After terrific backs to the wall efforts against Bristol City and Norwich in the last two away games QPR will head to the Ricoh Arena in confident mood this weekend.

Coventry City (11th) v Queens Park Rangers (4th)
Coca Cola Championship
Saturday September 20, Kick Off 3pm
Ricoh Arena, Coventry

I think it is ok to be getting a little bit excited now. It may be early in the season and there is of course a long way to go, nothing is ever won in September and our team and squad still has many weak links and vulnerable areas but at the moment we’re showing all the hallmarks of a team really able to challenge at the right end of this division come the end of the season.

Beating a team 4-1 while not playing well certainly bodes well, as does playing for more than 90 minutes away from home with ten men without conceding a goal as QPR have done against Bristol City and Norwich in the past few weeks. Obviously it would be nice to keep a full compliment of players on the pitch at the Ricoh Arena on Saturday but even if we don’t manage to do that for the third consecutive away game Iain Dowie has already shown that he has organised his team well, equipped it to compete and imposed a fitness regime up there with the best in the land. When the going gets tough Rangers have already shown they are ready to shrug off the southern softies image that has dogged us for years and muck in to get the result. Name me a QPR side that would have won that game at Norwich on Wednesday in those circumstances – I’m struggling to think of one.

Such a shame that all this progress and entertaining football on the pitch is being overshadowed among supporters and in the media by the embarrassing actions of the executives employed to run our club off the pitch. The decisions made, the timing of them, and the sickly way they are released laced with spin to supporters occupies the minds of QPR fans at a time when there should be only one topic of discussion – our wonderful new team.

Coventry fans will probably be saying ‘they should not get carried away’. The Sky Blues were top of the table after four games last season and preparing to beat Man Utd at Old Trafford in the League Cup, that should whet the appetite ahead of Wednesday night’s attractive tie at Aston Villa, but faded thereafter and Dowie was sacked after Christmas. In fairness to him big Iain stands by his record at the Ricoh and it’s hard to argue with him – on a limited budget and playing home games in an empty soulless bowl he had them further away from the relegation zone in places and points than they ever managed again after he left and Ray Ranson has shown little since his takeover to suggest they can do anything other than stand still where they are now for the foreseeable future.

Their loss could be our gain, Dowie is doing magnificently at Loftus Road so far and long may it continue. QPR fans are struggling to come to terms with the idea of achieving things on the road, one defeat from four games away from the Bush so far, but at Norwich and Bristol City we showed all the attributes necessary both with and without the ball to be a side nobody wants to welcome into their own back yard. Hopefully the monumental effort at Carrow Road hasn’t sapped energy levels completely because this latest trip to the lifeless Ricoh Arena is certainly a winnable one with a similar quality of performance. Here’s hoping.

Five minutes on Coventry City
A failed Premiership side playing in a half empty soulless new stadium in the middle of the Championship – who would have thought it? Following a club in this league can produce a Groundhog Day feeling for fans as they visit the relics of once proud clubs, fingers freshly burnt after suckling at Richard Scudamore’s teat. We’ve had two this week already and Southampton and Norwich were a pale imitation of the sides that graced the first ever Premier League wearing the same shirts.

Rangers fans will no doubt remember Andy Impey banging in a winner at Highfield Road in 1992 to put QPR on top of the Premier League. It’s all been downhill since then for both teams. City spent most of their time in the renamed top flight playing chicken with the relegation zone only breaking away from their game for a brief period under Gordan Strachan when a team containing Dion Dublin, Darren Huckerby and others looked like they could actually cement a place in the league. In the end the adrenalin producing but ill-advised game of leaving it as late as possible in the season before stringing any kind of run of form together caught up with them in 2001 when they finally lost their top flight status after 34 consecutive years.

From there onwards it’s been an all too familiar story. Coventry sacked Strachan and replaced him with former playing favourite Rolan Nilsson but never got close to returning to the big time and all the time they fiddled the sands of time in their parachute payments ticked away leaving a club already in substantial debt facing a bleak future. The tactic of appointing a former player as manager didn’t bear much more success when Gary McAllister took the job and although tragic circumstances in his personal life necessitated his departure from the job he can hardly be said to have been a success there and I’m not too sure he’s going to make a manager to be honest judging by his performance with Coventry and so far with Leeds United.

