From Canada to Bloomfield Road via Wales - guest reviewer Doug Stone looks back at a cold, wet, windy but ultimately hugely enjoyable night by the seaside with QPR.

1 – The Match
As the old cliché goes, this really was a game of two halves. In the opening period, the ball spent a lot of time in the air and not much time on the ground, as can happen from time to time in the Championship. Blackpool were the main culprits as their game plan from the outset was clearly “route one”. Rangers did try to play on the ground in patches but were often forced into long clearances by the industry of the Blackpool forwards and midfield, who did a good job of closing us down when we had possession, particularly in our own half. Blackpool had a clear territorial advantage at half time but for all their huff and puff I do not recall them having a single clear cut scoring opportunity. Rangers defended very well and produced a number of timely tackles to snuff out promising Blackpool attacks. Meanwhile, although Rangers had seen less of the ball, we had still created the better chances. Helguson’s seventeenth minute opener was somewhat against the run of play and on balance I felt that we were a touch lucky to be one up at half time.

The second half opened with a period of intense Blackpool pressure that could so easily have resulted in an equaliser. But something had changed during the half time break. Suddenly Rangers were not being forced into those long clearances nearly as often and were playing out on the ground and having more of the ball. And from that point on, there was really only one team in it. Helguson put Rangers two up from the spot just before the hour mark. From my vantage point it wasn’t clear why the penalty had been given so it seemed a little harsh but by then the writing was already on the wall. For a spell of about 15-20 minutes after the penalty Rangers were rampant. Flowing passing moves were absolutely tearing Blackpool to shreds and if they were unlucky to be one down at half time they were lucky not to be four down as the game entered the final fifteen minutes. Blackpool did come back into it a bit at this point and but for a crucial save by Lee Camp could yet have got something from the game. But Rangers quickly regained control and Ephraim’s late goal was no less than Rangers deserved. While the first half was pretty average, the second half was highly entertaining for both Rangers fans and from a neutral perspective.
7/10

2 – QPR Performance
In a word - heartwarming. Just what the doctor ordered on a cold, dark, and rainy Blackpool evening. Rangers played well from front to back. I’ll start with the excellent Wayne Routledge, who was my personal man of the match. I’m surprised he wasn’t arrested after the match for violating the anti-torture provisions of the Geneva Convention, such was the pain he inflicted on the Blackpool defence. His first touch was sublime and every time he got the ball you knew that something good was about to happen. So it was no surprise that it was from his cross that Helguson netted the opener.

The first half was more of a defensive effort. Blackpool came at us and had a fair bit of possession in our half but the thing that particularly pleased me was that we did not allow them to settle on the ball. I’m sure that kudos is due to Sousa’s coaching for that. We did have the occasional lapse, but there was a clear intention to have somebody come out and challenge and harass them whenever they had the ball in our half. The back four dealt handily with the long balls that were sent their way and produced some crucial saving tackles; the midfield did an excellent job of not letting them get that far very often; and the forwards managed to produce the goal that we did not really deserve at that point.

Coming into the second half, there was all to play for. Chatting with my brother at half time, we both agreed that the one thing Rangers could not afford to do was to try to just hold on to what we had, so when Blackpool opened the second half with heavy pressure and a couple of quick corners we feared the worst. But it quickly became evident that Rangers had not come out to defend. We started moving the ball around on the ground and fairly quickly earned the penalty that really put us in control. After that Rangers pretty much tore into Blackpool. Some of the passing and movement was breathtaking and Blackpool were being totally outclassed.

In addition to Routledge, Hogan Ephraim was another of the key protagonists after he came on early in the second half, and thoroughly deserved to get onto the score sheet. Lee Camp had a solid performance in goal and made a crucial diving save to his left to preserve the two goal margin. There were a couple of crosses that I though he could have handled better but those rainy nights are tricky for goalkeepers. Overall, a well deserved shut-out. Helguson is rapidly turning into the ingredient that has been missing – somebody who can put the ball into the net (and away from home, too!). He still had a lot to do to score from Routledge’s cross and he did it perfectly – a real predator’s goal. And then he stepped up to the spot to send the keeper diving to his right while he calmly rolled the ball into the other side of the goal. Very close runner-up for my MOTM.

Leigertwood deserves an honourable mention for a solid performance in midfield but I can’t really single out anybody from the defence – it was a solid all around display from the entire unit. The key to this victory was the ambition we showed in the second half so I would be remiss if I did not give a hearty “well done” to Paulo Sousa for that. Not only did it get us the result, but not even the unrelenting Blackpool rain could dampen our enjoyment of the way in which it was achieved.
9/10

3 – QPR Support
Only two to three hundred Rangers fans showed up for this one. We had about half of the make-shift uncovered temporary stand on the east side of the ground, from the goal line at the south end of the pitch to about the half way line (the other half was empty). Our half of this alleged stand holds about 900 people so there was lots of room and we ended up strung out along the length of it. As a consequence, we were not really grouped together for singing, and the cold rainy night didn’t help either. However, three guys in front of us with voices that would make a Sergeant Major cower got right into it and throughout the match were continually starting up songs and chants. A small band of us around them joined in and we all did our best to provide some vocal support for the team. A couple of classics were “Winning in the Rain”, and an absolutely hilarious and cutting barracking of a Blackpool player (sorry, I didn’t note which one) who had made the mistake of first making a terrible pass that went straight out of play on our touchline and then immediately coming off injured right in front of us. “You’re not very good” to the tune of “Knees up Mother Brown” was followed by a number of other hilarious spur of the moment ditties that sent him scurrying down the touchline to get away from us! Poor bastard. Overall though, I was disappointed that more fans didn’t join in the singing.
4/10

