Barker gets Francis up and running at Kenilworth Road - History Friday, 30th Aug 2024 09:01 by Clive Whittingham A scruffy goal from Simon Barker got QPR a much needed 1-0 win at Luton Town in September 1991 - Gerry Francis' first league win in charge at the ninth attempt. Memorable MatchLuton Town 0 Queens Park Rangers 1, Tuesday September 17, 1991, First Division Don Howe’s Queens Park Rangers endured a biblical injury crisis in the autumn of 1990, losing Paul Parker, Alan McDonald and Danny Maddix from the centre of their defence all at once. They lost eight matches in a row as part of ten without a win, and then having snapped that run with a narrow home success against bottom of the league Sunderland went on to lose another two. Ten defeats, two draws, and one win from an unlucky 13 games. Some good did come out of it though. Assistant manager Bobby Gould’s knowledge of lower divisions brought in Andy Tilson from Grimsby and Darren Peacock from Hereford to ease the centre half crisis — Peacock, in particular, was a big success story in Shepherd’s Bush and would later join Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle for £2.5m. As players came back to fitness the season improved. Two defeats in 16 games from Christmas through the spring recovered the league position and seven goals in seven games for a young Les Ferdinand through February and March really announced his arrival as a force in the top division of English football. There were wins over Leeds, Villa, Southampton and Man City to savour and a first ever win at Anfield with goals from Ferdinand, Roy Wegerle and Clive Wilson. A twelfth-placed finish was achieved in the top flight despite the earlier crisis. Howe, controversially, was moved on at the end of the season regardless to “make way for a younger man”, and the return of former QPR captain Gerry Francis. He’d been player manager at Exeter at the back end of his career and then won promotion from the Third Division as champions with Bristol Rovers in his first full managerial gig. His QPR opening day return came away to champions Arsenal where one of his new signings, Dennis Bailey, opened the scoring only to be pegged back at the death by a scrambled Paul Merson effort. Francis, though, was about to experience a similar problem to Howe. Influential Ray Wilkins limped off at Highbury with an Achilles problem destined to keep him out until the end of November. Alan McDonald didn’t even make it to opening day, picking up a back problem in pre-season which sidelined him until mid September. Rangers lost 2-0 to Norwich City during the week, spoiling Francis’ big opening night at Loftus Road. The wait for the first win started stretching on. Roy Wegerle scored against Coventry but it was good enough for only a draw, Liverpool avenged the previous season’s defeat with a 1-0 win, Carlton bloody Palmer scored a hat trick in a 4-1 loss at Sheffield Wednesday on August Bank Holiday weekend. A tremendous performance against newly promoted West Ham, in which QPR laid siege to the visitors’ goal in front of a midweek crowd of 16,616, yielded a 0-0. A succession of missed chances, including a skied sitter from Gary Thompson, meant Southampton also left W12 with a point from a 2-2 draw. Rangers lost 2-0 at Tottenham. A win was desperately needed from a midweek trip to Luton. Francis turned to the loan market to bolster his attack, adding Paul Walsh from Spurs up top alongside Thompson. He played a part in the only goal of the game as well, winning the ball back in midfield with substitute Ian Holloway before launching a counter attack which ended with a low Simon Barker shot, fumbled into the net by the Luton keeper. They all count. There was, initially, more frustration to come. Rangers subsequently went 2-0 up at