QPR’s win at Ewood Park last season was their first in a quarter of a century, and hopefully means we’ll soon be able to stop running the 1999 version as the memorable match in this column.

Memorable Match

Blackburn 0 QPR 2, Saturday October 30, 1999, First Division

QPR were proving something of a surprise package in the First Division when they visited Blackburn Rovers in October 1999. Saves from relegation only on the very final day of the previous season courtesy of an unlikely 6-0 home win against Crystal Palace, cash strapped Rangers had been tipped for another season of struggle by many the following season. But manager Gerry Francis pulled a couple of scouting masterstrokes with the signings of Jermaine Darlington and Stewart Wardley from deep within the non-league pyramid and persuaded Bradford to part with Rob Steiner for a pittance as well. With the form of existing players like Gavin Peacock and Chris Kiwomya, and the emergence of a young Richard Langley thrown into the mixture as well Rangers had already won 4-1 at Ipswich, 1-0 at West Brom and 3-1 at home to big spending Huddersfield in an excellent start to the campaign.

Blackburn meanwhile were deep in the doldrums. Relegated from the Premier League the season before they’d given Alex Ferguson’s long-time assistant Brian Kidd a shot at a number one position for the first time in his career but were finding the going tough in the second tier. They’d won just three of their first 14 league fixtures and were fortunate to escape from Loftus Road with a goalless draw a month prior to the Ewood Park meeting — Richard Langley’s shot from an acute angle somehow staying out despite hitting the underside of the bar and rolling along the goal line.

Kidd had taken over initially halfway through the previous season when Roy Hodgson’s initially promising spell with Rovers collapsed into a relegation battle. Kidd spent £20m on players including Ashley Ward from Barnsley for £4.5m, Matt Jansen from Palace for £4.1m and Lee Carsley from Derby for £3.4m but still couldn’t prevent relegation and then despite adding another six players in the summer including Villa full back Simon Grayson, experienced Everton centre half Craig Short and Bolton midfielder Per Frandsen things hadn’t improved a great deal. The vultures were circling as Rangers arrived in town on a wet October afternoon.

QPR took the lead five minutes before half time. Stuart Wardley was a furniture removal man playing Essex Senior League football for Saffron Walden the season before but despite breaking his ankle in a trial game for QPR’s reserves against Cambridge he’d been offered a professional deal at Loftus Road and hit the ground running. His goal at Ewood Park was a typical effort — arriving late into the area from midfield to scuff home a through ball from Karl Ready. That was his fourth goal of the season already and he’d go on to bag 14 in his first season of professional football and win the club’s Player of the Year award.

Francis had chosen to pair Steiner with Chris Kiwomya in his attack that season, and given the form to this point that was entirely the correct decision. It did however mean that club legend Kevin Gallen found himself out in the cold on the substitute’s bench more often than not. He was introduced into this game in injury time more as a clock running exercise than anything else but when Kiwomya then burst through on goal immediately after the change and drew a save in a one on one situation from keeper John Filan, Gallen was on hand to nod the rebound into the empty net and seal the victory in front of a delirious travelling support.

Rangers stayed in the north for a subsequent Tuesday night game at Stockport where they recovered from three goals down to draw 3-3. And that ended up being the problem — too many draws. Francis’ team finished deadlocked 18 times that season, 12 of them at Loftus Road, including a run of six consecutive ties through January and February. It kept the play offs agonisingly out of reach for the entire season — although the campaign was still seen as a massive success. Sadly, with Steiner forced to retire and the financial restrictions on the club tightening with each passing week, they were relegated the season after.

Kidd meanwhile was sacked immediately after the QPR game. Blackburn rallied to finish eleventh but having brought in Graeme Souness to lead a revival they were promoted as runners up to Fulham in 2000/01 as Rangers languished second bottom of the league

Blackburn: J Filan, J Kenna (S Grayson, 62), D Peacock, C Dailly, C Davidson, J Wilcox, P Frandsen (J McAteer, 70), L Carsley, D Duff, A Ward, M Jansen (E Ostenstad, 57)

Subs not used: K Brown, A Kelly

QPR: L Harper, J Darlington, K Ready, D Maddix, M Rose, I Baraclough , P Murray, K Rowland (R Langley, 89), S Wardley, R Steiner (K Gallen, 88), C Kiwomya

