Having started so well at League Two Leyton Orient on Wednesday night, QPR are in the League Cup second round on Thursday morning thanks only to the cool nerves of five penalty takers after a ragged second half performance.
Signs of life in the early rounds of the League Cup? Certainly something stirring in the undergrowth of deepest, darkest East London on Wednesday night.
In the red corner, Leyton Orient. One of those pesky sort of clubs that refuses to give up and slip quietly away into the annals of history, no matter how many times the malignant, malicious, incompetent despots and chancers that stalk the corridors of English football get a firm foot on their throat. Their latest heroic comeback from a near scrape with financial and footballing oblivion is led by Nigel Travis, a guy who made his money in doughnuts (can you be my dad?), and understandably stalled somewhat after the sudden death of Justin Edinburgh, the manager who led the first stage of the process.
The spectre of Edinburgh has, again as you would fully expect, rather hung over the team since it returned to the league, and not just because his name nor adorns the main stand at Brisbane Road. Ross Embleton, Carl Fletcher, Ross Embleton again, and Jobi McAnuff have all had a swing and a miss here since but ultimate pragmatist and steadiest of steady hands Kenny Jackett has agreed to step down a division and take on the challenge this season, bringing Joe Gallen and Simon Royce with him, and quickly signing QPR cast off Paul Smyth. The two teams emerged to the theme tune from This Is Your Life.
In the blue corner, Queens Park Rangers, supported noisily from the sideline barn conversion by the entire population of Shepherd’s Bush. Changes, because of course: Jordan Archer, Jimmy Dunne, Osman Kakay, Faysal Bettache, Andre Dozzell, Albert Adomah and George Thomas all in; Seny Dieng, Jordy De Wijs, Moses Odubajo, Stefan Johansen, Dom Ball, Chris Willock and Charlie Austin all out; Ilias Chair poorly, Luke Amos injured, Sam McCallum reported missing. But, still, expectation.
And why ever not. See how they pass, so thoughtfully and accurately along the ground, helped immeasurably by Bettache settling into his full senior debut as if he was a veteran of 250 first team appearances for the club. See how they run, gliding across the turf past opponents (not you Adomah, I'm starting to think the original Uncle Albert might have been quicker). Look at the movement, and the speed, and the guile.
Seven minutes in and a nice move saw Adomah touch a ball off to Kakay who fired miles over when a low cross into the danger zone was more in order. Then it was Adomah’s turn to find the back of the stand behind the goal from a terrific position after QPR robbed their hosts high up the field and Dykes played the former Villa man into the perfect spot. It felt like that wouldn’t matter much when Rob Dickie made it two in two for the season, up from the right side of the back three to bury a firm header into the top corner from Bettache’s beautifully flighted corner, Orient too busy grappling to be bothered with the rigours of marking. This only injected further confidence into the visiting team as George Thomas’ sexy first touch carried him out of a tight space but the offside flag denied him a run on goal after a well played one two. Thomas, and several others, were then involved in a glorious set of one-touch triangles down the left side which got Adomah in round a desperate lunging tackle but when he stood the ball up to the far post Dykes volleyed miles off target. Could have been the goal of the season if executed properly.
As a QPR fan, few better places to be. Warm night, cold beer, sun dipping down behind this part-stadium part-urban housing project so we can actually see what’s going on, QPR playing smoothly through a midfield with two excellent young technicians getting down to business, Orient unable to live with it. Chicken soup for the soul after 18 months trapped in our homes.