home to London rivals Chelsea and away at Crystal Palace only to end up drawing both games 2-2 thanks to late comebacks. But a last minute Dennis Bailey goal got a much needed second 1-0 away win of the season at Wimbledon, and the first home win of the league season finally arrived on the last Saturday of October against Everton. Rangers 2-0 up through Bailey and Barker, looked like being pegged back once more when Everton made it 2-1 only for Barker to draw his boot back from the corner of the penalty box and find the roof of the net to seal the 3-1 victory. The season would go on to be something of a modern classic. It included the 4-1 New Year’s Day win at Old Trafford , a 4-0 home win against Man City, and 4-1 success at Loftus Road against eventual champions Leeds. Having not been able to buy a win, Rangers at one point lost just one game from 19. Les Ferdinand would tee up an extraordinary 1992/93 campaign with eight goals in his last 12 games. Luton finished third bottom and relegated, denied entrance to the first season of the Premier League. QPR: Stejskal; Bardsley, McDonald, Tilson, Maddix, Brevett (Holloway); Sinton, Wilson, Barker; Walsh (Bailey), Thompson Classic encountersLFW regular and AKUTR’s columnist Dave Barton has set up a QPR Memories YouTube channel, with a mixture of clips, classic games, and old highlights packages. His Luton away packages are embedded below, give him a subscribe on YouTube or follow @QPR_Memories on Twitter. Recent MeetingsQPR 1 Luton 1, Tuesday September 27, 2024, Championship A first ever League Cup meeting between these two old foes went QPR's way thanks to a perfect set of shoot-out penalties. Hevertton Santos opened his account for the R's have Thomas Kaminski spilled Elijah Dixon-Bonner's early shot, but Town were soon level when Zach Nelson's unstoppable long range volley screamed past Joe Walsh in the Rangers goal. Walsh was the star of the show thereafter, with brilliant saves repeatedly denying Adebayo and Morris. That continued into penalties when he kept out Cauley Woodrow, and Chong hit the bar. It meant Celar, Dembele, Clarke-Salter and Paal converting cleanly - three out of four left footers - sent Rangers through to round three at home to Crystal Palace. QPR: Walsh 8; Dunne 6 (Smyth 59, 6), Cook 6 (Clarke-Salter 46, 6), Morrison 7, Paal 6; Varane 5, Colback 6 (Dembele 71, 7); Santos 7, Dixon-Bonner 5 (Madsen 71, 6), Saito 5 (Lloyd 59, 7); Celar 6 Subs not used: Nardi, Field, Frey, Kolli Goals: Santos 11 (assisted Dixon-Bonner) Yellow Cards: Santos 33 (foul), Colback 49 (repetitive fouling), Celar 84 (foul) Luton: Kaminski 4; Walters 6, Burke 6 (Holms 46, 6), Bell 6 (Andersen 46, 6), Doughty 7; Nelson 6, Nakamba 5 (Walsh 46, 5), Clark 7 (Baptiste 63, 5), Chong 6; Abebayo 6, Morris 5 (Woodrow 72, 5) Subs not used: Johnson, Mpanzu, Shea, Taylor Goals: Nelson 16 (unassisted) Yellow Cards: Walters 40 (foul), Morris 72 (foul) QPR 0 Luton 3, Thursday December 29, 2022 , Championship Luton’s first win at Loftus Road since 1984, and an absolute pasting at that. From such bright beginnings, QPR’s season was really starting to unravel at this stage with four defeats in a row on their own patch outlining the size of the task confronting new manager Neil Critchley. Carlton Morris had almost scored once already when Rangers allowed Alfie Doughty to run half the length of Loftus Road and tee him up for a sweetly struck but completely unchallenged opener on ten minutes. Morris scored straight after half time to really set the tone for the second half, bundling in a free kick, and the performance was crowned by Doughty’s pearler ten minutes from time. The obligatory Lyndon Dykes missed sitter from four yards out at the Loft End put the tin hat on the whole thing. QPR: Dieng 5; Laird 