If it's a long QPR losing run that needs snapping, Sunderland might not be a bad fixture to have - as Don Howe's Rangers discovered in a Christmas fixture in 1990.

Memorable Match

QPR 3 Sunderland 2, Saturday December 29, 1990, First Division

Back in 1990, when Sunderland were the Christmas week visitors to Loftus Road, alarm bells were ringing throughout W12 after a dire run of form.

Manager Don Howe had found his team cursed by a series of injuries to central defenders. First choice pair Alan McDonald and Paul Parker had been ruled out for the rest of the season with injuries picked up in the same game with Crystal Palace. New assistant manager Bobby Gould opened his little black book of lower league gems to bring in Andy Tillson from Grimsby and Darren Peacock from Hereford but the latter was almost immediately sidelined himself along with Danny Maddix. Howe returned to his former club Arsenal for a loan of Gus Caesar but as he is now remembered by fans of both clubs as one of their worst every players you can guess that this wasn’t a particularly successful move either.

Howe and Gould desperately needed a result. The decimated defence had been leaking goals at a frightening rate and as Sunderland arrived in the Bush for the final match of the calendar year they found a QPR team without a win in ten matches dating back to October when Roy Wegerle’s famous goal had contributed to a stunning 3-2 win at Leeds. Sunderland, under Dennis Smith, had been promoted to the First Division the year before and were struggling themselves — without star striker Marco Gabbiadini for this one and destined to finish second bottom of the table and return to the second tier at the first time of asking.

With just one point from the previous five matches the Mackems turned out to be ideal fodder for Rangers who managed to cobble together a less than inspiring back line that included Tillson, Caeser and Maddix for this match. Caesar immediately conceded a Loft End penalty by fouling Gabbiadini’s replacement David Rush but Paul Bracewell saw his spot kick brilliantly saved by Jan Stejskal diving full length to his right.

Eight minutes before half time Howe’s men made Sunderland pay for their profligacy when Wilkins chipped a partially cleared corner back into the area and Maddix rose well to nod home but they couldn’t hold out until half time and Caesar was once again culpable for the goal. Colin Pascoe, now Liverpool assistant manager, tapped home from close range after Stejskal had parried an initial shot from distance, but it was Caesar’s fresh air kick under no pressure when the clearance seemed a straightforward one that set the moment up.

This was to be a game of three penalties and the second of the match also went Sunderland’s way after half time. David Bardsley tripped Rush right under the nose of referee Roger Milford, and Bracewell allowed club veteran Kevin Ball to have a crack from the spot — he made no mistake in front of the Sunderland fans. It seemed the run of two points from a possible 30 was about to become two from 33 for QPR.

Sunderland though, as teams at the bottom of the table often do, found a way to let Rangers back into the game. Andy Sinton certainly made the most of John Kay’s nudge in his back in the penalty area but there were few complaints from the visitors about the spot kick award and Roy Wegerle confidently smashed in a fifteenth goal of the season — seven of them from the penalty spot.

Then 15 minutes from time Bardsley atoned for his earlier error with a measured ball to the back post where Mark Falco slid in with a trademark scissor kick to seal a much needed home win.

Rangers lost their next two games over the holiday period but with Darren Peacock returning to the defence to partner Tillson and Les Ferdinand starting to emerge as a genuine striking talent alongside Wegerle the second half of the campaign was a whole lot happier. A draw with Man Utd in the first weekend in January commenced a run of one defeat in 13 matches, eight of them victories, to lift the R’s to a comfortable final position of twelfth.

QPR: Stejskal, Bardsley, Sansom, Tilson, Caesar, Maddix, Wilkins, Barker, Falco, Wegerle, Sinton

Subs: Wilson, Meaker

Sunderland: Norman, Kay, Ord, Bennett, Ball, Owles, Bracewell, Armstrong, Davenport, Rush, Pascoe.

Subs: Hardyman, Hawkes

Classic encounters

LFW 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 three recent meetings with Sunderland are embedded below, give him a subscribe on YouTube or follow @QPR_Memories on Twitter.

