table it could fairly be argued that they did so again here. Plenty of possession, some bad luck and near misses, but ultimately two points dropped and as City had plenty of sights of goal of their own and only conceded their advantage very late in the piece the R’s can count themselves somewhat fortunate to have salvaged even a draw.
Jon Stead is a man seamlessly slotting into the Clinton Morrison role of playing like a man whose mind is elsewhere for the majority of the season only to turn into some all conquering footballing God whenever QPR loom large on the scene. His 15th minute opener here was a sucker punch to Rangers who had dominated the early proceedings and must surely be as good a goal as he has ever scored. The ball flew like an Exocet missile off the end of his boot from fully 25 yards and almost ripped the netting off the back of Paddy Kenny's posts as it zipped in off the underside of the crossbar. Had it been against any other team in the league it would have flown harmlessly into the stand. Quite what QPR have done to offend Stead, or exactly what our defence does that suits his game so beautifully, remains a frustrating mystery. It’s now six goals in his last five appearances against the R’s.
And then there’s the old adage about Neil Warnock’s sides having spirit, and never giving up, continuing to try things right to the end of the game and mixing it up with a more direct style if all other options have been exhausted. These traits hang around Warnock like a damp smell, often levelled at him as some sort of negative. There was nothing negative about Patrick Agyemang’s equaliser here – it came after QPR had seemingly grown weary of trying and accepted their fate and it kept the unbeaten run going into a 14th match next week.
Despite increasing calls for Tommy Smith to be given a start Neil Warnock once again selected the same starting 11 following the Tuesday night stalemate at Swansea which meant a starts for Hogan Ephraim and Alejandro Faurlin on the ground where they made their QPR debuts. Warnock was able to include striker Rob Hulse among his substitutes for the first time since his move from Derby in August and he too would later emerge to join that exclusive Ashton Gate club at Rangers.
So Paddy Kenny, with ten clean sheets from 12 games played, started in goal behind a back four of Walker, Connolly, Gorkss and Hill. In midfield Faurlin partnered Derry with Mackie, Ephraim and Taarabt further forward behind Helguson as the lone striker.
Bristol City got their first home win of the season against Reading on Tuesday while the R’s were drawing at Swansea but manager Keith Millen was forced into a change with winger Jamal Campbell-Ryce not fit for selection – he was replaced by Tottenham loanee Danny Rose who shot to national prominence with a wonder goal for his parent club in a north London derby against Arsenal last season. City started with regular scourge of QPR Jon Stead in attack.
The game settled immediately into a pattern that it would follow for the full 90 minutes – QPR dominated possession and spent long periods with the ball in the City half, the home team stood firm and then looked threatening on the counter attack. In the first minute Adel Taarabt won and then blasted over a free kick five or six yards outside the penalty area. Then after six or seven minutes of play taking place almost exclusively in the City half they broke for their first attack and after Jon Stead had skinned Kaspars Gorkss out wide Danny Haynes failed to convert at the near post. Gorkss always finds Stead a difficult customer to deal with and tonight was no exception.
QPR looked most threatening when right full back Kyle Walker had the ball at his feet, running at the Bristol City defence. He fired the first of several efforts on David James’ goal after eight minutes when he was found wide on the right by Adel Taarabt and then cut inside past his fellow Tottenham loanee Danny Rose who had missed the interception. Within a minute he was on the offensive again, picking up a quick Paddy Kenny clearance from Jamie Mackie and working a couple of one twos with the Scottish international before teeing his team mate up for a shot that, again, flew right across the face of goal.
When Hogan Ephraim drove purposefully into the heart of the Bristol City penalty area and produced a delicious cross that Heidar Helguson just failed to make contact with at the near post it seemed that QPR were settling into a groove and it was perhaps this that created a false sense of security among the players and brought about City’s opening goal.
