QPR dropped two points despite dominating at home to Sheffield Wednesday while everybody else in the bottom three won.
When we play poorly we get beaten, when we play well we don't win - are you starting to think it might not be our year? Cross after cross after cross went into the box in the first half with no reward, two trademark free kicks from Idiakez were saved, Cook almost snapped the cross bar in two from distance and in the second half three guilt edge chances in the six yard box were spurned. In the end Rangers needed a late penalty from Martin Rowlands just to get a point. What can you say? Rangers made on mistake, switching off under a long throw, but the team selection, the performance, the attendance and atmosphere and just about everything else were good and we deserved to win. It's disheartening for me so God knows what it's like for the players and they have to pick themselves up for a trip to Derby on Tuesday. I haven't felt sorry for them very often this season, we are where we are through lack of ability, but I did yesterday. They put it in, left it all out there on the pitch, got very little reward and then trudged off the pitch with the poxy broken scoreboard hinting that everybody else might have won. Gregory gave a debut to his new signing Inigo Idiakez, mercifully returning to the 442 formation after a failed experiment with one up front. Idiakez renewed acquaintances in the middle with Adam Bolder - a partnership that almost fired Derby to the Premiership three seasons ago. Martin Rowlands and Lee Cook were the wingers, Furlong partnered Blackstock in attack. At the back Camp started behind a back four that included Marcus Bignot for the first time in two months, Cullip and Stewart played centre half with Mancienne at right back. Those that think I talk a load of old rubbish would be disappointed to hear that the three of the four players I rated as the worst at Ipswich last week were dropped - Ainsworth moved down to the bench, Lomas and Timoska were left out altogether. Sorry, but if I don't blow it who will? Sheff Wed welcomed back Marcus Tudgay who missed their draw with Plymouth through suspension. The former Derby striker played wide right though, instead of injured Jermaine Johnson, and Steve MacLean kept his place up front. As they'd done against Plymouth in the last home game QPR came out of the traps quickly and set about their visitors hunting an early goal. Idiakez and Cook had plenty of influence early on and inside the first five minutes Rangers could have taken the lead. A slip from former R Frankie Simek at right back gave Cook a chance to deliver into the box, Blackstock met the cross firmly and Wednesday's loaned keeper Iain Turner did brilliantly to turn the ball over the bar with one hand. That resulted in one of three early corners for Rangers but they couldn't convert any of them. After nine minutes Lee Cook collected the ball thirty yards out and when nobody came to meet him with a tackle or an option for a pass he let rip with a drive that beat Turner all ends up but bounced back into play off the face of the cross bar. A ball into the box from Bignot was just out of Blackstock's reach but in the 12th minute Martin Rowlands worked space down the right flank and his cross was headed goalwards by Blackstock. Turner was again equal to it, holding the ball just under the cross bar. Turner, on loan from Everton, had impressed me in the Crystal Palace side before Christmas and was certainly looking the part again here. In the 24th minute The Loftus Road faithful got a first glimpse of what Idiakez can offer from set pieces. Steve Watson committed a cynical foul on Lee Cook 25 yards out from goal and was booked. Idiakez curled the resulting free kick around the wall but Turner watched it all the way and saved down low to his left. Watson actually seemed to come out of the incident worse than Cook and he was replaced within three minutes by Kenny Lunt, who's always impressed against QPR for Crewe in the past. Sheffield Wednesday looked tidy in possession but couldn't get hold of the ball often enough and failed to test Lee Camp at all during the first half. Their best chance of the game came from a free kick right on the edge of the area that Brunt smashed into the wall. On one attempted foray into the QPR half Michael Mancienne read a pass from Brunt to Spurr well and tore away down the right flank after intercepting. Mancienne capped a good run with a pass to Furlong on the edge of the area as well and the veteran forward came within an inch of giving Rangers the lead when he turned into the penalty area and fired a low right footed shot across the face of goal and fractionally wide of the far post. As the first half drew to a close there was action at both ends of the pitch. First Wednesday's Tommy Spurr threatened to bag a goal for the visitors but was blocked by Cullip in the penalty area. QPR made the most of their let off and stormed away down the field with Lee Cook. Wednesday's Richard Wood came out of the back line and committed a poor lunging foul on Cook which presented Idiakez with a free kick in exactly the same place as his earlier one. Like Watson, Wood saw yellow for his tackle and Idiakez again beat the wall but not Turner with a low effort on goal. Idiakez clearly isn't as fit as he could be, and he looked rusty at times, but some of the passes he played and the positions he put himself in were a cut above anything we've had in midfield all year. Best of all he provides a genuine goal threat from