Recent Meetings

Sunderland 0 QPR 0, Saturday March 16, 2024, Championship

Lucas Andersen missed a great chance in the first half, Chris Willock a sitter right at the death, as Sunderland and QPR ground out a turgid goalless draw at the Stadium of Light in March. QPR were desperate for points for their survival battle and this counted as something of a missed opportunity against the Mackems who were under the caretaker stewardship of Mike Dodds after the Mick Beale disaster and on a run of one draw and six straight losses in their previous seven games.

Sunderland: Patterson 8; Hume 5, Ballard 4, Hjelde 5, Styles 4; Neil 6, Bellingham 5; Mundle 5 (Burstow 78, 5), Aouchiche 5, Ba 4 (Rigg 58, 7); Hemir/Semedo 3 (Ekwah 57, 5)

Subs not used: Pembele, Bishop, Dack, Kelly, Jones, Bainbridge

Yellow Cards: Hume 73 (foul)

QPR: Begovic 6; Dunne 6, Cook 5, Clarke-Salter 6, Paal 5; Hayden 7 (Field 84, -), Colback 6; Chair 5 (Hodge 63, 5), Andersen 6 (Smyth 84, -), Willock 5; Dykes 4 (Armstrong 64, 7)

Subs not used: Frey Fox, Cannon, Larkeche, Walsh

Yellow Cards: Dunne 45 (foul), Willock 87 (foul)

QPR 1 Sunderland 3, Saturday September 16, 2023, Championship

Jack Colback came bearing gifts to his former club as Sunderland came from behind to win at Loftus Road during the bleak Gareth Ainsworth reign at QPR. Rangers had taken a rare and unexpected early lead thanks to a nice goal from Kenneth Paal, but any hope of going on to win the game were all but extinguished by Colback’s ludicrous foul and straight red card after just 21 minutes. A further blow was dealt by Jack Clarke’s deflected equaliser eight minutes into first half injury time. Dan Ballard and Abdoullah Ba both scored in the second half as the Mackems comfortably pulled off into the distance.

QPR: Begovic 5; Kakay 6, Cook 6 (Clarke-Salter 76, 6), Fox 6; Smyth 4 (Dykes 60, 5), Field 6, Dozzell 6, Colback 3, Paal 6 (Larkeche 68, 6); Armstrong 5 (Kolli 69, 6), Chair 5 (Willock 68, 5)

Subs Not Used: Dixon-Bonner, Walsh, Duke-McKenna, Adomah

Goals: Paal 12 (assisted Chair)

Red Cards: Colback 21 (serious foul play)

Yellow Cards: Armstrong 33 (foul), Kakay 79 (foul)

Sunderland: Patterson 6; Hume 7, O’Nien 7, Ballard 8, Huggins 5 (Roberts 45, 7); Neil 6, Ekwah 5 (Pritchard 14, 8); Ba 7, Bellingham 7 (Semedo 83, -), Clarke 8; Burstow 6 (Aouchiche 61, 7)

Subs not used: Bennette, Seelt, Triantis, Bishop, Rigg

Goals: Clarke 45+8 (assisted Huggins 45+8), Ballard 57 (unassisted), Ba 81 (assisted Aouchiche)

QPR 0 Sunderland 3, Tuesday February 14, 2023, Championship

I guess, if you wanted to be kind, you could make a case that this one hung on Ilias Chair’s second half penalty miss. At that point the score was only 1-0 to the visitors after Seny Dieng’s poor fumble allowed Luke O’Nien a first half tap in. Had Chair scored from 12 yards, instead of seeing the shot beaten aside by Patterson, then Rangers would have been level and with momentum going into the final half an hour. Wishful thinking, not only because he didn’t score, but also because Neil Critchley’s side had been dire all night, and a distant second best to the visitors. It really was more luck than judgement that it stayed 1-0 for as long as it did, and sure enough the addition of Diallo from the Sunderland bench was one superior player too many and the Mackems pulled deservedly well clear with two late goals from our one-time loanee Jack Clarke. It would prove to be Critchley’s final home match in charge.