5, Dickie 5, Dunne 5, Paal 5; Shodipo 5 (Adomah 78, 5), Iroegbunam 4, Field 5, Chair 5 (Willock 66, 5); Roberts 4 (Richards 78, 6), Dykes 4 Subs not used: Kakay, Amos, Archer, Masterson Luton: Horvath 6; Bree 7, Lockyer 7, Potts 7 (Freeman 76, 6); Clark 7; Doughty 8, Campbell 7 (Berry 85, -), Mpanzu 7, Bell 7; Morris 8 (Jerome 85, -), Cornick 7 (Woodrow 58, 7) Subs not used: Adebayo, Watson, Isted Goals: Morris 10 (assisted Doughty), 47 (assisted Bree), Doughty 81 (assisted Morris) Bookings: Doughty 43 (foul), Clark 67 (foul), Potts 72 (dissent), Mpanzu 76 (foul) Luton 3 QPR 1, Saturday October 15, 2021, Championship Luton were comfortable winners when these teams met at Kenilworth Road in October 2021, securing only a second league victory over QPR in 24 attempts. Elijah Adebayo crawled all over the Rangers centre backs all afternoon, heading the opener after just 18 minutes and bouncing another one back into play off the inside of the post. The game was sealed when Tim Iroegbunam left a pass to Jimmy Dunne up short and in trying to rescue the situation from the onrushing Cameron Jerome the QPR centre back smashed into his own goalkeeper and diverted the ball into the unguarded net. Any hope that Rob Dickie’s late header into the net via the Luton keeper might spark a comeback was ended when Luke Freeman scored against his former club in stoppage time. Luton: Horvarth 6; Lockyer 7, Bradley 7, Potts 6; Bree 6, Lansbury 7 (Freeman 67, 7), Clark 7, Campbell 7, Bell 6; Morris 7 (Cornick 67, 6), Adebayo 8 (Jerome 67, 7) Subs not used: Berry, Isted, Onyedinma, Doughty Goals: Adebayo 18 (assisted Morris), Dunne own goal 77 (assisted Jerome), Freeman 90+2 (assisted Cornick) Bookings: Clark 44 (foul), Lansbury 54 (foul) QPR: Dieng 6; Balogun 5 (Kakay 14, 5), Dunne 5, Clarke-Salter 5, Paal 5; Amos 5 (Johansen 62, 5, Iroegbunam 5, Field 6 (Dickie 62, 5); Roberts 4 (Richards 79, 5), Dykes 5, Chair 5 Subs not used: Archer, Dozzell, Adomah Goals: Horvarth og 90+1 (assisted Dickie) Luton 1 QPR 2, Sunday March 13, 2022, Championship Terribly out of form QPR came from behind to win in unlikely fashion at Kenilworth Road just as Luton Town were soaring up the table towards the play-offs in March, 2022. All looked to be going according to plan for the hosts when Cameron Jerome opened the scoring thanks to a David Marshall error — Town had another from Adebayo disallowed for a marginal offside call and Campbell missed an absolute sitter amidst a flurry of first half chances. But Andre Gray penalty win and conversion against his former club turned the tide after half time and with Luke Amos and Chris Willock making big impact from the bench Rob Dickie headed home a late winner in front of a jubilant travelling support. Nathan Jones felt QPR celebrated in an unacceptable manner. Luton: Shea 5; Bree 7, Burke 6, Lockyer 6, Naismith 4, Bell 6; Mpanzu 7 (Lansbury 15, 6), Clark 7 (Snodgrass 81, -), Campbell 7; Jerome 7 (Cornick 74, 5), Adebayo 6 Subs not used: Potts, Berry, Isted, Onyedinma Goals: Jerome 37 (assisted Campbell) QPR: Marshall 4; Odubajo 7, Dickie 6, Dunne 7, Barbet 6, Wallace 6; Field 7, Johansen 6, Hendrick 5 (Amos 74, 7); Chair 5 (Austin 60, 6), Gray 7 (Willock 78, 7) Subs not used: McCallum, Dozzell, Adomah, Mahoney Goals: Gray 55 (penalty won Gray), Dickie 83 (assisted Willock) Bookings: Chair 45 +6 (unsporting), Amos 87 (foul), Wallace 90+5 (time wasting) QPR 2 Luton Town 0, Friday November 19, 2021, Championship Rangers ran out comfortable 2-0 winners against Luton at Loftus Road on a Friday night in November 2021, with the game marred by significant crowd trouble off the pitch. Simon Sluga’s annual brain fart against QPR saw Chris Willock chip the opener into an empty net in the first half, and Charlie Austin scored for a third time