At the start of the season Adel Taarabt was delivering some absolutely sumptuous set pieces into opposing penalty areas and causing all sorts of problems from dead ball situations. Just recently however his corners and free kicks have left a lot to be desired and his worst for quite some time inadvertently set up City’s opening goal. QPR had loaded the penalty area to await Taarabt’s delivery from the touchline and that left them short at the back when an abysmal free kick was easily cleared at the edge of the box and Stead set off with the ball at his feet and Rose up in support. That extra effort from Rose proved to be crucial as it prevented Shaun Derry from committing himself solely to Stead and that was all the invitation he needed to cut inside onto his right foot and launch a simply unstoppable thunderbolt that screamed into the net past a helpless Paddy Kenny. That’s only the fourth goal Rangers have conceded this season and I doubt we will ship a better, or more preventable, one between now and May.
City suddenly looked a different side. Nervous and tentative initially despite the midweek win against Reading, the goal suddenly sent belief coursing through their veins. The forced decision to include Danny Rose from the start turned out to be one of the best things that could have happened for Keith Millen as he was one of City’s best players on the night. QPR looked in danger whenever City counter attacked with the pace of Rose, Danny Haynes and Albert Adomah across the front line and within four minutes of falling behind Warnock’s men were fortunate not to ship a second as Rose did Gorkss for pace and fired a low shot on goal from a tight angle that Kenny saved well with his feet. When Rose then set off on a run again in the next attack and fed Haynes who fired over the bar when he should have found the target it was starting to look like it would be a long night for the travelling faithful.
City sensed their chance. They loaded the left side of their team with Rose, Stead and Haynes in an effort to exploit the space left when Walker ran forward for QPR. Frustration started to grow in the visiting ranks with Walker rightly yellow carded for a show of dissent when he tried to take Stead on, lost the ball and then fouled his man on halfway. A second yellow card quickly followed for Derry who fouled Marvin Elliott to prevent another swift City counter attack – that one looked harsher from referee Lee Mason, but Derry was too busy delivering a volley of abuse to Adel Taarabt who had lost the ball again to create the problem to complain to the referee. He did find time to ask a question of Mason a minute later though when Elliott committed exactly the same foul on Kyle Walker in exactly the same part of the pitch and the exact same situation but was let off with just a warning.
From the resulting free kick the same situation occurred again – QPR probed in attack, and then suddenly looked like conceding one going the other way. The free kick was delivered beautifully into the near post by Hogan Ephraim and Gorkss steered his header over the bar by about a foot at full stretch. From the goal kick Haynes ran into that dangerous left channel again and pulled the ball back from the byline to provide a simple tap in at the back post for Stead – a vital touch from Clint Hill at the last minute rescued the visitors.
Bristol City, as teams low on confidence often do, seemed to shrink back into their shells in the final five minutes of the half – desperate to try and hold their advantage into the break but not showing much confidence in their own ability to do so. QPR went agonisingly close to an equaliser three times after the 40 minute mark.
First Walker combined with the equally impressive Mackie after taking a throw in wide on the right and then launched a sizzling shot that beat David James all ends up but veered fractionally wide of the far post. Then James had to be alert to field a ball whipped into the near post by Hogan Ephraim with Jamie Mackie lurking for the sort of fumble and subsequent tap in he would have got from the majority of Championship goalkeepers in similar circumstances.
Then in the final seconds of three added minutes Shaun Derry hooked an improvised shot over James who watched with heart in mouth as it dropped a foot wide of the far post. Derry was actually lucky to still be involved in the game at this stage as just a minute earlier he was the subject of a terrible tackle from Danny Rose back in his own half. Two footed, off the ground, late and nowhere near the ball it was as clear a red card as you’ll see all season and why Mr Mason chose to only issue a yellow when he’s usually not shy of handing out cards like confetti at a wedding only he knows. Rose strikes me as an enthusiastic player rather than a nasty one, so I’m not for one minute suggesting that he meant to hurt Derry or even execute the challenge in the way that he did, but it was an absolute horror all the same and the red card should have been out before Derry even hit the ground.
The intentions of both sides was clear from the start of the second half. Bristol City were going to sit even deeper than they had in the first half and rely on Liam Fontaine and the excellent Steven Caulker at the back with Marvin Elliott ahead of them to hold QPR out while Rangers were going to attack with renewed vigour in search of an equaliser.