Subs not used: A Bankole, A Scully, S Morrow

Goals: Wardley 40, Gallen 90

Bookings: Baraclough

Attendance: 17,491

Recent Meetings

Blackburn 1 QPR 2, Saturday February 3, 2024, Championship

QPR’s first win at Ewood Park in almost a quarter of a century couldn’t have been better timed for Marti Cifuentes’ team as they attempted to avoid relegation from the Championship. After some unexpected late transfer window activity Wolves’ Joe Hodge and Newcastle’s Isaac Hayden debuted from the bench as part of their loan deals. Both were pivotal in a second half QPR took charge of with a long range goal from Ilias Chair off the back of keeper Aynsley Pears after hitting the post, and then a second scored by Hodge himself after a fine assist from Sinclair Armstrong. The Irish forward had one of his rocks and diamonds days, with a host of missed chances preceding that set up for Hodge, but he was pretty obviously fouled in the build up to Sam Gallagher’s goal which halved the deficit and made for a needlessly nervy finish – Asmir Begovic should have saved that, but did make a key stop in the dying seconds to preserve three priceless points.

Blackburn: Pears 5; Rankin-Costello 6, Hyam 6, Wharton 5, Chrisene 5; Dolan 6 (Ayari 67, 5), Tronstad 5, Moran 5, Sigurdsson 5 (Markanday 67, 6); Szmodics 5 (Telalovic 85, -), Gallagher 6

Subs not used: O’Riordan, Wahlstedt, Koumetio, Fleck, Garrett, McFadzean

Goals: Gallagher 73 (unassisted)

Bookings: Tronstad 39 (foul), Ayari 90+9 (foul)

QPR: Begovic 6; Cannon 7, Cook 7, Clarke-Salter 7, Paal 6 (Larkeche 79, 6); Colback 7, Dixon-Bonner 6 (Hayden 57, 7); Willock 5 (Smyth 57, 6), Dykes 5 (Hodge 57, 7), Chair 8; Armstrong 5 (Frey 77, 5)

Subs not used: Dunne, Archer, Fox, Drewe

Goals: Pears own goal 61 (assisted Chair), Hodge 64 (assisted Armstrong)

Bookings: Armstrong 41 (foul), Dixon-Bonner 54 (foul), Begovic 90+4 (time wasting)

QPR 0 Blackburn 4, Saturday October 7, 2023, Championship

Gareth Ainsworth’s brief and disastrous reign as QPR manager started, and effectively ended, with horrendous home defeats to his boyhood club Blackburn Rovers. Jon Dahl Tomasson’s team absolutely carved QPR apart on both occasions, scoring seven goals in the process including four in this October meeting which began bringing Ainsworth’s time at Loftus Road to an end. Two goals in the first half from Dolan and Sigurdsson, and another two in the second from Sigurdsson and Szmodics, did the extensive damage to a woeful Rangers side.

QPR: Begovic 4; Larkeche 2, Dunne 3, Clarke-Salter 4, Paal 3; Colback 3 (Smyth 71, 4), Duke-McKenna 3 (Dixon-Bonner 79, -), Dozzell 4, Chair 4; Dykes 3, Armstrong 4 (Kolli 79, 4)

Subs not used: Kakay, Archer, Willock, Cannon, Kelman, Adomah

Bookings: Clarke-Salter 22 (foul), Smyth 90+3 (dissent)

Blackburn: Wahlstedt 6; Hill 7, Carter 6, Hyam 7, Pickering 7; Tronstad 7 (Travis 60, 7); Rankin-Costello 8, Markanday 7 (Brittain 45, 7), Sigurdsson 8 (Moran 61, 7), Dolan 7 (Ennis 76, 6); Szmodics 7 (Gilsenan 89, -)

Subs not used: Wharton, Garrett, Telalovic, Hilton

Goals: Dolan 19 (assisted Rankin-Costello), Sigurdsson 23 (assisted Szmodics), 59 (assisted Dolan), Szmodics 66 (assisted Larkeche)

Bookings: Szmodics 43 (foul), Gilsenan 90 (foul)

QPR 1 Blackburn 3, Saturday February 25, 2023, Championship

The return of Gareth Ainsworth to QPR didn’t move the needle a great deal in his first match in charge. Dolan’s early deflected cross was headed home by persistent scourge of QPR Sam Gallagher, and although Tim Iroegbunam equalised for the R’s with a rare Loft End goal the visitors were back in front before the break when the home defence parted with embarrassing ease and Sammie Szmodics slipped home. Gallagher then got simple tap in for a personal second and team third after Rankin-Costello had somehow been allowed to squirm away from two tacklers out by the corner flag.