in as many matches against the Hatters by heading home at the Loft End in the second half. QPR: Dieng 7; Adomah 6 (Kakay 80, -), Dickie 7, Dunne 6, Barbet 8, Wallace 7; Johansen 6, Dozzell 7, Chair 7 (Amos 89, -); Willock 8, Austin 6 (Field 79, 6) Subs not used: Ball, Archer, Thomas, Duke-McKenna Goals: Willock 10 (assisted Chair), Austin 55 (assisted Dunne) Bookings; Dozzell 59 (foul), Austin 75 (foul), Dickie 90 (foul) Luton: Sluga 5; Bree 6, Lockyer 6, Bradley 5, Naismith 6, Onyedinma 6; Campbell 6 (Jerome 79, 5), Mpanzu 6, Lansbury 6; Cornick 6 (Muskwe 68, 5), Adebayo 7 Subs not used: Shea, Hylton, Clark, Bell, Osho Bookings: Lansbury 13 (foul), Bradley 53 (foul), Adebayo 57 (foul) QPR 3 Luton Town 1, Saturday May 8, 2021, Championship QPR rounded off a fantastic second half to the 2020/21 lockdown campaign by completing the double over Luton Town. Lyndon Dykes nodded down for Charlie Austin to score from close range, his second goal against the Hatters having announced his return to QPR with a header at Kenilworth Road back in January. Luton forced a brilliant save from Seny Dieng onto the post and probably deserved their first half equaliser, scored on the rebound by Leicestershire’s premier wedding venue Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. But QPR pulled clear in the second half as first Stefan Johansen steamed through the heart of the visiting defence to make it 2-1, and then Albert Adomah secured the win with an open goal third in injury time off a Chris Willock assist. QPR: Dieng 7; Dickie 6, De Wijs 7, Barbet 7; Kakay 6 (Adomah 76, 7), Chair 7 (Thomas 77, 6), Johansen 8 (Cameron 86, -), Willock 8, Wallace 7; Dykes 7 (Field 46, 6), Austin 7 (Bonne 66, 6) Subs not used: Carroll, Bettache, Walsh, Hämäläinen Goals: Austin 20 (assisted Dykes), Johansen 60 (assisted Chair), Adomah 90 (assisted Willock) Bookings: Austin 1 (foul) Luton: Sluga 5; Bree 5 (Pereira 86, -), Pearson 6, Bradley 6, Naismith 6; Dewsbury-Hall 8, Rea 5 (Berry 71, 6), Mpanzu 6; Cornick 6 (LuaLua 71, 5), Adebayo 6, Moncur 6 (Collins 71, 6) Subs not used: Shea, Cranie, Potts, Tunnicliffe, Morrell Goals: Dewsbury-Hall 43 (assisted Moncur) Bookings: Rea 45 (foul) Luton Town 0 QPR 2, Tuesday January 12, 2021, Championship Charlie Austin marked his big return to QPR with a goal, as Rangers snapped a winless run of ten and began their climb back up the Championship table. Austin scored from close range in the first half after Geoff Cameron flicked Ilias Chair’s corner into his path. There were nervy moments thereafter, but Rangers were able to put the game to bed in the last minute when two subs combined — Albert Adomah getting the final ball right as he so often does, Mac Bonne sliding a game-sealing second into the far corner. Luton: Sluga 5; Bree 5, Lockyer 6, Bradley 5, Potts 5 (Nombe 77, 6); Mpanzu 6 (Berry 83, -), Dewsbury-Hall 5, Rea 5; Cornick 6, Collins 5 (Hylton 83, -), LuaLua 5 (Moncur 83, -) Subs not used: Shea, Tunnicliffe, Clark, Kioso, Galloway QPR: Dieng 7; Dickie 8, Cameron 6, Barbet 7; Kane 7, Carroll 6, Ball 7, Chair 6 (Adomah 75, 7), Osayi-Samuel 6; Dykes 8 (Kelman 90+4, -), Austin 8 (Bonne 59, 7) Subs not used: Lumley, Thomas, Willock, Masterson, Hämäläinen, Bettache Goals: Austin 38 (assisted Chair/Cameron), Bonne 90 (assisted Adomah) Bookings: Bonne 90 (referee being one of life’s genuine bell ends) Luton Town 1 QPR 1, Tuesday July 14, 2020, Championship QPR’s abysmal form during the summer lockdown had reached a nadir with a 3-0 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on the Saturday ahead of a midweek trip to Luton. Things didn’t look like getting a lot better when Ryan Manning clumsily fouled James Bree and James Collins stuck the resulting penalty away after just 20 minutes. But Rangers rallied, showed