QPR: Dieng 5; Laird 2 (Kakay 45, 5), Dickie 2, Dunne 3, Paal 4; Field 4, Dozzell 3 (Johansen 81, -), Iroegbunam 2 (Armstrong 76, 4), Chair 4; Martin 5, Lowe 4

Subs not used: Archer, Dixon-Bonner, Gubbins, Adomah

Bookings: Field 63 (foul), Lowe 71 (delaying the restart/time wasting at 1-0 down), Dozzell 72 (prat), Johansen 82 (attempted murder), Paal 90 (assault), Dunne 90+1 (argument)

Sunderland: Patterson 7; Hume 6, Ballard 7, Batth 7, Alese 6 (Cirkin 81, -); Roberts 8, O’Nien 8, Pritchard 7 (Neil 69, 7), Ba 7 (Diallo 63, 7); Gelhardt 5 (Ekwah 81, -), Clarke 8

Subs not used: Bass, Bennette, Lihadji,

Goals: O’Nien 34 (unassisted), Clarke 82 (assisted Cirkin), 90+2 (assisted Neil)

Bookings: Clarke 69 (foul), Pritchard 90+1 (argument)

Sunderland 2 QPR 2, Saturday August 13, 2022, Championship

QPR staged the most unlikely of comebacks from two goals down when these sides met at the Stadium of Light at the start of the 2022/23 season. The hosts, unknowingly about to lose manager Alex Neil to Stoke, eased into a two-goal lead in the first half as Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms cut through the visiting defence to score a goal apiece. It stayed like that until two minutes from time when Ilias Chair scored QPR’s first direct free kick in three seasons to bring the R’s back within one. Chair then put in the fateful stoppage time cross that saw goalkeeper Seny Dieng head home a remarkable equaliser — the first goal scored by a goalkeeper in the history of the club. There was still time for Dieng to make a remarkable double save at the other end to preserve the point.

Sunderland: Patterson 6; Ballard — (O’Nien 9, 6), Batth 6, Cirkin 6; Gooch 7, Neil 7 (Embleton 88, -), Evans 6, Clarke 6; Pritchard 7 (Wright 88, -), Stewart 7, Simms 8 (Roberts 60, 7)

Subs not used: Bass, Diamond, Alese

Goals: Stewart 31 (assisted Neil), Simms 40 (assisted Pritchard)

Bookings: Clarke 26 (foul), Evans 41 (foul), Gooch 86 (foul)

QPR: Dieng 8; Kakay 5, Dunne 6, Dickie 6, Travelman 4 (Bonne 90, -); Johansen 5 (Dozzell 75, 6), Field 5, Chair 6; Adomah 5 (Roberts 46, 7), Dykes 6, Shodipo 5 (Armstrong 81, 7)

Subs not used: Masterson, Gubbins, Walsh

Goals: Chair 88 (direct fk (!!), won Roberts), Dieng (!!) (90+2 assisted Chair)

Bookings: Field 30 (to shut the crowd up), Dickie 37 (foul)

QPR 0 Sunderland 0, Tuesday October 26, 2021, League Cup

One of the worst pieces of officiating you’ll ever see in the game cost QPR a trip to Arsenal and first League Cup quarter final since 1987 when Sunderland came to Loftus Road in October 2021. A tight game with the League One high-flyers looked to have been settled ten minutes from time when Albert Adomah’s goalbound shot was blocked on the line by a handball, and Charlie Austin netted the rebound. But linesman Mark Dwyer incorrectly flagged Austin offside after a long delay, and referee Keith Stroud failed to bring the play back for the original handball. QPR then made a horrible mess of the penalty shoot out and were eliminated.

QPR: Dieng 7; Kakay 6 (Adomah 72, 7), Dickie 5, De Wijs 6, Barbet 5, Odubajo 5; Amos 7 (Duke-McKenna 84, -); Willock 6 (Dozzell 73, 6), Chair 6, Gray 5 (Austin 62, 6), Dykes 7

Subs not used: Johanson, Ball, Archer, Dunne, Drewe

Bookings: De Wijs 15 (foul)

Sunderland: Burge 8; Winchester 7, Alves 6 (Doyle 69, 6), Wright 7, Hume 6 (Cirkin 24, 8); Neil 8, Evans 7 (O’Brien 65, 7); Gooch 7 (McGeady 65, 7), O’Nien 7, Dajaku 8 (Prichard 69, 7); Stewart 7

Subs not used: Flanagan, Harris, Hoffman, Wearne

Bookings: O’Nien 17 (foul), Gooch 39 (dissent), Stewart 90+4 (foul)

QPR 1 Sunderland 0, Saturday March 10, 2018, Championship

A star was born at Loftus Road when these sides last met here in March 2018. Luke Steele’s latest personal disaster, springing from his box and handling a bouncing ball for an obvious red card, opened the way for QPR to hammer another nail into Sunderland’s relegation coffin. The killed goal came on the hour as young Ebere Eze opened his senior account for the club, playing a one two off Matt Smith on the edge of the area and smashing in at the near post.