QPR: Dieng 4; Kakay 5, Dickie 2, Dunne 3, Paal 4; Iroegbunam 5 (Richards (!!) 88, -), Johansen 5, Field 5; Lowe 3, Martin 5 (Adomah 75, 2), Chair 5 (Dozzell 35, 3)

Subs not used: Amos, Archer, Dickson-Bonner, Gubbins

Goals: Iroegbunam 24 (unassisted)

Bookings: Johansen 37 (foul), Kakay 57 (deliberate handball), Field 59 (foul), Lowe 66 (foul)

Blackburn: Pears N/A; Rankin-Costello 8, Carter 6, Hyam 7, Brittain 6; Travis 7, Buckley 7 (Phillips 90+5, -); Thomas 7, Szmodics 7 (Hedges 69, 6), Dolan 7 (Morton 80, -); Gallagher 8

Subs not used: Pickering, Brereton, Garrett, Hilton

Goals: Gallagher 14 (assisted Dolan), 60 (assisted Rankin-Costello), Szmodics 45+2 (assisted Travis)

Blackburn 1 QPR 0, Saturday July 30, 2022, Championship

An earlier than ever start to the new league season, but more of the same for QPR who suffered their annual stupefyingly dull defeat at Ewood Park to kick the Mick Beale “era” off on a low note. Osman Kakay hit the bar early on but Rangers’ defending from set pieces was soon letting them down again when a series of partial clearances and some odd positioning by Seny Dieng allowed Lewis Travis to chip home from long range. Now six successive defeats for QPR at Ewood Park, four of them 1-0, and one win in 18 visits going back deep into the 1980s.

Blackburn: Kaminski 6; Brittain 6, Ayala 6, S Wharton 6, Pickering 6; Travis 7, Buckley 6; Gallagher 5, Hedges 6, Brereton-Diaz 7; Vale 5 (Dolan 64, 7)

Subs not used: Edun, Pears, Markanday, Dack, Barnes, A Wharton

Goals: Travis 34 (unassisted)

Bookings: Buckley 11 (foul)

QPR: Dieng 5; Kakay 6, Dickie 6, Clarke-Salter 6, Paal 5; Dozzell 5 (Thomas 64, 5), Johansen 5 (Armstrong 77, 5), Field 6; Chair 5 (Richards 77, 6), Dykes 5 (Bonne 77, 5), Shodipo 6 (Adomah 65, 5)

Subs not used: Walsh, Dunne

Bookings: Dykes 12 (foul)

Blackburn 1 QPR 0, Saturday February 26, 2022, Championship

QPR could have gone second with a win at Ewood Park in the early televised game back in late February 2022, but in truth the rot had begun prior to this match and really began to set in across a desperately poor 90 minutes. With a midfield three of Hendrick, Johansen and Field treading on each other’s toes/jobs, QPR attempted 463 passes in this game and the centre backs and goalkeepers accounted for 215 of those. Barbet, Dickie and Dunne all topped 60 each — Willock (11), Adomah (18), Odubajo (24), Gray (5), McCallum (9) just about got to that collectively. The backwards and sideways stuff became chronic. Blackburn themselves were also undergoing a post-New Year collapse from the play-off spots with star man Ben Brereton injured. Reda Khadra’s late winner, horribly messed up by goalkeeper David Marshall, was their first goal in six games and the only one they scored in nine matches, but it was enough to win this 1-0.

Blackburn: Kaminski 7; Lenihan 6, Van Hecke 7, Wharton 6; Nyambe 8 (Zeefuik 58, 5), Travis 6, Johnson 6, Pickering 7 (Giles 71, 7); Gallagher 6 (Hedges 68, 7), Dolan 8, Khadra 8

Goals: Khadra 76 (free kick, won Travis)

Bookings: Kaminski 90+1 (time wasting), Wharton 90+2 (time wasting), Travis 90+4 (foul)

QPR: Dieng 7 (Marshall 46, 5); Adomah 4 (McCallum 67, 7), Dickie 5, Dunne 7, Barbet 5, Odubajo 6; Hendrick 6, Field 6, Johansen 5; Chair 4, Willock 5 (Gray 62, 4)

Subs not used: Amos, Ball, Thomas, Dozzell

Bookings: Field 7 (foul), Chair 90+2 (foul)

QPR 1 Blackburn 0, Tuesday October 19, 2021, Championship

Blackburn’s unashamedly miserly attempt to drill a 0-0 draw out of the first meeting of the season at Loftus Road was hobbled by Ilias Chair’s spectacular late winner. Albert Adomah inspired Rangers continued efforts to break down stubborn resistance and the rewards came seven minutes from time when Chair whipped a 20 yarder around a defender and past the unsighted Kaminski.