some spirit, and when a cynical foul by Ruccok-Mpanzu angered Bright Osayi-Samuel the QPR winger finally pulled his finger out and started to play, eventually setting up Dom Ball for a well taken second half equaliser. Rangers were indebted to Joe Lumley for a late save at the death to preserve the point after they’d conceded possession from a foul throw. Luton: Sluga 4; Bree 5, Carter-Vickers 6, Bradley 6, Potts 6; Ruddock-Mpanzu 6; Shinnie 6 (Moncur 83, -), Berry 6, Lee 6 (Cranie 67, 6), Cornick 6 (LuaLua 83, -); Collins 6 (Hylton 82, -) Subs not used: Tunnicliffe, McManaman, Butterfield, Kioso, Shea Goals: Collins 20 (penalty, won Bree) Bookings: Ruddock-Mpanzu 58 (foul) QPR: Lumley 7; Rangel — (Masterson 11, 6), Kakay 7, Barbet 6, Manning 5; Amos 6 (Oteh 81, -), Cameron 6, Ball 6; Osayi-Samuel 7 (Shodipo 81, -), Eze 6, Chair 6 Subs not used: Kane, Wallace, Bettache, Kelly, Gubbins, Clarke Goals: Ball 65 (assisted Osayi-Samuel) QPR 3 Luton Town 2, Saturday September 14, 2019, Championship A game that summed up so much that had been good and bad about Queens Park Rangers in 2019/20. Ebere Eze cut infield and found the top corner after three minutes, then Nahki Wells raced onto a long through ball from Toni Leistner to make it 2-0, and finally Eze beautifully teed up Wells for his second and Rangers’ third just before the half hour. Absolutely motoring, QPR were stopped dead in their tracks by a dreadful Joe Lumley error which presented Harry Cornick with one goal, then immediately after half time a succession of warnings about James Collins’ danger at the back post went unheeded and he made it 3-2. From an all-guns-blazing start, Rangers were left desperately clinging on to a single goal victory for the whole of the second half. QPR: Lumley 5; Hall 6, Leistner 7, Barbet 7; Kane 6 (Amos 69, 6), Manning 7; Ball 6, Chair 7 (Pugh 74, 7), Eze 8; Wells 8 (Mlakar 66, 6), Hugill 5 Subs not used: Cameron, Smith, Scowen, Kelly Goals: Eze 3 (assisted Chair), Wells 20 (assisted Leistner), 28 (assisted Eze) Bookings: Kane 47 (foul), Hall 90+2 (foul) Luton: Sluga 5; Tunnicliffe 5, Pearson 5, Bradley 5; Bolton 5 (Galloway 59, 6), Bree 6; Shinnie 6, Lua Lua 5 (Moncur 66, 6), Brown 7; Collins 7 , Cornick 7 (Lee 79, 6), Subs not used: Mpanzu, Jones, Butterfield, Shea Goals: Cornick 36 (unassisted), Collins 48 (pre-assist Shinnie, assisted Cornick) Bookings: Shinnie 65 (foul) Previous ResultsHead to Head >>> Luton wins 33 >>> Draws 30 >>> QPR wins 42 2024/25 QPR 1 Luton 1** (Santos) * - FA Cup ConnectionsRoy Wegerle >>> Luton 1988-1990 >>> QPR 1990-1992 American international striker Roy Wegerle was one of those players who just seemed to really suit QPR. He followed in a long and illustrious history of maverick number 10s at Loftus Road and led the line superbly through the Don Howe and early Gerry Francis days at Loftus Road. One of his predecessors in that role and shirt number, Rodney Marsh, spotted the South African born striker playing for Tampa Bay Rowdies in the MLS and recommended him to Rangers for a trial. Jim Smith, QPR manager in 1986, passed on him as Manchester United had done in 1980 but he was picked up by our near neighbours Chelsea and received a grounding in English football during a loan spell at Swindon. He never played regularly at Stamford Bridge and was eventually offloaded to Luton for £75,000. He starred at Kenilworth Road and 18 months after arriving went back to QPR to sign permanently and become QPR’s first million pound player in the process. There he became a Loft hero, specialising in spectacular tricks and goals, and cooly taken penalties. He scored 31 goals in 89 league and four cup appearances. In 1990/91 he top scored with 18. That included an incredible run of six goals from his first six games and in fact by the time QPR played their fifth game of that season, at home to Luton on September 15, he was the only player to have scored for Rangers at all. Of course that day, after Wegerle had given the R’s the lead, the team went crazy and bagged six including Paul Parker’s only ever goal for the club.
