Back in 1990/91, relegation haunted QPR snapped a dreadful run of form with a 3-2 home victory against Sunderland – what they’d give for the same result this weekend.

Recent Meetings

Sunderland 0 QPR 0, Tuesday November 27, 2012, Premier League

These two shard the spoils from a fairly dire game at the Stadium of Light in Harry Redknapp’s first match in charge of QPR earlier this season. The R’s threatened first but goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was equal to an instinctive shot on the turn by Djibril Cisse. Rangers were forced to replace their goalkeeper Julio Cesar at half time but his replacement Rob Green and he dived bravely at the feet of Stephen Fletcher immediately after coming on to maintain the deadlock. Stephane Mbia fired wide from range and substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips could easily have won the game in stoppage but he shot low at Mignolet’s legs when through into the right channel.

Sunderland: Mignolet 7, Bardsley 6, Kilgallon 6, Cuellar 6, Rose 7*, Cattermole – (Colback 5, 6), Larsson 5, Gardner 5 (Saha 78, 5), Johnson 5 (McClean 70, 6), Sessegnon 5, Fletcher 6

Subs not used: Westwood, Bramble, Vaughan, Campbell

Bookings: Cuellar 50 (foul)

QPR: Cesar 7 (Green 46, 7), Bosingwa 6, Nelsen 7, Hill 7, Traore 7, Mackie 7, Diakite 6 (Park 66, 6), Granero 6, Mbia 7, Taarabt 6 (Wright-Phillips 77, 6), Cisse 6

Subs not used: Ferdinand, Fabio, Derry, Hoilett

Bookings: Diakite 54 (repetitive fouling), Hill 67 (foul), Mackie 80 (foul)

Sunderland 3 QPR 1, Saturday March 24, 2012, Premier League

Following a memorable comeback victory against Liverpool at Loftus Road during a midweek round of fixtures, relegation haunted QPR travelled to Sunderland at this point last year with renewed optimism. That was sadly blown away during the following 90 minutes in which Sunderland were better in every department. They opened the scoring before half time when Nicklas Bendtner headed home a deep cross and any hopes of a Rangers comeback were extinguished ten minutes into the second half when Djibril Cisse collected his second red card of the season for a wild two footed tackle. Sunderland made their extra man count with late goals from James McClean and Stéphane Sessègnon with only a spectacular late free kick from Taye Taiwo giving the travelling R’s fans anything to cheer.

Sunderland: Mignolet 6, O'Shea 6 (Campbell 27, 6), Kyrgiakos 6, Turner 6, Bridge 6 (Meyler 70, 6), Gardner 7, Vaughan 7, Colback 7, McClean 8, Bendtner 7 (Elmohamady 82, -), Sessegnon 8

Subs Not Used: Gordon, Wickham, Kilgallon, Ji

Booked: Kyrgiakos (unsporting conduct), Bridge (foul)

Goals: Bendtner 41 (assisted McClean), McClean 70 (unassisted), Sessegnon 76 (assisted Vaughan)

QPR: Kenny 6, Young 5, Onuoha 4, Ferdinand 5, Taiwo 6, Taarabt 6 (Wright-Phillips 60, 5), Derry 6, Diakite 6 (Buzsaky 52, 5), Mackie 6, Zamora 5 (Bothroyd 82, -), Cisse 5

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Hill, Gabbidon, Barton

Sent Off: Cisse 55 (serious foul play)

Booked: Diakite (foul), Young (foul), Zamora (unsporting conduct)

Goals: Taiwo 79 (free kick, won Zamora)

QPR 2 Sunderland 3, Wednesday December 22, 2011, Premier League

QPR suffered a heartbreaking late loss in the first meeting between these two sides last season, although in truth they were lucky to still be in the game when Wes Brown rose unmarked at the near post to head in a last minute winner from a corner kick. Sunderland, under the new management of Martin O'Neill, made a fast start and profited from slack marking by Matt Connolly to take the lead after 20 minutes when Nicklas Bendtner headed in from another set piece. The back four didn't improve much thereafter and allowed Stéphane Sessègnon a free run on the Loft End goal after half time for 2-0. The game appeared well and truly up for Neil Warnock's side but turned on its head in a bizarre four minute spell in which Ale Faurlin set up Heidar Helguson for the first and then Jamie Mackie dived full length at close range to head home an unlikely equaliser. Suddenly the home side seemed like the like winner but more slack marking at corners cost them at the death.