QPR: Smithies 6; Furlong 6, Onuoha 7, Robinson 6 (Lynch 46, 5), Bidwell 6; Scowen 6, Luongo 6; Freeman 5, Eze 7 (Manning 89, -), Smyth 6 (Osayi-Samuel 72, 6); Smith 6

Subs not used: Cousins, Washington, Ingram, Wszolek

Goals: Eze 62 (assisted Smith)

Bookings: Freeman 61 (foul), Onuoha 74 (foul)

Sunderland: Steele 3; Matthews 6, Kone 5, O’Shea 3, Oviedo 6; Cattermole 3, Asoro 6 (Camp 51, 7), Williams 3 (McGeady 30, 6), Ejaria 6, Honeyman 6; Fletcher 4 (Maja 87, -)

Subs not used: Jones, McManaman, Gooch, Robson

Red Cards: Steele 49 (deliberate handball denying goalscoring opportunity)

Bookings: O’Shea 70 (foul)

Sunderland 1 QPR 1, Saturday October 14, 2018, Championship

Only QPR can explain how they failed to add to Sunderland’s misery and win at the Stadium of Light back in October that season. The R’s created and missed a catalogue of chances across the 90 minutes, converting just once when Idrissa Sylla headed in Luke Freeman’s first half corner. With the Sunderland fans openly revolting and ironically cheering the few passes their team did complete it looked like a rare away win was on the cards until, just after the hour, Aiden McGeady did what he’d done for Preston the previous season and whopped one in from distance against the run of play.

Sunderland: Steele 5; Matthews 5, Jones 5, O’Shea 5, Oviedo 5; Honeyman 5 (Williams 58, 6), Ndong 5, Cattermole 5, McGeady 7; Vaughan 5 (Grabban 45, 5), Watmore 8 (McManaman 79, 6)

Subs not used: Love, Gibson, Ruiter, Gooch

Goals: McGeady 61 (unassisted)

QPR: Smithies 7; Baptiste 7, Lynch 7, Bidwell 7; Luongo 7, Scowen 8, Manning 6, Freeman 7, Wszolek 6 (Osayi-Samuel 76, 5); Mackie 5 (Washington 67, 5), Sylla 7

Subs not used: Lumley, Furlong, Smith, Ngbakoto, Wheeler

Goals: Sylla 37 (assisted Freeman)

QPR 1 Sunderland 2, Tuesday September 21, 2016, League Cup

Two cup victories counts as a run deep into the competition for QPR and a creative ticketing strategy for a home tie against Premier League opposition brought a big crowd to Loftus Road for the visit of Sunderland in September 2016. Beatable Premier League opposition as well, given the Mackems’ appalling league form, and Rangers did take the lead on the hour when Sandro volleyed in from a corner. A false dawn in several respects — forced to play for more than an hour, Sandro fell in a hole and Paddy McNair, who’d never scored a senior goal in his life, bagged two in quick succession to turn the game around for David Moyes’ side.

QPR: Ingram 6; Kakay 6, Caulker 6, Lynch 7, Hamalainen 5; Sandro 6, Cousins 6 (Chery 85, -); Wzsolek 6, El Khayati 4, Washington 6 (Luongo 79, 6); Sylla 7 (Polter 74, 5)

Subs Not Used: Smithies, Onuoha, Borysiuk, Paul

Goals: Sandro 60 (assisted Lynch)

Sunderland: Pickford 6; Denayer 5 (Love 69, 6), O’Shea 6, Djilobodji 6, van Aanholt 6; NDong 8, Kirchhoff 6, McNair 8, Gooch 5 (Cattermole 69, 7); Watmore 6, Asoro 5 (Maja 69, 7)