They finally seemed to have hit upon a good idea in January 2004 when they appointed former Motherwell boss Eric Black to replace McAllister but despite a marked up turn in performances and results he was sacked after a 5-2 win against Gillingham with the board citing the team’s inconsistency as a reason for his chopping. It seemed from the outside that what they really wanted, despite Black doing a great job, was a big name and they certainly got that in Peter Reid. Everybody may know who Reid is but the day of screaming in players’ faces 24 hours a day and achieving results is thankfully long gone and Reid was, and remains, a complete disaster zone. I couldn’t help but laugh at the old pals act on Goals on Sunday when Sam Allardyce said Reid shouldn’t have to go to Thailand for a job he should be given one in this country. It really would have to be give in the most charitable sense of the word because I wouldn’t let Reid run my bath – Coventry were a sorry side by the time he left after one season.

Mickey Adams tried his luck next, all bluster and bullshit as usual, but little progress on the pitch. Off it Coventry moved from Highfield Road, a ground they owned and could have redeveloped, to the Ricoh Arena, a ground they don’t own and need to guarantee a certain home gate at every match just so they don’t make a loss by turning up. The fall from the Premiership, the debts accrued while there, the squandering of the parachute money and then a move to the worst example of characterless new stadiums meant that by the time Adams had packed up and left and Iain Dowie taken over City were starting to cut things very fine on the monthly bank statements.

Dowie, with little money for players and administration seemingly imminent, did as best as he could under the circumstances, a sentiment echoed by Jay Tabb this week who has appealed to Coventry fans to give their former gaffer a good reception when he returns this weekend. Again, like Black, he was harshly sacked by Ray Ranson when he finally got his hands on a football club at the umpteenth time of asking.

Ranson may have saved Coventry from administration but there seems to be little money available for anything else now and while he’s fulfilled his ambition of owning a football club it’s unclear where he intends to take them now as they threaten to stagnate in the middle of the Championship. Their team is a million miles away from a promotable side and the atmosphere at their home games is akin to a partially renovated church. In Chris Coleman they have an astute manager who worked miracles at Fulham to keep them in the Premiership for so long but if he’s to make it back there you sense it will be a career move rather than progress there with Coventry. Very firmly a Championship club for the foreseeable future.

Men to watch
Iain Dowie certainly left the Sky Blues with a nice parting gift when he signed Daniel Fox and Scott Dann from Walsall shortly before his harsh sacking. Dann, a strong centre half, got his first goal for the club against Newcastle in the League Cup earlier this season and is a tremendous prospect. He, and full back Fox, have both earned England Under 21 honours since swapping the Bescott Stadium for the Ricoh Arena. Dowie may have been somewhat hit and miss in the transfer market throughout his career but he certainly picked well with those two and Coventry now have two excellent Championship defenders and sellable assets on their hands. With former West Ham man Elliott Ward alongside them at the back and Isaac Osbourne as well it’s clear that QPR will have to be at their best to cut through the Coventry defence on Saturday – Ward is the regular penalty taker in these parts as well but rolled a spot kick that could have won the game wide of the post at Sheff Utd on Tuesday. One time QPR transfer target Gary Borrowdale is yet to appear this season while former Liverpool and Sunderland man Stephen Wright has only made the team twice.

Coleman, a defender himself in his playing days of course, has plenty to choose from back there that’s for sure. All that takes place in front of keeper Kieran Westwood who was absolutely outstanding for Carlisle in their ultimately unsuccessful promotion bid from League One last season. The former Blackburn trainee looked a sound investment at £500,000 in the summer and already has two clean sheets to his name – certainly a few names to look for in future years in the Coventry rearguard.

Up front Coleman has two players heavily linked with moves to QPR in the summer to pick from. Clinton Morrison allegedly turned down a new contract with his beloved Crystal Palace to rejoin Dowie at Loftus Road but ended up returning to the Midlands with Coventry having previously enjoyed time in the Premiership with Birmingham City. It’s unclear whether QPR actually wanted Morrison and Dowie was merely learning for the first time that he would have little say in who comes in and goes out or if it was indeed just an agent hunting a better deal for his client – either way Morrison has two goals in two League Cup ties and none in five league games since joining Coventry. He absolutely loves playing against QPR as we all know, two goals in two games against us last season and seven in eleven career appearances to date.