QPR: Dieng 6; Adomah 8 (Kakay 86, -), Dickie 7, Dunne 7, Barbet 7, McCallum 6; Ball 5 (Austin 73, 6), Dozzell 5 (Amos 60, 7), Chair 7; Willock 6, Dykes 7

Subs not used: De Wijs, Archer, Gray, Duke-McKenna

Goals: Chair 83 (assisted Dickie)

Bookings: Dickie 28 (foul), Amos 90+4 (foul)

Blackburn: Kaminski 7; Nyambe 6, van Hecke 6, Ayala 6, Lenihan 6, Pickering 6 (Rothwell 45, 6); Travis 6 (Johnson 34, 5), Edun 5, Clarkson 5; Brereton-Diaz 5, Butterworth 6 (Gallagher 67, 5)

Subs not used: Dolan, Pears, Buckley, Poveda-Ocampo

Bookings: Clarkson 45+1 (foul), Butterworth 50 (kicking the ball away), Rothwell 55 (kicking the ball away)

QPR 1 Blackburn 0, Saturday February 6, 2021, Championship

A backs-to-the-wall effort led by Seny Dieng, and a scrambled Loft End goal from Yoann Barbet, got QPR a hard fought win against Blackburn in W12 back in February 2021. Rovers’ season was starting to fall apart as QPR recovered theirs with four wins from four tough games and the luck was with Mark Warburton’s side as they held on through numerous near misses to win.

QPR: Dieng 8; Dickie 7, Cameron 7, Barbet 8; Kane 6, Johansen 5 (Bettache 74, 7), Ball 6, Chair 6, Wallace 7; Dykes 5 (Adomah 83, -), Austin 5 (Bonne 74, 6)

Subs not used: Lumley, Thomas, Willock, Kakay, Hämäläinen, Kelman

Goals: Barbet 54 (unassisted)

Bookings: Austin 5 (unsporting), Ball 20 (foul), Adomah 90+2 (foul)

Blackburn: Kaminski 6; Nyambe 7 (Harwood-Bellis 62, 6), Lenihan 6, Branthwaite 6, Bell 6; Rothwell 6 (Dack 62, 6), Travis 6, Davenport 6 (Holtby 62, 6 (Brereton 82, -)); Gallagher 5 (Dolan 74, 6), Elliott 6, Armstrong 7

Subs not used: Downing, Pears, Buckley, Bennett

Bookings: Davenport 9 (foul), Gallagher 60 (foul)

Blackburn 3 QPR 1, Saturday November 7, 2020, Championship

QPR were eventually comfortably beaten at Ewood Park when these sides met in November 2020. Only two excellent saves from Seny Dieng kept the score to 0-0 at half time, and Todd Kane struck the post early in the second half but a cleverly worked corner routine got Ben Brereton in for the opening goal on 50 minutes. Referee Tim Robinson had a choice of two or three fouls at the far post for the penalty that led to Lyndon Dykes’ equaliser but league top scorer Adam Armstrong soon escaped to restore the lead and then sealed the victory with a third in stoppage time.

Blackburn: Kaminski 6; Nyambe 6, Lenihan 6, Wharton 6, Rankin-Costello 7; Evans — (Buckley 5, 6), Johnson 6, Rothwell 7; Elliott 7 (Dolan 90+3, -), Brereton 7 (Gallagher 82, -); Armstrong 8

Subs not used: Davenport, Trybull, Grayson, Eastham

Goals: Brereton 50 (assisted Lenihan), Armstrong 73 (assisted Brereton), 90+5 (assisted Johnson)

Bookings: Johnson 64 (shithousing)

QPR: Dieng 8; Kane 5, Dickie 5, Barbet 6, Hämäläinen 5; Ball 5 (Kakay 46, 6), Cameron 6; Adomah 5 (Willock 46, 7), Carroll 5, Chair 5; Dykes 5 (Bonne 67, 6)

