With QPR at Leeds on Saturday the choice for the memorable match in this week’s history column wasn’t a difficult one. Predictably, we’re looking back at a legendary come-back and special goal from October 1990.
QPR 1 Leeds United 2, Saturday May 9, 2011, Championship
Technically QPR had sealed their status as champions of the second tier, and promotion to the Premier League, with a 2-0 win at Watford the week before the final game of the 2010/11 season at home to Leeds. However a hearing over the legitimacy of the Ale Faurlin transfer, which only started four days before the final game of the season and subsequently dragged on until 45 minutes before kick off, meant the whole thing was in doubt right down to the wire. In the end the FA decided that although QPR had gained a sporting advantage by conducting the transfer in the illegal manner they did, a points deduction was not necessary and Rangers were free to lift the trophy. It was a generous decision, owing more to the timing than the evidence, but the whole process had taken a lot out of Neil Warnock’s team. Despite Heidar Helguson scoring from close range in the first 30 seconds Leeds fought back and scored two of their own through Max Gradel and Ross McCormack to win 2-1 — thereby inflicting QPR’s only double defeat of the promotion season. Not many around Shepherds Bush cared though, and the party continued long into the night.
QPR: Cerny 5, Orr 6, Connolly 6, Gorkss 6, Hill 6 (Ramage 65, 6), Derry 7, Faurlin 6, Routledge 6, Buzsaky 7 (Taarabt 55, 5), Smith 6, Helguson 6 (Shittu 72 6)
Subs Not Used: Putnins, Agyemang, Moen, Ephraim
Booked: Taarabt (dissent)
Goals: Helguson 1 (assisted Smith)
Leeds: Schmeichel 6, Connolly 6, Naylor 6 (Kisnorbo 79, 7), O'Brien 6, Lichaj 6, Gradel 7 (Watt 85, -), Kilkenny 6, Howson 6, Johnson 6, McCormack 7, Paynter 5 (Somma 65, 6)
Subs Not Used: Higgs, Bruce, Livermore, Bromby
Goals: Gradel 38 (assisted Naylor), McCormack 68 (unassisted)
Leeds United 2 QPR 0, Saturday December 18, 2010, Championship
QPR suffered their first away defeat of their 2010/11 promotion season at Elland Road in December. Having gone 19 games unbeaten at the start of the season, culminating in a 2-1 home win against nearest promotion rivals Cardiff, the R’s then collapsed to two defeats in a week with near neighbours Watford winning 3-1 at Loftus Road and then Leeds out muscling them in West Yorkshire. QPR missed great chances at the start of each half — Tommy Smith lobbing Kaspar Schmeichel but missing the goal as well in the first five minutes, and Adel Taarabt having a goal bound volley blocked away right after half time. But in between those two incidents Max Gradel had slammed in a loose ball in the penalty area and then in the second period with QPR overcommitted and Fitz Hall backing away at a terrifying rate Gradel ran through to add a second. Ultimately only some fine late saves from Paddy Kenny kept the score down.
Leeds: Schmeichel 6, Connolly 6, Bruce - (Bromby 11, 7), Collins 7, McCartney 6, Kilkenny 7, Howson 7, Johnson 7, Gradel 7 (Sam 76, 7),Becchio 8 (Paynter 90, -), Snodgrass 7
Subs Not Used: Higgs, Faye, Somma, McCormack
Booked: Connolly (fighting)
Goals: Gradel 25 (assisted Becchio), 70 (unassisted)
QPR Kenny 7, Orr 6, Gorkss 6, Connolly 5, Hill 4 (Hall 46, 5), Derry 5, Walker 5, Mackie 6, Smith 6 (Ephraim 75, 5), Taarabt 6, Hulse 6 (Helguson 75, 5)
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Clarke, Rowlands, Tofas
Booked: Orr (foul), Hill (foul)
QPR 2 Leeds United 2, Tuesday August 8, 2006, Championship
Right at the very beginning of the 2006/07 season, Rangers and Leeds shared the spoils in an opening night Loftus Road thriller. After a meek 2-0 defeat on day one at Burnley QPR looked set to par the course again when Eddie Lewis gave the visitors the lead midway through the second half. Step forward young Ray Jones, who combined with Shabazz Baidoo in the final half an hour of the game as a substitute to win QPR a famous point. Rangers drew level with a Martin Rowlands penalty after a generous decision from referee Kevin Friend who adjudged Gareth Ainsworth to have been fouled in the box. From the kick off Geoff Horsfield restored Leeds lead with just eight minutes to go but Baidoo scrambled an equaliser and Jones went within a whisker of winning the game outright in stoppage time.