They should have had that levelling goal within a minute of the restart. Walker played Mackie in behind a snoozing backline and with Helguson up in support a goal looked likely. Mackie travelled deep into the area and set up Helguson for what should have been a simple tap in. The Icelandic striker duffed his finish, enabled David James to make an unorthodox save, and then couldn’t shift his body out of the way of Mackie’s follow up header that was happily sailing straight into the net and would have counted had it not flicked off the now offside Helguson’s knee right on the goal line. Frustration just isn’t the word – it was a face tearing, agonising, ball aching moment of football.
Wound newly torn and glistening with fresh blood City then set to work with the salt and had a better player than Danny Haynes been on the end of Jon Stead’s through ball that found Matt Connolly dozing and not picking up his runner than the home team would have doubled their lead. Luckily for Connolly and QPR Haynes has missed his true vocation as a sprinter and is a footballer in name only. He showed all the conviction and confidence of a depressed sloth as he dragged his one on one chance wide of the far post via a small deflection off Clint Hill.
Adel Taarabt, so often the catalyst of positive things at QPR this season, actually proved to be more of a hindrance than a help to his team on Friday. He frustrated his team mates, Mackie and Ephraim in particular, in the first half by showing an uncanny knack of picking the wrong option with the ball at his feet on every single occasion – shooting when there were players in support, dribbling when surrounded by opponents, looking for miracle balls when there was nothing on. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was trying to show off for the television audience and two silly long range shots just before the hour mark, neither of which were ever likely to trouble a keeper of James’ ability, all but confirmed that. He was a prime candidate to be taken off when Warnock introduced first Tommy Smith and then Rob Hulse for a QPR debut but another below par performance from Hogan Ephraim, who went first, and a shoulder injury sustained by Heidar Helguson gave him a stay of execution.
City made a change of their own in amongst all of this – replacing Adomah a winger with Cisse a defensive central midfield player and becoming even more negative in their approach. That said they continued to look a constant menace on the counter attack with Stead leading their line expertly.
Three chances to put the game to bed followed the changes in quick succession. First another very poor ball from Taarabt set up a counter attack which concluded with Marvin Elliott almost matching the quality of Stead’s opening goal – Kenny produced a high quality save with his fingertips right up in his top corner. Then Gorkss was booked for a desperate lunge on Rose as the Spurs youngster got away from him again and Haynes hammered the free kick into the wall. And finally Stead almost got an identical goal to one he scored against the R’s for Ipswich last Boxing Day – holding the ball up on the edge of the area, manipulating his marker into position and then turning and firing a low drive towards the bottom corner that this time Paddy Kenny was equal to with a firm right hand.
In response QPR started to go much more direct. Time after time Faurlin, who calmly controlled his side throughout, dinked balls up into the penalty area looking for the head of Hulse and the enthusiastic running of Jamie Mackie. A cross from the byline by Taarabt with 20 minutes left for play was just behind Hulse who still managed to engineer a strange effort on goal of sorts that James calmly collected. Then a corner from Taarabt found Matthew Connolly unmarked in the area and his header was cleared from the goal line by McAllister – that was a warning City failed to heed.
Even from that chance though Rangers immediately looked vulnerable to a quick break and Faurlin was harshly yellow carded for holding Stead as City broke down field.
A shot straight at David James with better placed options followed by yet another woeful free kick wide of the goal were the last contributions from Taarabt who was replaced by Patrick Agyemang as time started to run out and the more direct style became an all out aerial bombardment from that point on. Taarabt is an infuriating player on nights like this. He did more harm than good out there, showing greed and selfishness at the wrong time and winding his team mates up with his poor decision making. But as I’ve said before this is why he plays for QPR in the Championship and not for Spurs in the Premiership – if he was as brilliant as we know he can be every game then he’d be consistently excellent and would consequently not be playing for us. It’s precisely these kind of performances that keep him at QPR so in my opinion I’m afraid we just have to put up with him when he’s like this as a necessary evil to keep him at the club. We could maybe stop him taking the free kicks though.
Danny Haynes dragged another presentable chance across the face of goal as the remaining time entered single figures and for once it was QPR who stormed down field and made City pay for the profligacy. The home side again lost Matthew Connolly from a corner and his powerful near post header was turned into the net from almost underneath the bar by Patrick Agyemang. The City players on the line who had saved a goal earlier in the half cost them one here by playing Agyemang onside – and even big Dave doesn’t miss from half a yard out.