Subs not used: Wallace, Masterson, Bettache, Kelly

Goals: Dykes 61 (penalty, won Dickie)

Bookings: Kane 8 (foul), Dickie 21 (foul), Bonne 90+3 (foul)

Blackburn 2 QPR 1, Tuesday January 28, 2020, Championship

Having rested key players for the weekend cup game against Sheff Wed, and bowed out of the competition, there was a good deal of justified frustration when the supposedly refreshed Rangers then crashed to defeat in the next league game at Blackburn regardless. Grant Hall afforded Adam Armstrong all the space he needed to curl in an opener from range, and only a last ditch goalline clearance prevented a Joe Lumley error leading to a second soon after. Jordan Hugill’s brilliant one-two combination with Ilias Chair restored parity before half time but Blackburn soon retook the lead with yet another unmarked header from a corner, this time from Darren Lenihan.

QPR: Kelly 6; Kane 6, Hall 6, Masterson 7, Wallace 6; Cameron 6, Amos 5 (Pugh, 66, 5); Eze 5, Chair 7, (Shodipo 80, 6), Osayi-Samuel 6; Hugill 6

Subs not used: Lumley, Manning, Rangel, Leistner, Clarke.

Goal: Hugill 22 (assist Chair)

Booked: Chair 57 (mugging), Cameron 58 (foul), Amos 61 (foul)

Blackburn: Walton 6, Nyambe 7, Lenihan 7, Adarabioyo 6, Bell 7; Travis 7, Downing 6 (Johnson 79, -), Holtby 6 (Rankin-Costello 79, -), Rothwell 6 (Bennett 46, 6); Armstrong 7, Gallagher 6

Subs not used: Leutwiler, Williams, Graham, Brereton.

Goals: Armstrong 10 (unassisted), Lenihan 30 (assisted Rothwell)

Booked: Lenihan 74 (foul)

QPR 4 Blackburn 2, Saturday October 5, 2019, Championship

QPR showed a little bit of everything they were good and bad at in 2019/20 when they played Blackburn at home on a sunny Saturday in October. Going forwards there were four goals — Nahki Wells after Bright Osayi-Samuel knocked down Ryan Manning’s cross, Ebere Eze at the end of a tricky run, Osayi-Samuel on the turn in the area, and Jordan Hugill on the end of a lovely pass with the outside of the boot from Ebere Eze. At the back there was a penalty conceded for a foul on Bradley Dack who converted, and a goal from a cross converted by Adam Armstrong.

QPR: Kelly 6; Rangel 7, Leistner 7, Barbet 6, Manning 8; Cameron 7, Scowen 8; Osayi-Samuel 7 (Hugill 61, 7), Eze 8, Chair 8 (Pugh 72, 6); Wells 7 (Mlakar 82, -)

Subs not used: Lumley, Kane, Wallace, Ball

Goals: Wells 30 (assisted Osayi-Samuel, pre-assist Manning), Eze 49 (assisted Manning), Osayi-Samuel 60 (assisted Scowen), Hugill 77 (assisted Manning)

Bookings: Barbet 56 (foul), Cameron 65 (foul), Manning 90+1 (delaying restart), Hugill 90+2 (foul)

Blackburn: Walton 5; Bennett 5, Lenihan 5 (Adarabioyo 67, 5), Williams 5, Cunningham 5 (Bell 17, 5); Evans 6, Rothwell 8; Armstrong 6, Dack 7, Downing 6; Graham 5 (Holtby 46, 6)

Subs not used: Johnson, Gallagher, Samuel, Leutwiler

Goals: Dack 57 (penalty, won Dack), Armstrong 86 (assisted Bennett)

Bookings: Evans 6 (foul), Lenihan 45+1 (foul), Bell 58 (foul), Williams 90+2 (foul)

QPR 1 Blackburn 2, Friday April 18, 2019, Championship

QPR suffered their annual home defeat to Blackburn on Good Friday 2019, as their campaign limped to a close under the caretaker stewardship of John Eustace. Danny Graham and Bradley Dack had already both gone close when Scowen chopped the latter down in the area on 20 minutes and the former scraped a weak penalty under Joe Lumley for the opening goal. Graham headed wide as Rovers continued to dominate and any hopes of a second half rally were quickly extinguished when QPR gave the ball away from their own kick off and Dack bundled in a second within a minute of the restart. Matt Smith’s late header from a Luke Freeman cross which Raya came for and missed was scant consolation in a woeful performance.