QPR: P Jones 9, Bignot 4 (Baidoo 76, 8), Rose 4, Stewart 4, Milanese 5, Ainsworth 7, Lomas 7, Rowlands 7 (Bircham 89, -), Cook 7, Ward 7, Czerkas 5 (Jones 54, 7).
Subs not used: Cole, Kanyuka.
Goals: Rowlands 80 (pen), Baidoo 90
Bookings: Stewart 39
Leeds United: Warner 7, Kelly 7, Crainey 5, Butler 7, Healy 7 (Carole 76, 6), Horsfield 8 (Moore 84, -), Lewis 7, Stone 8, Bakke 7 (Westlake 50, 6), Derry 6, Kilgallon 6.
Subs not used: Gregan, Blake.
Goals: Lewis 65, Horsfield 82
Bookings: Crainey 6, Derry 45, Warner 79, Kilgallon 90
Head to Head >>> Leeds wins 20 >>> Draws 13 >>> QPR wins 15
2010/11 QPR 1 Leeds 2 (Helguson)
2010/11 Leeds 2 QPR 0
2006/07 Leeds 0 QPR 0
2006/07 QPR 2 Leeds 2 (Rowlands pen, Baidoo)
2005/06 Leeds 2 QPR 0
2005/06 QPR 0 Leeds 1
2004/05 QPR 1 Leeds 1 (Gallen)
2004/05 Leeds 6 QPR 1 (Ainsworth)
1995/96 QPR 1 Leeds 2 (Gallen)
1995/96 Leeds 1 QPR 3 (Dichio 2, Sinclair)
1994/95 Leeds 4 QPR 0
1994/95 QPR 3 Leeds 2 (Ferdinand 2, Gallen)
1993/94 QPR 0 Leeds 4
1993/94 Leeds 1 QPR 1 (Meaker)
1992/93 Leeds 1 QPR 1 (Ferdinand)
1992/93 QPR 2 Leeds 1 (Bardsley, Ferdinand)
1991/92 QPR 4 Leeds 1 (Ferdinand, Allen, Sinton, Wilson pen)
1991/92 Leeds 2 QPR 0
1990/91 QPR 2 Leeds 0 (Wegerle, Barker)
1990/91 QPR 0 Leeds 3*
1990/91 Leeds 2 QPR 3 (Wegerle 2, Wilkins)
1986/87 Leeds 2 QPR 0**
1982/83 QPR 1 Leeds 0 (Hart og)
1982/83 Leeds 0 QPR 1 (Allen)
1978/79 Leeds 4 QPR 3 (Walsh, Roeder, Busby)
1978/79 QPR 0 Leeds 2*
1978/79 QPR 1 Leeds 4 (Eastoe)
1977/78 QPR 0 Leeds 0
1977/78 Leeds 3 QPR 0
1976/77 Leeds 0 QPR 1 (Eastoe)
1976/77 QPR 0 Leeds 0
1975/76 QPR 2 Leeds 0 (Thomas, Bowles)
1975/76 Leeds 2 QPR 1 (Bowles (pen))
1974/75 QPR 1 Leeds 1 (Givens)
1974/75 Leeds 0 QPR 1 (Francis)
1973/74 QPR 0 Leeds 1
1973/74 Leeds 2 QPR 2 (Thomas, Bowles)
1968/69 QPR 0 Leeds 1
1968/69 Leeds 4 QPR 1 (Wilks)
1951/52 QPR 0 Leeds 0
1951/52 Leeds 3 QPR 0
1950/51 Leeds 2 QPR 2 (Shepherd, Smith)
1950/51 QPR 3 Leeds 0 (Shepherd, Hatton (pen), Mills)
1949/50 QPR 1 Leeds 1 (Best)
1949/50 Leeds 1 QPR 1 (Pointon)
1948/49 QPR 2 Leeds 0 (Addinall 2)
1948/49 Leeds 1 QPR 2 (Gibbons, Pattison)
1931/32 QPR 3 Leeds 1** (Cribb, Rounce)
* - League Cup
** - FA Cup
Leeds United 2 QPR 3, Saturday October 20, 1990, First Division
The pub quiz question on the last English manager to win the league championship in this country remains a favourite, and following Alex Ferguson’s latest success earlier this year the answer remains Howard Wilkinson.
After a low-profile playing career Wilkinson made his name in the game as a manager, first promoting Sheffield Wednesday to the top flight and establishing them there in the mid-1980s and then repeating the feat with Leeds United. He arrived at Elland Road in October 1988 and won the Second Division championship in his first full season in charge with a team that included the likes of Lee Chapman in attack and Chris Fairclough in defence either side of a central midfield partnership of Vinnie Jones and Gordon Strachan.