Subs not used: Jones, Mika, Kone, Greenwood

Goals: McNair 70 (assisted Watmore), 80 (assisted NDong)

Previous Results

Head to Head >>> QPR wins 14 >>> Draws 11 >>> Sunderland wins 16

2023/24 Sunderland 0 QPR 0

2023/24 QPR 1 Sunderland 3 (Paal)

2022/23 QPR 0 Sunderland 3

2022/23 Sunderland 2 QPR 2 (Chair, Dieng)

2021/22 QPR 0 Sunderland 0**

2017/18 QPR 1 Sunderland 0 (Eze)

2017/18 Sunderland 1 QPR 1 (Sylla)

2016/17 QPR 1 Sunderland 2** (Sandro)

2014/15 Sunderland 0 QPR 2 (Zamora, Fer)

2014/15 QPR 1 Sunderland 0 (Austin)

2012/13 QPR 3 Sunderland 1 (Remy, Townsend, Jenas)

2012/13 Sunderland 0 QPR 0

2011/12 Sunderland 3 QPR 1 (Taiwo)

2011/12 QPR 2 Sunderland 3 (Mackie, Helguson)

2006/07 Sunderland 2 QPR 1 (Rowlands)

2006/07 QPR 1 Sunderland 2 (Jones)

2004/05 QPR 1 Sunderland 3 (Shittu)

2004/05 Sunderland 2 QPR 2 (Furlong, Rowlands)

1998/99 QPR 2 Sunderland 2 (Maddix, Gallen)

1998/99 Sunderland 1 QPR 0

1997/98 Sunderland 2 QPR 2 (Sheron 2)

1997/98 QPR 0 Sunderland 1

1990/91 Sunderland 0 QPR 1 (Tilson)

1990/91 QPR 3 Sunderland 2 (Maddix, Wegerle, Falco)

1984/85 QPR 1 Sunderland 0 (Byrne)

1984/85 Sunderland 3 QPR 0

1983/84 Sunderland 1 QPR 0

1983/84 QPR 3 Sunderland 0 (Fenwick, Stainrod, C Allen)

1979/80 QPR 0 Sunderland 0

1979/80 Sunderland 3 QPR 0

1976/77 Sunderland 1 QPR 0

1976/77 QPR 2 Sunderland 0 (Bowles, McLintock)

1972/73 Sunderland 0 QPR 3 (Bowles 2, Thomas)

1972/73 QPR 3 Sunderland 2 (Bowles 2, Givens)

1971/72 Sunderland 0 QPR 1 (Busby)

1971/72 QPR 2 Sunderland 1 (Marsh, O’Rourke)

1970/71 QPR 2 Sunderland 0 (Leach, Venables)

1970/71 Sunderland 3 QPR 1 (Leach)

1968/69 Sunderland 0 QPR 0

1968/69 QPR 2 Sunderland 2 (L Allen, Clarke)

1956/57 Sunderland 4 QPR 0*

* - FA Cup
** - League Cup

Connections

Richard Ord >>> Sunderland 1987-1988 >>> QPR 1998-2000

Richard Ord was ostensibly a one club man. He signed forms at Roker Park in 1986 fresh out of school and made 284 appearances for the Mackems over the next 12 years. Having grown up playing in the centre of midfield he found more opportunities at Sunderland as a centre back, and made his debut in a 7-0 home win against Southend in the Third Division in November 1987.

Ord won two promotions during his time atg the club and also played in the 1992 FA Cup semi final. But having played regularly in his first two seasons as a pro Ord found manager Dennis Smith’s faith in him wavering and he played mostly reserve team football in his early 20s before Peter Reid took over as boss in 1995. He was a key member of Reid’s 1996 promotion winning team.

Sunderland only stayed in the Premiership for one year initially despite amassing 40 points. Reid stayed and took them through to a memorable play off final against Charlton a season later but Ord began having trouble with his back and didn’t even make the bench for the Wembley final.

Ord told the Sunderland Echo in 2007 what happened next when Ray Harford made a bid to bring him to Loftus Road.