QPR: Lumley 5; Wszolek 5 (Eze 74, 5), Furlong 5, Lynch 4, Manning 5; Luongo 5, Scowen 5, Cousins 5 (Wells 52, 4); Osayi-Samuel 6, Hemed 5 (Smith 64, 6), Freeman 5

Subs not used: Ingram, Cameron, Walker, Tilt

Goals: Smith (assisted Freeman)

Bookings; Luongo 59 (foul), Osayi-Samuel 83 (being a dick), Wells 90+3 (being a dick)

Blackburn: Leutwiler 6; Bennett 7, Lenihan 7, Williams 7, Bell 7; Armstrong 8 (Brereton 86, -), Evans 6 (Rodwell 65, 6), Travis 7, Rothwell 6; Dack 7, Graham 7 (Nuttall 68, 6)

Subs not used: Raya, Nyambe, Smallwood, Mulgrew

Goals: Graham 20 (penalty, won Travis), Dack 46 (assisted Armstrong)

Bookings; Rodwell 83 (foul), Leutwiler 90+7 (time wasting, joke)

Blackburn 1 QPR 0, Saturday November 3, 2018, Championship

A foolish late tackle on Blackburn sub Ben Brereton by Josh Scowen in his own penalty area turned a drab 0-0 draw into a dire 1-0 defeat for QPR at Ewood Park in November 2018. There’d been little to commend the game to a neutral spectator all the way through with Blackburn only playing in fits and starts and QPR having one of those days where they seemed happy with 0-0 from the first minute. They’d have got it too, but for Scowen’s daft tackle and Bradley Dack’s resulting penalty kick past Joe Lumley.

Blackburn: Leutwiler N/A, Bennett 6, Lenihan 7, Williams 7, Bell 6, Smallwood 6 (Palmer 63 5), Evans 7, Reed 6, Dack 7, Armstong 5 (Brereton 80), Graham 5 (Rothwell 74 5)

Unused subs: Nyambe, Rodwell, Conway, Fisher

Goals: Dack 86 (penalty won Brereton)

Bookings: Reed 19 (foul), Smallwood 33 (foul), Evans 56 (foul), Brereton 90+4 (foul)

QPR: Lumley 5; Rangel 6 (Furlong 87, -), Leistner 7, Lynch 6, Bidwell 6; Scowen 6 (Chair 88, -)
Luongo 5; Wszolek 5, Eze 5 (Smith 76, 4), Freeman 5; Wells 5

Unused subs: Ingram, Hall, Cousins, Osayi-Samuels

Bookings: Luongo 4 (foul), Eze 51 (foul), Leistner 66 (foul), Freeman 90+5 (foul)

Blackburn 1 QPR 0, Saturday February 4, 2017, Championship

QPR continued their poor recent record at Ewood Park with a 1-0 defeat in February 2017, but they were left cursing the poor decision making of the assistant referee in the process. After dominating the first half and forcing saves from Luke Steele to deny Pawel Wszolek twice, the R’s took the lead early in the second half when Conor Washington headed home a long throw off the underside of the bar. Sadly, inexplicably, the linesman said it hadn’t crossed the line. To add insult to injury, Marvin Emnes cut a ball back for Sam Gallagher to scramble in a winner on 86 minutes for the relegation haunted hosts.

Blackburn: Steele 6; Nyambe 6, Greer 6 (Akpan 70, 6), Lenihan 6, Lowe 6; Feeney 7, Mulgrew 6, Conway 6 (Mahoney 65, 6), Bennett 6; Gallagher 7, Graham 5 (Emnes 65, 7)

Subs not used: Joao, Guthrie, Brown, Raya

Goals: Gallagher 90+1 (assisted Emnes)

QPR: Smithies 6; Furlong 6 (Lua Lua 90+4, -), Onuoha 6, Lynch 6, Bidwell 7; Luongo 6 (Morrison 78, 5), Perch 6, Manning 7; Mackie 6 (Smith 62, 6), Washington 6, Wszolek 6

Subs not used: Freeman, Hall, Goss, Ingram

Bookings: Perch 59 (foul), Manning 80 (foul), Furlong 90+1 (foul)

QPR 1 Blackburn Rovers 2, Saturday January 8, 2017, FA Cup Third Round

Blackburn knocked QPR out of the FA Cup at the third round stage for the third time in little more than ten years when these sides met at Loftus Road the previous month. Continuing an abysmal cup record, Rangers fell behind in front of a half empty Loftus Road to a disastrous own goal from Joel Lynch after five minutes. Feeney doubled the Blackburn lead after half time and although Jake Bidwell stuck in a penalty after a dive by Yeni Ngbakoto the performance didn’t warrant anything other than a defeat.