No doubt Coleman intended to partner him with Fredy Eastwood this season after ending his Wolves nightmare with a £1m transfer during the summer. The former West Ham trainee who made his name at Southend United endured a difficult relationship with Mick McCarthy at Molineux, not unusual, and struggled to settle so it was a surprise to see him stay in the Midlands to tell you the truth. One goal in eight appearances so far suggests he’s hardly setting the world alight, likewise Leon McKenzie who only has one goal himself, and former R’s loanee Leon Best who has only made it onto the pitch three times this season and is yet to score. No Coventry player has scored more than one in the league yet this campaign.

In midfield watch out for the long throws and muscular play of Icelandic international Aron Gunnarsson who signed from AZ Alkmaar in the summer. He really impressed me when I saw Coventry play Newcastle recently. Reigning player of the year Jay Tabb, a diminutive attacking midfield player once of Brentford, scored in the 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane on Tuesday.

Previous Meetings
QPR have a pretty poor recent record against Coventry and continued that last season with a home defeat and a bore draw. At the Ricoh Arena last season Rangers came into the game on the back of a thumping 3-0 win against high flying Stoke at Loftus Road but showed absolutely no ambition to win the game whatsoever. Lee Camp made a string of saves to keep the score deadlocked in the first half, nothing whatsoever happened in the second, and then everybody went home bored and £20 poorer.

Coventry: Marshall N/A, Osbourne 6, Ward 6, Dann 6, Fox 6, Mifsud 8, Tabb 6 (Gray 75, 5), Stephen Hughes 5, Doyle 5, Thornton 8, Best 6
Subs Not Used: Konstantopoulos, Hall, Andrews, Simpson
Booked: Best (handball)

QPR: Camp 8, Mancienne 7, Hall 7, Connolly 7, Delaney 5, Buzsaky 5, Leigertwood 5, Rowlands 6 (Ainsworth 90, -), Ephraim 5, Agyemang 4 (Blackstock 85, -), Vine 5
Subs Not Used: Pickens, Barker, Stewart
Booked: Connolly (foul), Buzsaky (foul)

Match Report

At Loftus Road Rangers lost the whole spine of their side to injury in the first half when martin Cranie broke his leg and was followed down the tunnel by Mikele Leigertwood and Marc Nygaard. We looked to have overcome that set back when Akos Buzsaky gave us the lead with a thumping long range shot at the Loft End however Coventry came storming back to equalise through Mifsud and then won the game in injury time with a header from Kevin Kyle.

QPR: Camp 6, Mancienne 5, Stewart 7, Cranie 6 (Timoska 20, 6), Barker 6, Rowlands 5, Leigertwood 6 (Bolder 39, 6), Buzsaky 6, Sinclair 5, Vine 5, Nygaard 5 (Nardiello 44, 5)
Subs Not Used: Cole, Ainsworth
Goals: Buzsaky 50 (unassisted)

Coventry: Konstantopoulos 6, McNamee 6 (Stephen Hughes 90, -),De Zeeuw 7, Turner 7, Hall 7, Osbourne 7, Doyle 7, Tabb 7, Mifsud 8, Adebola 8,Best 7 (Kyle 75, 7)
Subs Not Used: Marshall, Ward, Cairo
Goals: Mifsud 61 (unassisted), Kyle 90 (assisted Hall)

Match Report

Head to Head:
Coventry wins – 42
Draws – 26
QPR wins – 34

Previous Coventry v QPR results:
2007/08 Coventry 0 QPR 0
2007/08 QPR 1 Coventry 2 (Buzsaky)
2006/07 Coventry 0 QPR 1 (Smith)
2006/07 QPR 0 Coventry 1
2005/06 QPR 0 Coventry 1
2005/06 Coventry 3 QPR 0
2004/05 Coventry 1 QPR 2 (Cureton, Santos)
2004/05 QPR 4 Coventry 1 (Cureton 3, Furlong)
1995/96 Coventry 1 QPR 0
1995/96 QPR 1 Coventry 1 (Barker)
1994/95 Coventry 0 QPR 1 (Sinclair)
1994/95 QPR 2 Coventry 2 (Penrice)
1993/94 Coventry 0 QPR 1 (White)
1993/94 QPR 5 Coventry 1 (Allen 2, Barker, Ferdinand, Impey)
1992/93 QPR 2 Coventry 0 (Peacock, Pearce og)
1992/93 Coventry 0 QPR 1 (Impey)

QPR's 1-0 defeat at Coventry in 1996 that all but confirmed our relegation is the featured game in the Connections and Memories column this week. Never fear though, it's given Ash chance to talk about Roy Wegerle for a bit and that's certainly worth a read. Click here for details.