Only one nil though. And how many times have we been here before and said exactly this. If the first half an hour was everything Warbs Warburton wants his team to be, the scoreline is everything he’s trying to drag it away from. It is no good, even against League Two opponents, even in a competition you don’t necessarily see as a priority, to press effectively as a unit and win the ball back high up the pitch if you then play your most experienced attacking player into great space and he skies it over the bar. It is no good provoking rapturous applause for blowing the right side of your opposition to smithereens with six brilliant one-touch passes if your international centre forward than shanks the finish into the stand. All summer, over and over again, the manager has stressed the importance of developing a ruthless edge, not just putting teams to bed but putting them to sleep, killing off games when they’re there to be killed. For it all, QPR had one shot on target all night, and they wouldn’t/shouldn’t have even been in front at half time had Dan Happe not hopelessly hooked a late corner over the bar from close range, and Aaron Drinan’s improvised finish off Tom James’ excellent overlapping run and cross down the right not dribbled just wide of the post.
Jackett’s half time address was so obvious I felt like I could hear it from the other side of the ground. Too passive, too timid, too much respect. More aggression, more purpose, more tempo. Don’t die wondering out there. Do they like it up them Mr Mainwaring? How will we know if we’re not ever going to shove it there and see?
QPR had not finished the first half well, and got worse for every attempt to rectify that thereafter. This is not to criticise the manager, who explained very clearly the reasons for decisions he made both with the starting team and the substitutions as he attempts to manage a hectic August fixture list. Keeping a tight squad of players fit and available for action through the notorious Championship winter has, touch wood, so far, been one of the hallmarks of this regime, so if Warbs and his sports scientists say Lee Wallace can only do 45, Yoann Barbet 61, and then the cramping Faysal Bettache 83, their record so far says we have to trust them in that. It is a fact, however, that we got worse last night for every substitution made.
Moses Odubajo went first against the club he made his name with, but on the left rather than the right this time and he had a bit of a wild night out there. His first action was to get caught overplaying high up the field necessitating a lungbusting recovery run and cynical, tactical foul on Ruel Sotiriou which was a clear and obvious yellow card for referee Craig Hicks. Osman Kakay giving the ball away let Drinan in for a one on one with Archer which the goalkeeper seemed to do well with — loud penalty appeals from the home crowd nullified by an offside flag, not the first or last time Drinan’s Macauley Bonne-like desire to graze in the vast swathes of offside space behind the last defender would interrupt promising Orient attacks on the night.
When Barbet was removed from the left side of the defence, young striker Charlie Kelman was introduced — the sort of substitution Zapp Brannigan would approve of. The formation stayed much the same, though with several twists of the Rubik’s Cube as Kakay came into the back three, Adomah dropped to right wing back, Dickie swapped sides, and Kelman joined the attack, but, again, this wasn’t a conspicuous success. QPR hadn’t been getting into Orient’s final third consistently for quite some time, and having another body there to stand next to the sadly rather anonymous Lyndon Dykes, rather than an addition a bit further back to aid supply, didn’t help with this at all. Kelman was left to feed on less than scraps, prompting further incredibly harsh grumbles from the side stand, and a whole load more "could do with a loan” hot takes as his total minutes in QPR colours ticked past a whopping 192 over a year. Tell you what, here’s some gravel from my drive, bake me a cake with it and either make it a fucking good one or go and get some experience in a lesser bakery.
Jordan Archer was incredibly lucky not to get caught out with one of those crosses that he liked to turn into goals during his time at Millwall — clawing James' attempt desperately away at the near post — but later made two good saves in quick succession as first Beckles nodded down for Sotiriou to hammer goalwards from close range, and then Kemp got Beckles straight back in for a shot of his own on the turn which Archer palmed over spectacularly. The goal had been coming, long before it was scored, and after QPR had initially got away with the corner caused by miscommunication between goalkeeper and Odubajo, they then contrived to mess up the goal kick presenting the hosts with a long throw opportunity which gave Drinan the chance to isolate Kakay at the far post and swivel in a richly deserved leveller.