QPR: Ingram 5; Perch 5, Onuoha 6, Lynch 4, Bidwell 5; Luongo 4 (Cousins 82, -), Hall 6, Eze 7 (Ngbakoto 18, 5); Gladwin 4 (Shodipo 56, 6), Wszolek 6, Mackie 6

Subs not used: El Khayati, Lumley, Manning, Hamalainen

Goals: Bidwell 61 (penalty, won Ngbakoto)

Blackburn: Raya 6; Marshall 6, Greer 6, Williams 6, Mulgrew 6; Feeney 7, Akpan 6 (Nyambe 74, 6), Lowe 6, Bennett 7; Gallagher 7 (Brown 90+3, -), Graham (Stokes 87, -)

Subs not used: Steele, Tomlinson, Mahoney, Travis

Goals: Lynch og 7 (assisted Bennett/Gallagher); Feeney 58 (assisted Gallagher)

Bookings: Marshall 90 (foul)

QPR 1 Blackburn Rovers 1, Saturday September 10, 2017, Championship

These sides fought out a dire 1-1 draw at Loftus Road in the first meeting in the league that season, with Tjaronn Chery’s spectacular second half free kick the only bright spot. Rangers thought the Dutchman’s precision effort from 25 yards was enough to win them three points but Sam Gallagher quickly equalised for the visitors who perhaps deserved to win the game. Three days later Newcastle won 6-0 on this ground and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s time in charge started to head towards its conclusion.

QPR: Smithies 6; Perch 6, Onuoha 6, Hall 6, Bidwell 6; Henry 5, Cousins 6; Shodipo 7, Chery 6, El Khayati 5 (Sylla 80, -); Polter 5 (Washington 46, 6)

Subs not used: Borysiuk, Kakay, Ingram, Paul, Caulker

Goals: Chery 65 (free kick, won Washington)

Bookings: Shodipo 50 (foul), Perch 61 (foul)

Blackburn: Steele 7; Lowe 6, Hoban 6, Greer 6, Wiliams 6; Mulgrew 5 (Evans 34, 6); Conway 7, Akpan 6, Marshall 6, Gallagher 6 (Emnes 77, 5); Graham 5 (Samuelsen 83, -)

Subs not used: Feeney, Byrne, Guthrie, Raya

Goals: Gallagher (assisted Evans)

Bookings: Williams 42 (foul), Akpan 47 (kicking ball away), Lowe 65 (foul)

Previous Results

Head to Head >>> Blackburn wins 29 >>> Draws 12 >>> QPR wins 17

2023/24 Blackburn 1 QPR 2 (Pears og, Hodge)

2023/24 QPR 0 Blackburn 4

2022/23 QPR 1 Blackburn 3 (Iroegbunam)

2022/23 Blackburn 1 QPR 0

2021/22 Blackburn 1 QPR 0

2021/22 QPR 1 Blackburn 0 (Chair)

2020/21 QPR 1 Blackburn 0 (Barbet)

2020/21 Blackburn 3 QPR 1 (Dykes)

2019/20 Blackburn 2 QPR 1 (Hugill)

2019/20 QPR 4 Blackburn 2 (Wells, Eze, Osayi-Samuel, Hugill)

2018/19 QPR 1 Blackburn 2 (Smith)

2018/19 Blackburn 1 QPR 0

2016/17 Blackburn 1 QPR 0

2016/17 QPR 1 Blackburn 2* (Bidwell)

2016/17 QPR 1 Blackburn 1 (Chery)

2015/16 Blackburn 1 QPR 1 (Fer)

2015/16 QPR 2 Blackburn 2 (Austin, Onuoha)

2013/14 Blackburn 2 QPR 0

2013/14 QPR 0 Blackburn 0

2011/12 Blackburn 3 QPR 2 (Mackie 2)

2011/12 QPR 1 Blackburn 1 (Helguson)

2010/11 Blackburn 1 QPR 0*

2005/06 Blackburn 3 QPR 0*

2000/01 QPR 1 Blackburn 3 (Plummer)

