AFC Fylde 1 Dale 0
Dale started their preseason campaign with a defeat away at Conference North favourites AFC Fylde in a game in which almost every player got a run out.
The game was won by a second half penalty awarded after Tom Kennedy (I think) wrestled with one of the Fylde players. Seemed the right decision for me and Diba went the wrong way at the spot kick.
Five things from the game:
* We had two completely different teams out. The first half side was Lillis, Rafferty, Tanser, Lund, BBM, Bunney, Allen, Noble Lazarus, Vincenti, Henderson, Andrew. Second half was Diba, Cannon, Rose, Lancashire, Kennedy, Hasler-Cregg, McDermott, Camps, Hooper, Alessandra, Bell. Two different sides, and just the one recognised centre half.
* Stand out player on the day for me was Jamie Allen. Looking a touch like Joe Root, he ran the show in the first half. It's going to be a big season for the Dale trainee.
* Others that impressed included Jonny Diba who seemed to sprint five yards every time he got the ball before launching an attack, and young James Hooper who looked alright in his first run out with the first team.
* Couple of hundred Dale fans in the crowd of 380 at the most hidden football ground in the world. Parking was problematic as it was, so it must be a real issue when they're playing some of the bigger Conference North sides such as Stockport and FCUM.
* The second half was played to a background of music as they accidentally left the music playing as the game kicked off. Cue a man with a clipboard racing round the pitch to turn it on minutes after giving out the half times scores from some obscure European league. We were even treated to the theme from Happy Days on the way out.
What to read next:
Season Preview Revisited – Bottom HalfThe concluding part of our season preview revisit looks at the teams at the foot of the 23/24 Championship – we got two of the bottom three correct but there were some other big misses here too.
Season Preview Revisited – Top HalfIt’s that time of the year again where we look back at the hits and misses from our season preview – this year we either got your team exactly right to the place, or missed by half the division.
End of Term 23/24 – AttackThe fourth and final part of our annual review and number crunch of the QPR squad finishes with the club’s amazing non-scoring strikers.
End of Term Report 23/24 – MidfieldThe third part of our end of term report focuses on QPR’s midfield – an enormous problem for this team for a number of seasons now, it’s been one of the areas of significant improvement under Marti Cifuentes.
End of Term Report 23/24 – DefendersPart two of our annual individual player reports for the season focuses on a defence which really came into its own under Marti Cifuentes and contains the two outstanding candidates for the club’s player of the year award.
End of Term Report 23/24 – GoalkeepersThe first of our annual four-part individual assessment of the QPR players’ performances during the previous season always starts with the goalkeepers – and, regrettably, that means we’re puncturing the recent feel-good factor round here by beginning with a negative.
The Coventry Conference – ReportCoventry away, for so long a fixture that loomed almost as large as the spectre of Eoin Jess over Queens Park Rangers, turned into an eighth away win of the campaign and survival party for a manager and support base who both really stepped up when it mattered in 23/24.
The season that was - PreviewAs QPR, unbelievably, head to Coventry on the final day safe and secure, LFW looks back at a tumultuous two years at the football club, and the lessons it must learn to make the most of the potential it now has to move forwards.