Agyemang endured a torrid time on loan at Bristol City last season and actually looked committed and up for a shift of hard work when he came on here, as opposed to his laboured half arsed effort at Swansea on Tuesday night. He’s just as frustrating as Taarabt for me because he has all the physical attributes to be a real handful but rarely asserts himself on a game to any affect.
There were further corners for Rangers, and a late half hearted penalty appeal from Marvin Elliott who felt Clint Hill had impeded his advance towards a back post cross, but having worked so hard to get back into the game there seemed to be a feeling among the QPR players that a point wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world while City for their part seemed so deflated by the late set back a second coming was well beyond them.
This was a poor result. QPR had more than enough possession and chances to win the game but never once got to grips with Stead, Rose and the City counter attacks and consequently left themselves vulnerable at the back. At the other end there were elements of bad luck to point to – Mackie’s disallowed goal was agonising and Connolly had one off the line – but mostly there was a lack of clinical ruthlessness in and around the City penalty area, particularly by Adel Taarabt who needs to be taken through the video of this game in great detail on Monday and shown just what a damaging presence he can be when he gets into his Bertie Big Bollocks costume and arses about.
City didn’t look like a side that should be struggling at the bottom, QPR didn’t look much like a side that should be leading the league, and a draw was a fair result. For every Jamie Mackie, Alejandro Faurlin or Kyle Walker playing well QPR had an Adel Taarabt, Kaspars Gorkss or Hogan Ephraim not on their game. Likewise for City who had Jon Stead, Danny Rose and Steven Caulker in great form while Danny Haynes, Jamie McAllister and Lee Johnson struggled.
The recent inability to turn draws into wins has allowed others to close the gap and Rangers must re-assert themselves on their own patch next week when they have two consecutive home games against Burnley and Reading. But they will go into the first of those games as the league leaders barring a Rugby League score in Cardiff’s favour at Elland Road on Monday.
QPR fans are now placed in the uncomfortable position of supporting Leeds United for a night, after which I personally fear a Lady Macbeth situation where I spend most of next week frantically scrubbing at my skin until it’s bloody and raw muttering ‘unclean’ under my breath. Still, as our team showed in the closing stages tonight, sometimes it’s a case of needs must.
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Bristol City: James 7, Carey 6, Caulker 8, Fontaine 7, McAllister 6, Adomah 6 (Cisse 58, 6), Elliott 6, Johnson 5, Rose 7, Haynes 5, Stead 8
Subs Not Used: Gerken, Hunt, Stewart, Clarkson, Sproule, Pitman
Booked: Rose (foul), Elliott (foul)
Goals: Stead 16 (unassisted)
QPR: Kenny 8, Walker 8, Gorkss 6, Connolly 6, Hill 6, Derry 6, Faurlin 7, Ephraim 5 (Smith 57, 6), Taarabt 5 (Agyemang 78, 7),Helguson 6 (Hulse 64, 6)
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Orr, Hall, Mahon
Booked: Walker (dissent), Derry (foul), Gorkss (foul), Faurlin (foul)
. Goals: Agyemang 84 (assisted Smith/Connolly)
QPR Star Man – Kyle Walker 8 A toss up between him and Paddy Kenny who made three important saves to preserve a point. Walker was our best player with and without the ball – just about getting the better of his battle with the similarly impressive Danny Rose and posing City no end of problems going forward in attack.
Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 6 My main criticism of him, as it always has been, is more a general point about the way he controls games rather than any specific criticism of anything he did tonight. I like a referee that calms situations, has a word on the run, and man manages players rather than flashing cards around. Mason always behaves like the kid that was bullied at school and now has a chance for revenge but doesn’t really have the self confidence to carry it out in any kind of serious way. So he hands out cards. For everything. Most referees start from a free kick and work up from there, but Mason’s starting point seems to be that everything is a booking. I thought Derry, Faurlin and Elliott were very unlucky to be booked here and it was never a six card match in a million years. The one genuinely nasty tackle in the game was from Rose and when a red card was surely the only option Mason showed yellow. Not a good referee.
Attendance: 14,552 (1,200 QPR approx)