QPR still await their first win of the season five games in after a fantastic goal from Mikele Leigertwood was only good enough for a point against Leicester City.
Patience is definitely the watch word at Loftus Road at the moment. Seven times John Gregory mentioned it in his pre match QPR World interview - we're being patient in the loan market, we're being patient with Danny Nardiello while he settles in, the new owners know they're going to have to be patient. Gregory had "All You Need is Love" as the club's unofficial theme tune at the end of last season but it seems that's been ushered out of the side door since the takeover and replaced with a recent release by those overrated, hairy come back kids from Manchester. The supporters seem to be happy to give Gregory some time, despite the abysmal and embarrassing home performances so far this season. Whatever anybody says I maintain he did a cracking job last season when he took over a QPR side bottom of the league and lifted them to safety with games to spare on a tiny budget. He certainly deserves some time and patience in my opinion, but it's amazing how quickly patience can drain away and I have to confess I lost a big dollop of mine at about ten to three on Saturday when the team was announced to a healthy travelling support from W12. Hogan Ephraim, one goal and a man of the match performance for the reserves on Tuesday night, and Daniel Nardiello, two goals in that same match against Millwall, were both left on the bench while Stefan Moore started. Now if Gregory reads this he'll probably think "what does that idiot know" because I don't see the players every day of the week like he does, I don't go to training, I don't have years of experience as a manager and a player in the professional game and I don't have access to our players' medical records. But if somebody can tell me what Stefan Moore has done to deserve a selection ahead of Ephraim or Nardiello I'd love to hear it. Moore has shown nothing in over two years at QPR to suggest he can play at this level either up front or on the wing and yet Gregory has obviously seen something this summer to make him think he can do a job for us. Whatever it is it certainly wasn't in evidence on Saturday and it was only when Nardiello and Ephraim got going together down the right in the final ten minutes that Rangers got into this game at all. At the back Zesh Rehman made a return at right back. Now Rehman, unlike Moore, has shown a willingness to work hard this season and has shown one or two signs of improvement. He still looks nervous in possession though and time after time knocks the ball thirty yards down the field to an unmarked opponent. John Curtis has made a shocking start to his QPR career so it was no surprise to see him left out but again I'd love to know what I'm missing with Bignot and Timoska. A fitness problem? Bad attitude? There surely must be something other than football reasons keeping these two out of the picture at the moment, especially with Mancienne injured. One positive was the return of Danny Cullip at centre half alongside Stewart with Mancienne sadly injured. Chris Barker started at left back in front of Camp in goal and behind a midfield four of Rowlands, Bolder, Leigertwood and Moore. Up front Sahar partnered Blackstock. New Leicester manager Gary Megson emerged onto the pitch before the kick off to speak to the supporters of his new club but my attention had already been drawn away from the playing surface to a small scaffolding structure at the back of the stand to my left which had a very large drum on top of it, and the world's fattest man clutching the sticks behind it. He proved to be far more entertaining that the game for the first 80 minutes of it. Leicester started the brighter of the two sides and within the first ten minutes should have taken the lead when Levi Porter crossed to a completely unmarked Carl Cort but the big striker somehow headed wide when it looked easier to score. Moments later Cullip lost his footing and consequently DJ Campbell but the former Brentford man could only head straight at Camp from Alan Sheehan's cross. A quarter of an hour in Campbell did put the ball in the net but the referee and linesman both quickly signalled that an infringement had taken place and the goal was ruled out. From my seat at the opposite end of the ground it looked to me like Campbell had punched the ball in Devon White style but others around me felt that a foul on Camp had taken place. Either way the goal was disallowed and there were few complaints from the home side. It took fully 20 minutes for QPR's long ball game to yield any kind of result. Finally one of the punts dropped around the penalty area and Blackstock was able to knock it back to Rowlands who volleyed over under pressure. Blackstock was clearly growing frustrated again as the half wore on and that only increased when he chased Bruno N'Gotty down to the corner flag and successfully robbed him of possession only for referee Lee Mason to award a generous free kick in the home team's favour. After 25 minutes Ben Sahar received a pass to his feet for the first time in the game and he used this rare moment of possession to spin past Gareth McAuley on the edge of the area and win a free kick for his team. McAuley was perhaps lucky