QPR: Kenny 7, Young 6, Gabbidon 4, Connolly 5 (Bothroyd 90, -), Traore 7 (Hall 80, -), Barton 5, Faurlin 6, Derry 6, Wright-Phillips 6 (Taarabt 46, 7), Mackie 6, Helguson 7

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Hill, Campbell, Smith

Booked: Faurlin (foul), Young (foul)

Goals: Helguson 63 (assisted Faurlin), Mackie 67 (assisted Helguson)

Sunderland: Westwood 6, O'Shea 6, Bramble 6, Brown 7, Bardsley 6, Larsson 7 (Gardner 75, 7), Cattermole 6, Vaughan 5 (Colback 71, 6), Richardson 7, Sessegnon 8, Bendtner 8

Subs Not Used: Carson, Kilgallon, Ji, McClean, Elmohamady

Booked: Sessegnon (foul), Cattermole (repetitive fouling)

Goals: Bendtner 19 (assisted Richardson), Sessegnon 53 (unassisted), Brown 89 (assisted Richardson)

Sunderland 2 QPR 1, Saturday April 14, 2007, Championship

These two sides were heading in opposite directions when they met at the Stadium of Light in 2007. Sunderland , in their first season under Roy Keane, had recovered from a desperately bad start to the campaign and topped the table heading into our April trip to the north. QPR had spent most of the season struggling against the drop but had put together a run of form at just the right time under John Gregory and were just about safe going into this game. You could tell as well, with Sunderland looking nervous and QPR much more relaxed the visitors fought back to equalise Dean Whitehead’s early goal for the hosts with a Martin Rowlands penalty midway through the first half. In the end, as he had done at Loftus Road earlier in the season, Grant Leadbitter struck the killer goal with 13 minutes left to play. Sunderland won the title and have been in the Premiership ever since, QPR avoided relegation and were bought out by Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone in August that year.

Sunderland: Ward 6, Simpson 6, Evans 7, Edwards 7, Whitehead 8, Murphy 6 (Stokes 77, -), Nosworthy 7, Collins 7, Connolly 8, Wallace 7 (John 46, 5), Yorke 6 (Leadbitter 61, 8)

Subs not used: Fulop, Elliott.

Scorers: Whitehead 7, Leadbitter 76

Bookings: Simpson 80 (foul)

QPR: Camp 6, Bignot 5, Cullip 5 (Kanyuka 43, 4), Stewart 6, Timoska 6, Rowlands 7, Bolder 6, Lomas 6 (Idiakez 83, -), Smith 6, Moore 5 (Furlong 69, 5), Blackstock 6

Subs: Cole, Nygaard.

Scorers: Rowlands 22 (pen)

Bookings: Cullip 41 (foul), Bolder 42 (foul), Furlong 76 (foul)

Previous Results

Head to Head >>> QPR wins 10 >>> Draws 7 >>> Sunderland wins 13

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

Memorable Match

QPR’s plight at the bottom of the Premier League is deeply concerning with games running out, but they’re no strangers to a feeling of desperation going into a home match with Sunderland. Back in 1990, when Sunderland were the Christmas week visitors to Loftus Road, alarm bells were rining 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 Tilson 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 Caeser 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 Tilson, Caeser and Maddix for this match. Caeser 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 Caeser was once again culpable for the goal. Colin Pascoe tapped home from close range after Stejskal had parried an initial shot from distance, but it was Caeser’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 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 Tilson 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, Caeser, Maddix, Wilkins, Barker, Falco, Wegerle, Sinton

Subs: Wilson, Meaker

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

Subs: Hardyman, Hawkes

Highlights >>> Paul Furlong compilation, featuring amazing goal at Sunderland >>> QPR 3 Sunderland 2 1990/91 >>> QPR 2 Sunderland 0 75/76

Connections

John Byrne >>> QPR 1984-1988 >>> Sunderland 1991-1992

Irish international forward John Byrne became something of a modern day legend among QPR fans thanks to a dynamite striking partnership with Gary Bannister during the 1980s, and a fondness for scoring goals against Chelsea.

Born in Manchester, Byrne initially came to QPR's attention playing against them in the League Cup for York City in 1984, a two legged tie that Rangers won 8-3 overall. Rangers won the first leg at Bootham Crescent 4-2, but Byrne had set up an equaliser for Keith Houchen and scored 55 goals in 175 appearances for the Minstermen besides. York had won the Fourth Division the season before with 101 points, and would go on to beat Arsenal in the FA Cup in January 1985, but Byrne had left by then when QPR offered £115,000 for his services a month after he'd played against them.