Upon promotion Leeds added Gary McAllister to the midfield instead of Jones, brought in goalkeeper John Lukic from Arsenal and promoted youth team graduates David Batty and Gary Speed. It was a formidable outfit for a newly promoted team but early results were mixed — wins at Everton and Sheffield United were offset by defeats to Luton, Spurs and Leicester. When QPR arrived in West Yorkshire in mid-October Wilkinson’s team had won four, drawn three and lost three.
Rangers’ record was almost identical. They’d won three, drawn four and lost three of their opening ten games with a 6-1 home win against Luton and early win against bitter rivals Chelsea in W12 (with Kerry Dixon hacking a penalty over the bar at the Loft End) the highlights and a 1-0 home set back against Wimbledon and 3-1 loss at Coventry best off forgotten about. They’d been very reliant on enigmatic South African-born USA international striker Roy Wegerle though. Don Howe’s Rangers scored three goals in their first four matches that season prior to the Luton thrashing and Wegerle got all of them. What was to follow from him at Elland Road would go down in QPR folklore.
The focus before kick-off had been at the other end of the field. QPR had picked out Czech international goalkeeper Jan Stejskal from that summer’s Italian World Cup as a potential signing but he wanted to stay with his home town club Sparta Prague until they were eliminated from that season’s European Cup. That left Howe persevering with accident prone youngster Tony Roberts until Stejskal arrived, and when the new man finally did touch down on these shores he found himself thrust into a debut in the cauldron of Elland Road.
That wasn’t an ideal situation to be in, and Leeds smelt blood early on. A routine early free kick down the field was flicked on by John Pearson and that tempted Stejskal from his line allowing centre back Chris Whyte to hook into an unguarded net with just a quarter of an hour played. Unnerved, the keeper then threw a ball out to left back Kenny Sansom that was never on, he was robbed of possession by Strachan and when the diminutive Scot crossed Lee Chapman was unmarked six yards out and hammered in a second. A defeat seemed inevitable — a question of how many.
But the visitors, resplendent in red and black hoops, found a way back into the game before half time. A young Les Ferdinand harried Whyte out of possession on the corner of his own penalty box which allowed Simon Barker to accelerate to the byline and cut the ball back for Ray Wilkins to hammer home from 18 yards out.
Then, on the stroke of half time, a moment of vintage Wegerle genius levelled the game. Collecting the ball wide on the right flank, only ten yards inside the Leeds half, he set off towards goal at no great speed but with consummate control of the ball. In all he tempted six Leeds players into tackles only to then skip round them before dragging the ball back and dropping his shoulder on the edge of the penalty area and unleashing an unstoppable low drive into the corner. It was a miraculous, mesmeric goal, totally typical of the man. It was later voted the top flight’s goal of the season, only the second time a QPR player had won the award following Gerry Francis’ famous effort against Liverpool at Loftus Road back in 1975 — Trevor Sinclair’s bicycle kick in an FA Cup tie with Barnsley in 1997 subsequently made that three. Even the notoriously harsh home fans at Elland Road had to applaud.
The momentum was with QPR at this stage but a typically generous home-town decision gave Leeds a penalty after half time — Maddix harshly adjudged to have pushed Chapman under a deep corner — only for Strachan to smack his shot flush onto the face of the bar while trying to beat Stejskal up in his top corner.
That paved the way for a memorable comeback win for the Londoners. Five minutes from time a scrappy piece of play on the edge of the Leeds area was tidied up in typically calm and composed style by Wilkins who caressed a perfect pass into the path of Wegerle and he swept home the winner past Lukic and into the far corner. His ninth of the season, QPR’s first away win of the campaign, a day those present in the caged away end will never forget. QPR finished the season twelfth, Leeds an impressive fourth.
Leeds: Lukic, Sterland, Fairclough, Whyte, Haddock, Batty, Strachan, Pearson, McAllister, Speed, Chapman
QPR: Stejskal, Parker, McDonald, Maddix, Sansom, Bardsley, Wilkins, Barker, Sinton, Ferdinand (Falco), Wegerle
Subs not used: Sinton, Wilson
Attendance: 27,443
Highlights >>> QPR 2 Leeds 1, 92/93 >>> QPR 4 Leeds 1 91/92 >>> Leeds 2 QPR 3 1990 >>> Leeds 2 QPR 1 FA Cup 86/87 >>> QPR 2 Leeds 0 75/76 >>> Leeds 2 QPR 2, 73/74
Tony Ingham >>> Leeds 1947-1950 >>> QPR 1950-1963
Tony Ingham remains QPR’s record appearance holder to this day, despite leaving the club way back in 1963, and in the modern era it’s unlikely anybody is going to beat his 548 league and cup outings for the Super Hoops any time soon — particularly with the turnover of players at Loftus Road these days.