deep and in my opinion is a great signing. I really enjoyed watching him on Saturday until his age and lack of match practise got the better of him and he was replaced by Gareth Ainsworth. So goalless at half time, and only Wednesday's keeper Iain Turner knew how. Immediately after the break Wednesday were grateful to Spurr for beating Furlong to Bignot's cross but Rangers didn't seem to be carrying the same threat. Idiakez was tiring and Wednesday had the words of their manager ringing in their ears. The game was starting to have the look of a 0-0 draw when, 11 minutes after half time, Tudgay beat Stewart to a long throw from Simek and Brunt nipped in ahead of Michael Mancienne at the back post to give the visitors a lead. Both Mancienne and Stewart seemed to be half asleep when the throw was taken and this is where our lack of goals will always cost us because we always manage to find a way to concede at least one whatever the circumstances. The only clean sheet we did keep recently, at Leeds, only got us a draw because we couldn't score there either. Now the only noise in the ground was coming from the 2500 Sheff Wed fans and the home crowd sat and contemplated just what it's going to take for us to win another game. Dexter Blackstock pulled up with an injury and was replaced by Marc Nygaard, Inigo Idiakes ran out of steam and also left the field - the game looked to be up. The players to their credit kept plugging away though. A 60 yard run from Gareth Ainsworth winning a corner fired the crowd up again and with twenty minutes left for play QPR got back into the game thanks to a rare penalty decision in their favour. Nygaard forced a save from Turner within two minutes of coming on and then after a one two with Furlong he hit the deck under pressure from Wood and Spurr. At the time it looked a harsh decision to me but I've had a look at the replays and it was a penalty in my opinion. Martin Rowlands stepped up with some Rangers fans, yes alright me, unable to watch and slotted the ball into the bottom corner past Turner who dived the right way but couldn't get close to the ball. The referee didn't show Wood a second yellow for his part in the incident so the visitors were left to play on with a full compliment and they nearly made that count within five minutes of the equaliser. Chris Brunt collected a ball from Burton on the penalty spot after an error of judgement from Bignot, turned brilliantly and seemed certain to roll the ball into the bottom corner but Lee Camp pulled off a save equally as good as anything Turner had managed at the other end to keep the scores level. Lee Cook cleared off the goal line from the resulting corner. Relieved with the let off QPR went in search of a winner and Cook was to the fore in the hunt. As the game entered the last ten minutes he was crudely hacked down by Simek who was booked but escaped the American next time, scooted into the area, beat Wood, got to the byline, cut the ball back and it missed everybody, Nygaard apparently letting it run through his legs without converting it. Referee Andy Woolmer typified a fussy and card happy display a short time later - booking Cook for play acting on the edge of the penalty area when it was neither a foul or a dive. Seven players saw yellow cards in all, several of whom could feel very aggrieved, but remarkably Glenn Whelen wasn't one of them. An afternoon of fouls, dissent and hissy fits unpunished by the official for reasons only he will know. In stoppage time a corner dropped loose on the edge of the box and Furlong swung at it, he didn't make contact with the power required and Turner gratefully claimed the ball on the line. Without a doubt this is two points dropped. Rangers dominated for most of the game but couldn't find the required cutting edge - we can't afford to keep missing chances and dropping points with Southend and Leeds both closing the gap on us this weekend. You don't get many chances at Pride Park and if one presents itself on Tuesday we must bury it. With Bolder out captain fantastic Steve Lomas will probably return and Simon Royce is likely to replace Camp in goal - hopefully Lomas can produce a better performance than that shambles he put on at Ipswich and Royce has recovered sufficiently from the Southend debacle. Hull City got to Luton that night. QPR: Camp 7, Bignot 7, Cullip 6, Stewart 6, Mancienne 6, Rowlands 6, Bolder 7, Idiakez 7 (Ainsworth 7), Cook 8, Furlong 7, Blackstock 6 (Nygaard 60, 7) Sheffield Wednesday: Turner 9, Simek 5, Bullen 7, Wood 8, Spurr 7, Tudgay 7, Whelan 5, Watson 5 (Lunt 6), Brunt 7, MacLean 6 (Graham 80, -), Burton 6. QPR Star Man - Lee Cook 8 - Rattled the bar in the first half, did everything he could in the second half and ran Simek ragged for most of the game. Easily Rangers' biggest threat on the day. Referee: Mr Andy Woolmer 4 - Over fussy throughout, made Rangers take the kick off again and got steadily more pedantic from there. Seven yellow cards is a ridiculous haul for that game, especially when Whelen didn't get one despite countless fouls and dissent, and Wood didn't get a second one for the penalty incident. Carding Cook for diving was a joke decision - there are occasions when players go to ground and it's neither a dive nor a foul you know. Attendance: 15, 188
Subs not used:Royce, Kanyuka, Smith.
Goals:Rowlands (pen) 72
Bookings: Rowlands 30 (foul), Bolder 51 (foul), Cook 83 (diving)
Subs: Adamson, Gilbert, Lekaj.
Goals: Brunt 56
Bookings: Watson 22 (foul), Wood 41 (foul), Simek 68 (foul), Spurr 87 (foul)