QPR travelled to Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday night as their pre-season campaign continued. Matthew Fairfax, keen to see the new look team in action and tick off a new ground, kindly agreed to report back for LFW.
1 – The Match
The second half was littered with substitutions and the game suffered as a result, but Forest Green came back into it late on and tested Marshall with a couple of decent efforts. Rangers might have made the scoreline more flattering at the death, but the linesman on the far side decided to wake up at this point and ruled that trialist Davide Somma was offside when he headed home Matteo Alberti’s excellent cross (yes, you did read that correctly!) and then penalised Antonio German for a foul on the goalkeeper when he would have been clean through. All in all a comfortable victory, but far from convincing and certainly not a thriller.
4/10
2 – QPR Performance
I was impressed by some of the youngsters - Lee Brown and Joe Oastler were pretty composed at the back, and Josh Parker looked lively when he came off the bench - but the senior players treated it more as a training exercise. While this was far from our first-choice side, it was interesting to note that the game seemed to pan out as a microcosm of our 2008/09 campaign – lots of pretty passing but no end product. Hopefully Friday night at Oxford, where Magilton is likely to field a much stronger side, will give us a better idea of what to expect come August 8.
5/10
3 – QPR Support
Rangers travelled in fair numbers as always, making up a decent proportion of the 800-strong crowd. The away end wasn’t open and there was no obvious segregation in place in the main stand, thus it wasn’t easy to get any songs going. An extra point though to the young lad down the front who broke the slumber with a few basic chants. This was very much one for the die-hards, the exiles and the holidaymakers, most of whom spent the first half shielding the sun from their eyes and the second snoring quietly in their seats.
7/10
4 – Atmosphere
Not much to speak of. Everyone was very much in pre-season mode, with the common demeanour of both sets of supporters being one of feet up on seats, leaning back and having a chat. There was a particularly irritating Forest Green supporter sitting behind me – one of those whose voice seemed to carry and who knew everything about everything – but at least he broke the silence. On the whole though it was a pleasant enough couple of hours, and the natives were very friendly if not exactly vociferous.
4/10
5 – The Ground
This was my first visit to the New Lawn, but I did have the pleasure of visiting the Old Lawn a couple of times a decade or so ago. The old ground was a ramshackle venue, with cobbled-together stands and terraces and a pitch with such a dramatic slope that even Sammy Koejoe would have been able to break into a sprint if he ran down it. By contrast the new ground is as flat as a bowling green, with an excellent pitch and a smart main stand. I pity those who walked up the hill from Nailsworth town centre, as the ground is located amid the upper reaches of the stratosphere and boasts the only turnstiles in the land where they give you a free oxygen mask upon entry. The view of the Cotswolds was pretty impressive however, and the bar built into the back of the stand was a welcome addition. A pleasantly sedate pre-season setting.
7/10
6 – The Journey
A home game for me this. I left Swansea at around half two, picked up my old man in Aberdare en route and grappled with the long and winding A46 before arriving in Nailsworth two hours before kick off. There was a real concern as we got halfway up the hill that one of us might have to get out and push, but we made it to the summit eventually and were lucky enough to park along the thoroughfare behind the main stand. The homeward journey was straightforward, and I was back in Swansea before midnight – more games in the West Country please!
7/10
7 – Pre Match
We frequented the Green Man, the bar built into the back of the main stand. The bar was spacious, with big screens on each wall, and there was food on offer which consisted of individual cottage pies which were being sold from a canteen-style counter in the corner. The lager and cider were both reasonably priced, although were being served in the obligatory plastic glasses, and we were able to catch up with a plethora of familiar faces who clearly had nothing better to do than travel to deepest Gloucestershire on a monsoon-infested Tuesday evening in July. We need locking up, the lot of us.
7/10
8 – Police and Stewards
I find it difficult to envisage a scenario when police will be required at the New Lawn, although with Luton due to ship up in August and a dubious ticketing policy in place Forest Green may wish to rethink their strategy. I barely noticed the stewards all night either which is a good sign, and the only potential problem came when Andy Marshall took to the field wearing an identical shade of fluorescent yellow. Perhaps the saddest indictment of the evening was that I’ve spent more time writing about the fashion sense of the two goalkeepers than about the match itself…
9/10
Total 50/80