Ingham was born in Harrogate in 1925 and spotted playing local football there as a 22 year old just after the Second World War. He served in the Royal Navy during the conflict, and completed an electrical apprenticeship while playing part-time for Harrogate Town which is where the local league side Leeds United picked him up from. He’d intended to be a full time electrician until that point. He stayed at Elland Road for four years, but only made three appearances for the senior team after finding himself stuck behind first John Charles and then Jimmy Milburn.
He wasn’t exactly a regular at QPR either having moved down to London to join the R’s in 1950 for a fee of £5,000. He made his debut for the R’s in a 2-1 home defeat by Doncaster Rovers in the Second Division in November 1950 (Cyril Hatton with the QPR goal) and only missed two matches for the rest of the season. Nevertheless, he started the 1951/52 campaign out of the side and bar two outings at the end of November and beginning of December in 2-0 and 4-0 defeats to Birmingham and Leicester respectively, he didn’t start playing regularly again until the Christmas and New Year period when he was recalled for a 3-2 home win against Swansea Town.
Rangers were relegated from the Second Division into Third Division South that year. Ingham is quoted on the Leeds United history site saying: "One more point would have kept us up and we should have got that in one of our last games against Cardiff City. Alf Sherwood punched the ball off the line but the ref never saw it so we didn't even get a penalty let alone a goal. We were drawing at the time and that goal would have given us the extra point to stay up.”
But in his third season with the club he made the transition into first team regular, missing just three matches in the entire Division Three South campaign. He was rarely out of the starting 11 for the following decade after that — remarkably completing the 1956/57, 1957/58, 1958/59, 1959/60 and 1960/61 seasons without missing a single league or cup game 0 272 consecutive appearances. That meant, amazingly, that having returned to the side after a four match absence for a 1-0 win against Exeter on February 25 1956 he didn’t miss another competitive match until a 1-1 draw at home to Bournemouth on September 16, 1961, some five and a half years later. Have that Armand Traore.
Left back isn’t a position conducive to prolific goal scoring of course, and for all his loyal service he only managed six in his entire time with the club before retiring in 1963. But he was around for the start of the Alec Stock and Jim Gregory revolution at Loftus Road which would see Loftus Road entirely redeveloped and the club eventually become a top flight regular. Gregory persuaded Ingham to stay when he almost left W12 in the early 1960s with an offer to stay on at the club after his retirement.
Despite being a born and bred northerner, he came to call London and QPR home, staying on at Loftus Rod in various capacities for many years afterwards back in the days when a job at QPR was a job for life and people like the late Daphne Biggs would be around the club for decades. Ingham was commercial manager, club secretary and on the board of directors at various points. He had a suite in the South Africa Road stand named after him in recognition of his commitment and long service.
Ingham died in April 2010 aged 85 following an illness.
Others >>> Paddy Kenny, Leeds 2012-present, QPR 2010-2012 >>> Neil Warnock, Leeds (manager) 2012-2013, QPR (manager) 2010-2012 >>> Hogan Ephraim, QPR 2007-present, Leeds (loan) 2009-2010 >>> Shaun Derry, QPR 2010-present, Leeds 2005-2008 >>> Rob Hulse, QPR 2010-2013, Leeds 2005-2006 >>> Liam Milller, QPR 2009, Leeds (loan) 2005-2006 >>> Simon Walton, QPR 2007-2008, Leeds 2004-2006 >>> Serge Branco, QPR 2004-2005, Leeds 2004 >>> Jerome Thomas, Leeds (loan) 2012-2013, QPR (loan) 2002 >>> Clarke Carlisle, Leeds 2004-2005, QPR 2000-2004 >>> Vinnie Jones, QPR 1998-1999, Leeds 1989-1990 >>> Mark Hateley, QPR 1995-1997, Leeds (loan) 1996 >>> Steve Hodge, QPR 1994-1995, Leeds 1991-1994 >>> Dougie Freedman, Leeds (loan) 2008, QPR 1992-1994 >>> David Seaman, QPR 1986-1990, Leeds 1981-1982 >>> Paul Hart, QPR (sort of manager) 2009-2010, Leeds 1978-1983 >>> Tony Currie, QPR 1979-1982, Leeds 1976-1979 >>> Clive Clark, QPR 1968-1970, 1958-1960, Leeds 1957-1958 >>>Terry Venables, Leeds (manager) 2002-2003, QPR (manager) 1980-1984, 1969-1974 >>> Joe Jordan, QPR (coach) 2012-present, Leeds 1970-1978
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