to only receive a yellow card for the foul as Sahar was clearly through on goal after an excellent touch into the area. Martin Rowlands lashed the resulting set piece towards goal but a deflection off the end of the wall took the pace off the shot and Leicester were able to clear away for a corner. Another free kick from Rowlands on the half hour, from wide on the Rangers' left this time, was allowed to fly all the way across the face of goal and hit the base of the post but play soon switched back to the other end of the field. Cort inexplicably headed the ball wide from close range for the second time and Rangers were indebted to Danny Cullip for a spectacular goal line clearance after Damion Stewart gave the ball away on the edge of the box and DJ Campbell used the opportunity to waltz round Camp and fire a shot towards goal. Clemence had a free kick saved by Camp while the keeper was also equal to a long range strike from Sheehan. Despite hitting the post QPR had played poorly in the first half with far too much long ball football. Levi Porter was causing the visitors problems down the flanks and both Cort and Campbell really should have put at least one of their chances away in the first half. As the teams emerged for the second half Daniel Nardiello appeared on the touchline stripped and ready to join the action. He replaced Ben Sahar in attack, the Israeli again unable to make any real impact on the game. I feel desperately sorry for our two strikers at the moment. Dexter Blackstock and Ben Sahar are both players with pace and skill who need the ball passed to their feet. Blackstock is being used as some kind of makeshift target man and spends the whole match at the moment trying to flick on long punts from the back. Sahar alongside him received the ball to feet three times in the first half. Three. Yes I was sad enough to count. We'd discussed the appalling service our strikers have been receiving from both wide areas and down the middle on the train to the match and vowed to see just how many times we passed the ball to Sahar's feet in the match. Three. That's simply not good enough, no kind of service for a striker of his ability and build. Of course Nardiello coming into the attack made absolutely no difference whatsoever to the quality or quantity of service the front two received and so the second half set off as the first half had finished. Bolder and Leigertwood were tearing around and working hard but remained unable to provide any kind of pass to the front two, Martin Rowlands was below par and Stefan Moore continued doing absolutely nothing. We honestly could have brought Michael Owen on at half time and it wouldn't have made any difference, Nardiello simply took up Sahar's thankless task of chasing long balls down the field. Within five minutes Rangers had forced another free kick on the edge of the box but Martin Rowlands' effort deflected out off the wall and the resulting corner was badly mis-hit and came to nothing. Some form of free kick or loose ball dropping in the area looked like being Rangers' best chance of a goal because they sure as hell weren't going to pass through Leicester down the middle or beat a full back and reach the byline in wide areas. Leicester were much the better side once again and the travelling Rangers fans were increasingly turning their attention to the thirty stone topless drummer in the side stand who at one stage did manage ten rounds on his instrument at one stage before having to lean on it and catch his breath which certainly raised a big cheer and a few laughs in the away end. The impressive Porter fired wide at the back post from Hume's cross and then Danny Cullip was caught out of position for the first time in the match around the hour mark as Wesolowski found Campbell who spun off into the penalty area and shot for goal. Lee Camp made an excellent save to deny him and Cullip made it back to get the clearance away. Three minutes later though the inevitable Leicester goal arrived. Mikele Leigertwood gave the ball away in a poor area and then Damion Stewart foolishly left his foot in on Campbell after Leicester worked the ball into the penalty area. Mason quickly pointed to the spot. It was maybe a little soft, and Campbell certainly went over very easily, but he was heading away from the goal and offering little threat to QPR so Stewart should have left him well alone. The ever impressive Iain Hume stepped up and sent Camp the wrong way. Rangers got a let off from the officials soon after though when Hume crossed for Cort to finally find the target with a header by a later flag from the linesman ruled the goal out. In truth the points only looked to be heading one way. Rangers were sluggish and uninspired in almost everything they were doing. There was absolutely no creativity from the midfield, no threat from the wide areas and no service for the front two. Three substitutions changed the pattern of play altogether. Gregory sent on Hogan Ephraim for Adam Bolder who had again been a shadow of the all action midfielder we signed last season. Leicester tried to shut up shop by replacing Porter with Kishishev and Campbell with Chambers. The immediate result was a goal from an unlikely source. Martin Rowlands had moved into the centre of the park when Ephraim came on and a scrappy