QPR will face Sheffield United again next week in a cup replay to decide if the R’s can end the worst current FA Cup run in the Football League and progress to the fourth round for the first time in eight years.

QPR are still without an FA Cup win since 2001, the longest run of any league team, but they will get another crack at Sheffield United next week after a dismal draw at Bramall Lane. On a day so cold it bit into your soul and in front of a crowd almost half what Sheffield United would expect to attract for this fixture in the league the famed ‘magic of the FA Cup’ was in short supply but QPR deserve credit for at least sticking together a little bit more than they had done at Ipswich a week earlier and showing more organisation and determination to get a result.

This was to be a game of such appallingly low quality it became painful to watch at times. It seems such a waste to see so many clearly talented footballers forced to play in this way by managers lacking the balls and brains to allow them to do anything different but that is often the life of a Championship fan, particularly when Sheffield United are involved. I’d love to spend time talking to Kevin Blackwell about his footballing philosophy – although I cannot imagine it would be a particularly long conversation.

United seem to be set up solely to bully teams out of possession and then immediately launch the ball long to try and turn opposing defences around to win throw ins, free kicks and corners. That really is it and we will sadly play them four times in roughly eight weeks now because of this result – in stark contrast to the wonderful to watch Burnley side we ended up playing four times last season. I won’t be going to the replay, the first game I have missed this season, because I just cannot justify paying to watch this dirge any more.

Rather than play around them, Rangers simply resorted to similar tactics – matching United for style of football and pattern of play. To adapt a well worn phrase, don’t take on a long ball outfit at long ball because they’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. QPR just about managed to match United on Sunday but it was abysmal to watch and thoroughly depressing for the most part.

With Ben Watson and Tommy Williams returning to their parent clubs last week Gary Borrowdale and Alejandro Faurlin came back into the side. The former on the left of a back four with Ramage, Stewart and Gorkss, the latter in a midfield that also included Buzsaky and Routledge out wide and Mikele Leigertwood in the middle against his former club. Up front Patrick Agyemang partnered top scorer Jay Simpson. While Rangers lost two players at the end of loan spells in the lead up to this fixture they gained a couple coming the other way as well with Heider Helguson and Hogan Ephraim back on the bench after spells with Watford and Leeds respectively.

United were still without top scorer Darius Henderson who is yet to face QPR in either meeting between these sides this season. Richard Cresswell started in his place having scored at Loftus Road in December. Plymouth defender Marcel Seip signed on loan in time to take his place on the bench for this game.

As the game quickly settled into a pattern of hoof, chase, hoof it straight back at them it took six minutes for a serious chance to be created. Faurlin and Buzsaky combined to concede a very soft free kick from a Sheffield United throw wide on the QPR left. That gave Jamie Ward a chance to deliver a ball to the back post where everybody’s favourite pantomime villain Chris Morgan headed over when he may have done better.

Bouyed by this the home side went frighteningly close to taking the lead in the ninth minute. Henri Camara skipped into the penalty area and, to his credit, stayed on his feet as Kaspars Gorkss thrust out a leg in desperation. Camara cut the ball back from the byline to Stephen Quinn who was hugely impressive in the Loftus Road meeting of these sides last month but on this occasion contrived to smack the ball against the cross bar from eight yards out with Cerny all but beaten. It was a sitter, make no mistake.

Having stayed on his feet on that occasion Camara, easily spotted in black gloves and bright yellow boots and somewhat smaller than I remember him previously, hit the deck in less convincing circumstances under a shoulder challenge from Gorkss a few moments later and was lucky not to be booked. The Senegalese striker also missed two decent chances early on – dragging his first shot wide and then being denied by a superb ball and all tackle from Gary Borrowdale covering in behind Gorkss to sweep up a back post cross.

It took until the 23rd minute for QPR to produce a threat of any kind on Mark Bunn’s goal but once Akos Buzsaky had fired a long range free kick wide after a foul on Agyemang by Kilgallon the R’s did seem to grow into the game a little more. Within two minutes Jay Simpson had made the most of a broken passage of play on halfway to race to the edge of the United penalty box and unload a low shot on goal that was easily saved. Then on the half hour Mikele Leigertwood cut inside and curled a left footed shot high and wide onto the Kop.