He continued to score prolifically and the highlight of his time with the club came in October 1990 at Elland Road where Rangers came from two goals down to win 3-2 on goalkeeper Jan Stejskal’s debut. One of Wegerle’s two goals that day saw him ghost past five Leeds players before smashing the ball in from 20 yards and it was later named the Match of the Day Goal of the Season, only the second time a QPR player had won the award at that point and only Trevor Sinclair has won it since. QPR were famed through the 1990s for immediately selling their best players as soon as a half decent offer came along and in March 1992 they did so again, offloading Wegerle to Jack Walker’s Blackburn Rovers revolution for £1.2m — a record fee paid by a Second Division club at the time. The money was rarely all invested back into the playing squad and indeed it wasn’t on this occasion, the spiral staircases at the back of the South Africa Road stand are still known as the “Wegerle stairs” to this day as that’s apparently where a chunk of the money went. To be fair Gerry Francis had taken over as manager and Les Ferdinand had finally developed into a world class striker by that stage so Wegerle’s star was on the wane slightly in W12. Wegerle was part of a Blackburn team that won the play offs in 1992 to earn a place in the inaugural Premier League but they then then signed Alan Shearer from Southampton and, as happened to him at Loftus Road after Ferdinand’s emergence, he was sidelined and offloaded — this time to Coventry City. He played just 22 times for Blackburn, and only clocked up 53 appearances for the Sky Blues due to injury but scored nine goals and eventually won 41 USA caps scoring seven times. When his contract expired at Highfield Road in 1995 he left and went onto play for Colarado, DC United and Tampa Bay Mutiny in the US. After retirement he tried his hand at professional golf and television pundit in the US. Others >>> Luke Freeman, Luton 2022-2023, QPR 2017-2019 >>> Kazenga Lua Lua, Luton 2018-2021, QPR (loan) 2017 >>> Alex Baptiste, Luton (loan) 2019, QPR 2017-2019 >>> Michael Harriman, Luton 2014-2015, QPR 2011-2016 >>> Rowan Vine, QPR 2008-2012, Luton 2004-2007 >>> Iain Dowie, QPR (manager) 2008, 1998-2001, Luton 1988-1991 >>> Paul Furlong, Luton 2007-2008, QPR 2002-2007, 2000 (loan) >>> Kevin Gallen, Luton 2009-2011, QPR 2001-2007, 1994-2000 >>> Gary Waddock, QPR (manager) 2006, 1991-1992, 1979-1987, Luton 1994-1998 >>> Richard Langley, Luton 2006-2008, QPR 2005-2006, 1996-2003 >>> Tony Thorpe, QPR 2003-2005, Luton 2002-2003, 1999 (loan), 1998 (loan), 1992-1998 >>> Mark Stein, Luton 2000-2001, 1984-1988, QPR 1988-1989 >>> Tim Breacker, QPR 1999-2001, Luton 1983-1990 >>> Ray Harford, QPR (manager) 1997-1998, Luton (Manager) 1987-1990 >>> Juergen Sommer, QPR 1995-1998, Luton 1991-1995 >>> Roy Wegerle, QPR 1990-1992, Luton 1988-1990 >>> Plastic Pitch, Luton 1985-1991, QPR 1981-1988 >>> Paul Walsh, QPR (loan) 1991, Luton 1982-1984 >>> Andy King, Luton 1985-1986, QPR 1980-1981 >>> Don Shanks, QPR 1974-1981, Luton 1970-1974 >>> Don Givens, QPR 1972-1978, Luton 1970-1972 >>> Dave Sexton, QPR (manager) 1974-1977, Luton 1951-1952 >>> Alec Stock, Luton (manager) 1968-1972, QPR (manager) 1959-1968, 1938-1939 >>> Mike Keen, Luton 1969-1972, QPR 1959-1969 The Twitter/Instagram @loftforwords Pictures — Action Images Pictures - Reuters Connect Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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