2000/01 Blackburn 0 QPR 0

1999/00 Blackburn 0 QPR 2 (Wardley, Gallen)

1999/00 QPR 0 Blackburn 0

1995/96 QPR 0 Blackburn 1

1995/96 Blackburn 1 QPR 0

1994/95 QPR 0 Blackburn 1

1994/95 Blackburn 4 QPR 0

1993/94 Blackburn 1 QPR 1 (Ready)

1993/94 QPR 1 Blackburn 0 (Ferdinand)

1992/93 Blackburn 1 QPR 0

1992/93 QPR 0 Blackburn 3

1990/91 QPR 2 Blackburn 1** (Falco, Barker)

1986/87 Blackburn 2 QPR 2** (Bannister, Walker)

1986/87 QPR 2 Blackburn 1** (Byrne, Brazil)

1982/83 Blackburn 1 QPR 3 (Stainrod 2, Flanagan)

1982/83 QPR 2 Blackburn 2 (Allen, Fenwick)

1981/82 Blackburn 2 QPR 1 (Allen)

1981/82 QPR 2 Blackburn 0 (Gregory, Allen)

1980/81 QPR 1 Blackburn 1 (Francis)

1980/81 Blackburn 2 QPR 1 (Neal)

1970/71 QPR 2 Blackburn 0 (Marsh, Francis)

1970/71 Blackburn 0 QPR 2 (Leach, Saul)

1969/70 QPR 2 Blackburn 3 (Venables pen, Hazell)

1969/70 Blackburn 0 QPR 1 (Leach)

1967/68 Blackburn 0 QPR 1 (F Clarke)

1967/68 QPR 3 Blackburn 1 (Marsh, Wilks, Sanderson)

1951/52 Blackburn 4 QPR 2 (Nicholas, Addinall)

1951/52 QPR 2 Blackburn 1 (Addinall 2)

1950/51 Blackburn 2 QPR 1 (Hatton)

1950/51 QPR 3 Blackburn 1 (Addinall 2, Hatton pen)

1949/50 QPR 2 Blackburn 3 (Addinall, Hatton)

1949/50 Blackburn 0 QPR 0

1948/49 QPR 4 Blackburn 2 (Parkinson 2, Hatton, Hartburn)

1948/49 Blackburn 0 QPR 0

1911/12 Blackburn 2 QPR 1 (Revill)***

* - FA Cup

** - League Cup

*** - Charity Shield, played at White Hart Lane

Connections

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 >>> Gareth Ainsworth, QPR (manager) 2023, 2003-2010, Blackburn (trainee) 1989-1991 >>> Ben Gladwin, Blackburn 2017-2019, QPR 2015-2017 >>> Ryan Nelsen, QPR 2012-2013, Blackburn 2005-2012 >>> Junior Hoilett, QPR 2012-2016, Blackburn 2007-2012 >>> Chris Samba, QPR 2013, Blackburn 2007-2012 >>> Mark Hughes, QPR (manager) 2012, Blackburn (manager) 2004-2008, (player) 2000-2002 >>>> Bradley Orr, QPR 2010-2012, Blackburn 2012-2014>>> Jay Bothroyd, QPR 2011-2013, Blackburn (loan) 2004-2005 >>> Pascal Chimbonda, QPR 2011, Blackburn 2009-2011 >>> Marcus Bent, Blackburn 2000-2001, QPR (loan) 2010 >>> Steven Reid, Blackburn 2003-2010, QPR (loan) 2009 >>> Tim Flowers, Blackburn 1993-1999, QPR (coach) 2008 >>> John Curtis, Blackburn 2000-2003, QPR 2007 >>> Andy Taylor, Blackburn 2004-2008, QPR (loan) 2006 >>> Marlon Broomes, Blackburn 1994-2001, QPR (loan) 2000 >>> Darren Peacock, QPR 1990-1994, Blackburn 1998-2000 >>> Ray Harford, Blackburn (manager) 1995-1996, QPR (manager) 1997-1998 >>> Simon Barker, Blackburn 1982-1988, QPR 1988-1998 >>> Ossie Ardiles, Blackburn 1988, QPR 1988-1989 >>> Jim Smith, Blackburn (manager) 1975-1978, QPR (manager) 1985-1988 >>> Mike Ferguson, QPR 1969-1973, Blackburn 1962-1968

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