The QPR pressure continued when Wayne Routledge broke into the penalty area ten minutes before half time – his low shot was blocked but the ball rebounded to Faurlin who cracked a shot towards goal that Bunn beat away with two hands. That was the first serious save either keeper had had to make but Bunn would be picking the ball out of the back of his net within three minutes.

In the meantime United picked up two quick fire yellow cards from our old foe Andy Hall, who did actually have a good game on Sunday to be fair to him. The first went to Richard Cresswell for deliberately handling an attempted interception as QPR passed the ball along their back four – for me it was barely worthy of a quiet word in his ear and it is that robotic, by the book approach that lets Hall down so often. There could be no complaints about the second, handed to Andy Taylor who played one game on loan with QPR back in the dim and distant past, for a crude tackle on Wayne Routledge close to the touchline.

QPR took the lead six minutes before the break after achieving two firsts in the match. Firstly, Patrick Agyemang actually managed to not only get off the ground but do it without ducking his head at the same time and was therefore able to finally beat Kilgallon and Morgan to a long ball and flick it on. Buzsaky then worked very hard to keep the ball in tight to the touchline and start the game’s first serious passing move which culminated with Routledge sending in a low cross that was crisply converted by Jay Simpson for his tenth goal of the season.

Having enjoyed the better of the first half and taken the lead five minutes before half time it was important for QPR to hang on until half time – but then that really would not be our style would it? In fairness to the players the equaliser, three minutes into first half stoppage time, did come from a corner that was clearly and obviously a goal kick but the defending from that point on was very poor indeed. A cross from Warfd after a foul by Stewart on Evans was over hit and went beyond the touchline before Morgan retrieved it but the linesman signalled for a corner anyway. QPR had ample opportunity to clear the ball thereafter but did not manage it and when Quinn crossed again Cresswell easily got above Leigertwood to head a soft equaliser past Cerny who may feel he could have done better. The half time whistle sounded almost as soon as the ball hit the net.

Having enjoyed marginally the better of the first half QPR probably felt a little aggrieved to be behind at half time but they were lucky to still be level at the end of a second period that belonged much more to Sheffield United. Camara forced Cerny into a similar double handed save that Bunn had denied Faurlin with in the first half and Ward curled a cross shot wide of the post with Cerny well beaten.

QPR’s only really serious shot on the goal came around the hour mark when Routledge whipped a corner into the near post where Stewart met it full on the volley but the ball flashed wide of the goal when almost everybody in the away end expected the net to bulge. That was about as exciting as it got for the travelling faithful and talk quickly turned back to whether or not Kaspars Gorkss had starred in a ‘film’ called ‘Latvian Fist’ that one of our travelling party had seen, and if it would be possible to start a song even more random than the Annie’s Song John Denver anthem that United run out to. A brave and persistent attempt to get the QPR fans singing the Carpenter’s ‘Close to You’ enjoyed some success to the left of the goal.

That jovial mood could soon have evaporated had Radek Cerny’s extreme casualness cost us a second goal midway through the second half. Having collected a loose ball in his hands Cerny then put the ball down to clear it but dallied, pushed it too far out of his area and was challenged first by Ward and then by Evans and somehow managed to scramble the ball away. A more obvious example of creating a problem where one need not exist you will struggle to see.

Hart sent on Hogan Ephraim for Buzsaky who was very ineffective for the most part again but even Ephraim, obviously keen to impress, was restricted to working hard when tracking back rather than actually attacking United. Geary was booked for a nasty foul on him and Faurlin was similarly punished for then fouling Geary as a scrappy game descended into niggle nastiness.

Ten minutes from time, and with the game seemingly destined for a draw, Sheffield United came within a whisker of snatching a winner. Ched Evans won and took a free kick 25 yards out from goal, Gorkss harshly penalised on this occasion, and lashed the ball against the underside of the bar, off Radek Cerny’s foot and out to Derek Geary who fired over from close range – although he had possibly been flagged offside. It was a stunning free kick that almost snapped the crossbar in half and Rangers were very lucky to survive. At the other end a rank first touch from Agyemang denied him a clear run on goal after Routledge had played him through.