Team News
QPR are without centre half Matt Connolly as he serves a one match ban for his outrageous lunge on Matt Pattison at Norwich on Wednesday. Quite how that wasn’t a straight red and suspended prison sentence I don’t know but we’ll take the two yellows and count our blessings that the Norwih player walked away from the incident. It could have been horrific. Connolly is likely to be replaced by Kaspars Gorkss who was superb as a sub after the sending off and is likely to be ahead of Fitz Hall in the pecking order as Hall continues to struggle with injury. Akos Buzsaky enjoyed ten minutes off the bench at Norwich and will be pushing for further involvement while Dexter Blackstock has run himself to water over the past two games and may need a break at some point either here or at Villa, Patrick Agyemang looks back to his pacy and awkward best and is ready to deputise. Apart from at full back Rangers have options and selection headaches all over the pitch.

Coventry should be unchanged after a 1-1 draw at Sheffield United on Tuesday. Leon McKenzie was subbed at half time with a knock but is fit to start and although Guillaume Beuzelin is fit to return Michael Doyle and Aron Gunnarsson are likely to keep their places at the heart of the midfield.
Injury List

Referee
Dean Whitestone is in charge of this one, a somewhat card happy referee who showed six yellows and a red in his last QPR match against Colchester at Christmas. This is his first Coventry game since 2006.
Details

Elsewhere
The big game of the weekend is at Deepdale where two of the early pace setters, Preston and Wolves, come head to head. Both continued their great starts to the season with midweek wins but something has to give here – unless they draw of course. Reading seem to be re-finding their feet at this level and bagged six in the week against hapless Sheff Wed. Wednesday will be confident of recovering against notoriously bad travellers Ipswich Town while Reading have a winnable away game at lowly Watford. No live Championship games this weekend for some reason which means a full Saturday 3pm programme to role back the years. Swansea and Cardiff are ripping lumps out of each other on Sky in the League Cup on Tuesday. Tune in if you can, but don’t let the kids watch.
Tony’s Championship Round Up

Form
QPR’s win at Norwich was their first on the road in ten league attempts but it’s amazing how the stats turn around because you can now say we’ve only lost one of four road games in all competitions this season. The R’s have also now played for 115 minutes with ten men away from home without conceding a goal, collecting four points in the process. Overall this season the R’s have still just lost the one game from eight played – the 3-0 defeat at Sheff Utd is the only blot on a record that reads six wins, one draw and one defeat.

Coventry drew with Sheff Utd on Tuesday night to stretch their run of games without a win to five. Preston, Newcastle and Bristol City have all left the Ricoh with positive results so far this season but Norwich were dispatched comfortably on day one 2-0. Their three wins so far in all competitions came in the first three matches and they have only scored one goal in their last four league matches.
Form Guide

Prediction
I’m really desperate to tip us for a win here because I was so impressed with the attitude and ability that the boys showed at Norwich on Wednesday. However that win at Norwich is one of the reasons I’m erring on the side of caution. That was a monumental effort at Carrow Road to win after playing for 70 minutes with ten men while Coventry had a numerical advantage themselves at Sheff Utd and have had 24 hours more to recover and prepare. I fancy us, but I’ll stick with a draw.
Coventry 1 QPR 1

Remember to log your predictions in the LoftforWords Prediction League to stay in with a chance of winning one of those oh so expensive QPR season tickets for next year.

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Two users have commented on this article. Click here to add your thoughts:

Excellent as ever, Clive. Unduly pessimistic scorewise though....-2-0 to The 'Hoops. -Otuck

After Cov beat QPR 2-1 at Loftus Rd, Ian managed Cov for 15 more league games, winning 3 drawing 2 and loosing 10. He bought in 9 players during the 2007 pre season, most were awful and have left, retired or can't get in the team but no other club wants them either. Very unlucky for us. - Austin

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