moment of play between him and Leigertwood twenty five yards from goal came to a spectacular end when the former Sheffield United man shifted the ball out of his feet and lashed an unstoppable drive into the bottom corner of the net. Leigertwood had again looked to me like a centre half playing central midfield and his touch often left a lot to be desired but his goal was an awesome strike and silenced the rumblings of discontent being aimed his way from some of the travelling supporters. Suddenly QPR were a different team. Nardiello and Ephraim started to link up down the right and we actually started to pass the ball. The turn around was amazing. We managed to reach the byline more times in the final ten minutes than we had done in the entire match to that point. Blackstock almost got a carbon copy of his Bristol City goal when he chased a ball down into the area but keeper Marton Fulop just beat him to it. Nardiello showed an excellent touch and good strength to muscle his way past Kisnorbo into the penalty area but he didn't get hold of his shot as he would have liked and Fulop was able to make a reasonably comfortable save. Then it was Ephraim's turn to lead the home side a merry dance down that flank, reaching the byline and hammering the ball into the six yard box where a scramble ensued and Blackstock was only denied a goal by a brave save at his feet by Fulop. In stoppage time more excellent work down the right, this time by Leigertwood and Ephraim, resulted in a cross to the near post which Nardiello looked all set to bury in the top corner but Kisnorbo did enough to put him off. After playing so poorly but fighting back for a point it would have been typical QPR bad luck for Leicester to finally get the second goal their earlier play had deserved when Rangers were on the front foot and in the final seconds that's what almost happened. Stephen Clemence struck the top of the cross bar with a long range shot after being afforded too much time on the edge of the area. Almost another Scott Murray moment. For the final 12 minutes Rangers looked like the side they did at the end of last season - they passed the ball around, worked it wide and used pace to reach to the byline. Blackstock and Nardiello suddenly started to receive the ball to feet and as a result both had a couple of chances each in the closing period after going without for the previous 80 minutes. Ephraim played very well when he came on and must start on Tuesday instead of Moore because, as harsh as it may sound, he was so anonymous on Saturday it was like playing with ten men. Why have we gone away from playing like we did in the closing stages here so spectacularly in recent weeks and more importantly can we pick up where we left off on Tuesday night? Gregory will know that Flavio Briatore is apparently going to attend the Plymouth game. If his team keeps playing like this he could walk out onto the pitch and cover the Take That song on a karaoke machine at half time if he wanted to, it will make little difference. Briatore has, in public at least, been happy to talk about patience and four year plans but in interviews this week Gregory, Gianni Paladini and keeper Lee Camp have all made it pretty clear that the new owners want a Premiership club and they want it yesterday. It's going to take more than 12 minutes of decent attacking play, especially when it's preceded by 78 minutes of rubbish, to keep them satisfied. Alessandro Costacurta allegedly waits in the wings if QPR can't turn their poor form around soon. It's like Ramon Diaz all over again. Of course when Diaz was allegedly about to be ushered into Loftus Road QPR went on a seven game winning run that put them into play off contention and secured Ian Holloway's position as manager. I sense Gregory will need something similar to persuade his new bosses he is the man for the job and, if they're patient, he can be the one to deliver what they demand. Hopefully the good times start rolling on Tuesday night against the manager at the time of the Diaz stories and his Plymouth side. Leicester: Fulop 7, N'Gotty 6, Kisnorbo 8, McAuley 7, Sheehan 7, Hume 8, Clemence 7, Wesolowski 7, Porter 8 (Kishishev 78, 5), Campbell 7 (Chambers 73, 5), Cort 5 (De Vries 90, -) QPR: Camp 7, Cullip 8, Stewart 6, Rehman 5, Barker 5, Rowlands 5, Leigertwood 6, Bolder 5 (Ephraim 72, 8), Moore 3, Blackstock 6, Sahar 5 (Nardiello 46, 7) QPR Star Man - Danny Cullip 8 What a difference this man makes to our defence. A previously disorganised, ramshackle rabble actually looked like a reasonably organised unit on Saturday although there were still too many lapses and a better striker than Carl Cort would have scored at least once. An excellent goal line clearance in the first half summed his display up nicely and he did more than most to secure us a point. Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire) 7 - Well refereed with only a couple of cards. The penalty looked pretty blatant to me at the time and I'd certainly have been furious if we'd been denied a spot kick in similar circumstances. Attendance: 21,893 (1200 away fans approx)
Subs Not Used: Henderson, Newton
Booked: McAuley (foul)
Goals: Hume 63 pen (assisted Campbell)
Subs Not Used: Cole, Bignot, Curtis
Booked: Leigertwood (foul)
Goals: Leigertwood 82 (assisted Rowlands)