With five minutes left for play Paul Hart introduced Heider Helguson for Patrick Agyemang and to be honest I’m really glad to see him back. Helguson’s problem is fitness, when he plays I like him a lot and in five minutes plus stoppage time here he won more ball in the air than Agyemang had managed all afternoon. He also got a sight of goal from a Faurlin free kick after a foul on Routledge but having brought the ball down at the back post it was taken off his toe by Chris Morgan.

During the week I had jokingly said that it might cheer everybody up a little if somebody could nail Chris Morgan at some point. From the corner resulting from the Helguson chance, Damion Stewart did just that – kicking the widely detested United captain square in the mouth while competing for a loose ball in the area. This brought almost as big a cheer as Simpson’s goal from the away end and various chants from the away end about letting him die were taken in better part by Morgan than they were probably intended.

Overall I thought that, quality wise, this was one of the worst games I've ever seen. Both teams focussed solely on lumping it long and trying to turn each other around. We put together one move in the first half and scored from it and that was about it. I'm hoping, and I believe it to be the case as Hart and Harford have never ever been long ball merchants before, that this was us simply adapting and trying to muscle up against ridiculously physical opponents. We got more than I expected us to from the game so if that is the case then we did it well.

I thought we shaded the first half for chances, and United were better than us in the second, but it was an obvious draw from a long way out and only Evans’ late free kick provided any sort of threat to that. I liked the set up and performance of the defence a lot more although it was still far from perfect and the goal was extremely soft. Buzsaky was poor again and while we can all keep saying with some justification that he needs to play in the middle he also needs to get fitter and think about his game a lot more - a few times I've noticed recently he plays a ball around the corner and then when there's nobody there throws his arms about. Probably team mates should read these things but he's got to look before playing them and we have to maintain possession much better than we do.

Ultimately a replay is something nobody wanted and all I can say is I once again came away thinking thank God I don't support Sheff Utd. We were a bit spoilt with four games against an attractive Burnley side in similar circumstances last season, 360 minutes of football against the Blades is like Chinese water torture. Still, we deserve credit for getting a draw at a difficult place to go and we must now look to finish the job at Loftus Road for a chance of a crack and another wonderfully attractive northern side in round four. It could be Bolton next, if we can stand it.

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Sheff Utd: Bunn 6, Geary 6, Morgan 7, Kilgallon 7 (Seip 46, 6), Taylor 5, Ward 6 (Little 87, -), Montgomery 5, Quinn 6 (Williamson 78, 6), Cresswell 7, Evans 6, Camara 6
Subs Not Used: Bennett, France, Reid, Harper
Booked: Cresswell (handball), Taylor (foul), Geary (foul)
Goals: Cresswell 45 (assisted Quinn)

QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 6, Stewart 7, Gorkss 7, Borrowdale 6, Routledge 7, Faurlin 6, Leigertwood 6, Buzsaky 5 (Ephraim 71, 6), Simpson 6, Agyemang 5 (Helguson 85, -)
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Hall, Connolly, Balanta, Parker
Booked: Faurlin (foul)
Goals: Simpson 39 (assisted Routledge)

QPR Star Man – Wayne Routledge 7 Best of a mediocre bunch, great assist for the goal and far too much for Taylor to handle on the rare occasions we actually got the ball down and out to him to run at them.

Referee: Andy Hall (W Midlands) 7 Probably his greatest ever game. Hard to argue with three of the four bookings, Cresswell’s was harsh but the others were all blatant. A little over fussy at times, particularly with his insistence on holding prolonged discussions with several players, but overall controlled the game well and avoided any trademark brain explosions.

Attendance: 11,461 (700 QPR) A bigger QPR following than I expected and a bloody good laugh up to the left of the away end as we looked. The faces of the Sheff Utd fans to our left as message board regular Norfolt launched into a brave and sustained attempt to get ‘Close To You' going as some sort of anthem was priceless. United fans were clearly uninspired by the draw with the crowd barely making it into five figures and the noise moving above silent only very occasionally.

Photo: Action Images

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