Byrne scored twice, one a wonderful effort, in the 6-0 demolition of Chelsea on Easter Monday 1986 – two of four goals he got against our West London neighbours during his four years at Loftus Road.

Speaking to the BBC about that famous win Byrne said: "We tore them to shreds. Doug Rougvie, who was playing at centre-back for Chelsea , was a fearsome player and he was absolutely furious. By the end, Doug was looking for blood. We had the Milk Cup final coming up a couple of weeks later. Banno and me didn't want to get injured so having destroyed Chelsea , we spent the last part of the match avoiding Doug, who was an angry man. We stayed away from him. Banno went to play on one wing and I went and played on the other It was an unbelievable game to play in. We just played so, so well and everything we did came off. They couldn't handle us that day."

Byrne had also scored in the Milk Cup quarter final win against Chelsea but sadly that run ended in failure. Rangers beat Liverpool in the semi before crashing to an abject 3-0 defeat in the final against Oxford United.

"The biggest disappointment was losing 3-0 in the Milk Cup Final against Oxford ," he said. "We just so under performed at Wembley that day. It was such a bad display that I still can't get my head around it. It came after we had a great run to reach the Final. I scored a cracker at Watford, then we beat Forest, Chelsea and Liverpool along the way. So I reflect on the final with tinges of regret. If we had played anything like our best then we would have lifted the cup."

Byrne told this week’s Open All R’s Podcast that the decision to go and watch the Tottenham game the day before the final turned out to be a mistake with many of the players feeling heavy legged on the day.

Byrne also scored a couple of goals against Manchester United for the R's. He told the club's official website recently: " Another of my favourite memories is scoring in two home games against Manchester United. The most satisfying match was when we defeated them 1-0 in March 1986. I remember lobbing the ball over two defenders' heads in the box. Then I flicked it back before shooting past Chris Turner in goal at the Loft End. It was great for me - especially being a Manchester lad as well. United are my team and it is weird to say that I scored a goal that beat them."

He left QPR in 19988 to join French side Le Havre for £175,000 along with fellow Irish international Frank Stappleton who moved there from Ajax . He finished his QPR career with 36 goals in 149 appearances and cult status secured. Having returned from France after two seasons he had three spells with Brighton as well as time with Millwall and Oxford but it was at Roker Park with Sunderland where he got himself on the cup trail again.

Byrne moved there in October 1991 for £225,000 and scored in every round of the 1992 FA Cup as Sunderland went all the way to the final as a First Division team. Byrne exacted some revenge on Oxford, scoring in a 3-2 win in round four after a third round win against Port Vale, and he was up to his old tricks against Chelsea in round six as Sunderland won through after a replay and then beat Norwich in the semi final with Bynre scoring the only goal. Sadly they lost at Wembley in the final, 2-0 against Liverpool . Byrne was given a winner's medal in the presentation ceremony by mistake. In all he played 44 times for the Mackems and scored 15 goals, seven of them in nine FA Cup appearances.

Byrne won 23 caps for the Republic of Ireland and scored four times, making his international debut in February 1985 just four months after moving to Loftus Road . He was part of the Irish squad at Euro 88 and Italia 90 but played no part in either tournament. Two of his goals came against Turkey in a qualifier for the European Championships in 1992. He now commentates on Brighton matches for BBC Radio Sussex and works on the NHS as a podiatrist.

Others>>>Djibril Cisse, Sunderland (loan) 2008-2009, QPR 2012-present >>> Nedum Onuoha, Sunderland (loan) 2010-2011, QPR 2012-present >>> Anton Ferdinand, Sunderland 2008-2011, QPR 2011-present >>> Tommy Smith, Sunderland 2003-2004, QPR 2010-present >>> Pascal Chimbonda, Sunderland 2008-2009, QPR 2010 >>> 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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TacticalR added 23:51 - Mar 7 I've said before that Sunderland are something of a benchmark team for us. Last season they beat us home and away without playing brilliantly. At least we've managed to get something at their place this year. As for Byrne's story about watching the Tottenham game before the Milk Cup Final...it was interesting, but I am not sure if it explained anything...unless the North London area is known to affect circulation in the legs.

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