4 – The Ground
Actually, this is really only half a ground at the moment. The north stand at the Blackpool end and the West Stand are both single tier but are of Championship size and quality, although the seats that presumably used to be the same bright orange colour as Blackpool’s shirts are badly faded and in desperate need of a coat of paint. The overall “tired” look of these stands is punctuated by new replacement seats that are dotted around and are still bright orange. The east stand, where we were housed (and I use the term loosely, since every house I’ve ever been in has had a roof!) is an uncovered temporary stand that runs the length of the pitch and has about twelve rows. It did not feel very solid and if we’d managed to fill it I’d have feared for our lives when we scored. And if you were expecting to find a stand at the south end you’d have been sorely disappointed. Instead, there were the big wooden boards that fence off many construction areas and behind that, nothing but mud. I don’t know who recovered the many balls that went over that fence during the course of that wet evening but I sincerely hope they had a good pair of wellies! If there was a scoreboard or a match clock anywhere, I didn’t see them. On the bright side, I rather enjoyed standing beside the pitch while the players warmed up with only a piece of rope between us and the action. Although I did not avail myself of any of the facilities, I did notice a nice looking food stand tucked away at the south end of the ground, very close to the turnstiles where we entered. I was surprised to see that a match day programme was £3.50, but now that I’ve read it I have to say that it was actually worth it; the Rangers content was excellent and included an interview with Rodney Marsh. And, in a strange way, being rained on while we watched a fine Rangers away win somehow served to make the match even more memorable.
3/10

5 – Atmosphere
The Blackpool fans started off in fine voice at the start of the match and I was very impressed with how many of them seemed to be joining in. It seemed as though the entire north stand and much of the west stand were all joining in the singing at times. But after we scored they quietened down quite a bit and although they got into it again at the start of the second half, they quickly faded once more and were relatively quiet for the rest of the match. In truth, their team did not give them much to sing about. A big part of the noise aspect of the atmosphere at a game is about how well the stadium retains sound, as we all know from some electric matches at Loftus Road. Unfortunately, since only two sides of this ground have any kind of stand worth mentioning, the noise retention and the buzz that you get during an exciting match were both missing. As for the Rangers fans, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get more people involved. However, noise retention is only one aspect of atmosphere. The cold, the dark, and the continuous misting Blackpool rain all contributed to make this an evening to remember for all the die-hard Rangers fans that made it out.
5/10

6 – Pre-Match
My brother and I had booked a hotel for the night, so our pre-match basically began when we arrived in Blackpool at around 1:30pm. After we checked-in to our hotel we wandered into the town. Once you are away from the waterfront, Blackpool is much like any other town in England. However, we did happen upon a discount sporting goods shop and my brother was chuffed at being able to pick up a Miami Dolphins baseball cap and an England home shirt, both for under a fiver. Our real mission had been to locate Pizza Hut for our pre-match supper, since we had seen one as we came into town and had set our hearts on that and nothing else would do. After wandering around for about an hour without any luck we gave in and actually asked for directions. And when we found it we realized we had walked right past it about 45 minutes ago.

Blackpool actually has two Pizza Huts and this was not the one we had seen as we were driving into town. I had a pepperoni / onion personal pizza, which was excellent. Since we still had a few hours until game time and this Pizza Hut was close to Blackpool Tower, we thought we might go up there for a laugh and asked our server, who was barely eighteen, how much it would cost. We were rather amused when she said she didn’t know because she hadn’t been up there “since she was a kid”, and when she left my brother observed that must have been, oh, months ago. In the event, the tower was actually closed that day, so we basically just wandered back to our hotel and had our pre-game drink in the hotel bar. Our hotel, The Sandford, was a very nice little find – run by a very friendly couple and situated on the waterfront a mere ten minute walk from the ground. All in all, it was a nice, relaxing, and enjoyable pre-game.
9/10

7 – The Journey
My personal journey began in Winnipeg, Canada, where I live, but the trip to the ground began in mid-Wales where my brother lives, and very unexpectedly with me driving. He had mentioned to me that his car has cruise control but that this feature isn’t very useful in the U.K. because of the amount of traffic. In Canada, cruise control is right up there with power steering and power brakes in terms of standard features. I have used it extensively and was sceptical about his claim that it would not be possible to use it over here. Once we got out of the winding Welsh roads I turned it on and drove on cruise control almost the entire way to Blackpool. Of course you have to disengage occasionally by braking, but this is normal. My brother has been completely converted and has been using it to very good effect ever since.

Overall, it was a fairly quiet journey – moderate traffic, a bit of light rain, and a quick newspaper and chocolate bar stop at Chester Services. We did have one quite amusing moment on the drive up though, when yours truly made a rather lazy shoulder check before a lane change. The car has trouble finding overdrive and when it does the transmission sometimes makes a smell like “rotten eggs”. I was about to change lanes and shoulder checked at the last moment and was surprised to find another car right beside me. My brother wise cracked “that smell is back again, it’s making it when we change lanes now” and we pretty much laughed about that one all the way to Blackpool. For me, it was fun to be driving again in the U.K. and to be heading out to see Blackpool for the first time and to see Rangers live for the first time since last April.
9/10

8 – Police and Stewards
The police and stewards were there but I barely noticed them. We stood for the entire game and nobody bothered us, which was a triumph for common sense and good stewarding because the seats were all soaking wet. There was a small police presence and they must have been doing a good job because I did not encounter any trouble or seen any trouble elsewhere.
8/10
Total – 54/80

Photo: Action Images

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