QPR were in trouble, absolutely ragged and all over the place, bent out of shape and unable to wrestle back control. Orient had decided to just pick everything up and throw it at the wall to see what stuck — furniture, sinks, bits of old boat. They were running on fumes, oddly not making a single sub. The result was a pulsating cup tie, played out in a sizzling atmosphere, like they always used to be. School lunchroom food fight. Rob Dickie, increasingly manning the barricades with only Jimmy Dunne by any way of effective help, tried to head a ball a foot off the ground, fell on it, and survived huge handball appeals with Hicks two feet away and watching the farce up close. An attempt to plug the midfield with Dom Ball went about as well as the previous two changes — his first act to calmly pass the ball back to the O’s in the red zone and Drinan’s low resulting shot looked far corner bound before it struck yet another offside team mate on the way through. Does Bonne coach the academy here or something? Happe, not satisfied with his sky over from a corner at the end of the first half, repeated the dose with one at the end of the second.
Rangers were, in the end, rather lucky to take it to penalties. So good in every department, so far on top, so in control, so pretty to watch, so threatening and yet perhaps so complacent that they quickly turned a stroll in the park into a night patrol at the perimeter of a demilitarised zone, where threat lurks around every corner. Sotiriou’s second penalty, smacked off the crossbar, was the key moment. That left QPR safe in the knowledge that five successful penalties would take them through and Dykes, Ball, Dozzell, narrative ruining Kelman and finally Adomah, did the business without too much bother. QPR have now won their last three penalty shoot outs, knocking out Orient, Bristol City and Swindon, having lost the previous three to Vauxhall Motors, Bristol City and Cardiff. Adomah celebrated with his people in the side stand, all forgiven after a personally pretty ropey performance which highlighted both how much pace he’s lost and why Warbs doesn’t fancy him in the Championship as much as the fans do. The manager’s full time face did not immediately scream late night light ales and pound in the jar at Brown’s.
Faith restored in the League Cup, if not in QPR’s much touted chances of a successful campaign.
Links >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread
Orient: Vigouroux 6; James 7, Beckles 7, Happe 6, Wood 6; Pratley 7, Kyprianou 6; Sotiriou 5, Kemp 6, Archibald 7; Drinan 7
Subs not used: Sargeant, Clay, Young, Sweeney, Ogle, Obiero, Tanga
Goals: Drinan 74 (assisted Beckles)
QPR: Archer 6; Kakay 5, Dickie 7, Dunne 6, Barbet 6 (Kelman 61, 5), Wallace 6 (Odubajo 46, 5); Bettache 7 (Ball 83, -), Dozzell 6, Thomas 6; Adomah 5, Dykes 5
Subs not used: Willock, Masterson, Walsh, Duke-McKenna
Goals: Dickie 16 (assisted Bettache)
Bookings: Odubajo 50 (foul)
QPR Star Man — Faysal Bettache 7 Like his team, superb in the first half, faded in the second, but was certainly the biggest positive for the large travelling support to take home with them. Wants the ball constantly, takes it in tight spaces, always on the half turn, always checking over his shoulder, and what ball he does give away is when he’s trying a creative one in over the top of a defence which doesn’t quite come off. I liked him a lot here, and actually thought he looked a good deal better than Dozzell.
Referee — Craig Hicks (Surrey) 7 One penalty shout he would have had to make a call on rescued by the offside flag, another when Dickie fell on the ball and possibly handled it I thought he got right. Both yellows justified. Not too bad at all.
Attendance — 3,500 approx (1,900 QPR approx.) Total guesses on both as I can’t find official figures, so if I’m miles off I apologise. I’m sure we could have a long conversation about how QPR have asked fans not to approach the players for photographs and autographs because of the Covid risks, only for Jordy De Wijs to turn up in the away end and Albert Adomah to launch himself in there with him at full time. And whether those celebrations were over the top, and somehow small time, for a first round League Cup game. But, you know what, everybody in that stand has been locked away suffering in one form or another for 18 months. Last night was a lot of fun — a great atmosphere, cross-London derby, big away following, proper old stand, a pulsating cup tie, a penalty shoot out victory — and God knows we’ve needed a bit of that.
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