“I didn't even make the bench for Wembley and I was gutted,” he said. "I spat the dummy a bit, to be honest, and I made a decision that I've always regretted. Ray had been my England Under-21 coach and was a fantastic bloke and great coach. He got in touch and asked about me. I don't think Reidy wanted me to leave and I know that Bobby Saxton didn't, but they were fair and said it was up to me. I went to see Ray and he wanted me in his side and was going to make me captain, so I made the decision to go. I still had four years on my deal at Sunderland and time to turn things round, which I think I could, but I was upset about not being involved in the side and I made the hardest decision of my life, to go."

He waved goodbye to the north east which had been his home for his entire life and signed for Queens Park Rangers for the thick end of £1m. Harford had made a centre back signing his top priority that summer with Alan McDonald pensioned off to Swindon by Stuart Houston who made subsequent unsuccessful attempts to replace the legendary Northern Irish international with first Matthew Rose and then Steve Morrow. Houston had been sacked midway through the 1997/98 season and QPR had survived relegation by the skin of their teeth with Liverpool’s Neil Ruddock playing at the heart of the defence on loan.

Harford spent the majority of the summer pursuing Bolton’s no-nonsense centre half Gerry Taggert. He would become a figure of hate at Loftus Road later in his career after a high profile on-field spat with Marc Bircham during his Stoke days, but he would have been an excellent signing for Harford and Rangers at the time. In the end they lost out to Leicester who went onto win the League Cup, upset the Premiership big boys and qualify for Europe under Martin O’Neill who based his team on a fearsome defence of Taggert, Matt Elliott and Steve Walsh.

Rangers meanwhile went for Ord who, on paper at least, was also a very sound signing. Except, in true QPR style, disaster struck. Within 15 minutes of his first ever appearance in a QPR shirt in a pre-season friendly at Aylesbury Ord badly ruptured his cruciate knee ligaments. Several attempts to return to training were made over the next two seasons but he never managed it and eventually retired two years after joining Rangers, aged 30, without a single competitive QPR appearance to his name.

"To be honest, it was a miracle I passed the medical with QPR because my back wasn't good; I had a prolapsed disc,” said Ord. "But I went down to QPR really fired up for something new, and it was all finished before I'd played a game for them. I gave it two years down there and had six operations, but it was never going to be right and I was finished. I came home and had a couple of years with Durham, but I couldn't train between games and the knee went again, so that was it."

The worse news for Rangers was that the outlay on Ord represented the last big spend of chairman Chris Wright’s illfated reign at Loftus Road. The purse strings were tightened thereafter as the club plummeted into debt and, eventually administration and relegation. Harford, and then Gerry Francis who succeeded him midway through the 1998/99 season after a disastrous start, were left to coax performances out of a back four made up more often than not of Morrow, Rose, and the ever accident prone Karl Ready.

Others >>> Jack Colback, QPR 2023-present, Sunderland 2008-2014 >>> Jake Clarke-Salter, QPR 2022-present, Sunderland (loan) 2018 >>> Jack Clarke, Sunderland 2022-2024, QPR (loan) 2020 >>> Jimmy Dunne, QPR 2021-present, Sunderland (loan) 2019 >>> Josh Scowen, Sunderland 2020-2021, QPR 2017-2020 >>> Nedum Onuoha, Sunderland (loan) 2010-2011, QPR 2012-present >>> Anton Ferdinand, Sunderland 2008-2011, QPR 2011-2013 >>> Tommy Smith, Sunderland 2003-2004, QPR 2010-2012 >>> Pascal Chimbonda, Sunderland 2008-2009, QPR 2010 >>> Djibril Cisse, QPR 2012/13, Sunderland 2008/09 >>> Liam Miller, Sunderland 2006-2009, QPR 2009 >>> Richard Ord, Sunderland 1987-1998, QPR 1998-2000 >>> Danny Dichio, QPR 1993-1997, Sunderland 1998-2001 >>> Peter Reid, QPR 1989-1990, Sunderland (manager) 1995-2002 >>> Clive Walker, Sunderland 1984-1986, QPR 1986-1987 >>>John Byrne, QPR 1984-1988, Sunderland 1991-1992 >>> Chris Woods, QPR 1979-1981, Sunderland 1997 >>> Leighton James, QPR 1977-1978, Sunderland 1983-1984

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