 Thursday, 11th Nov 2010 16:40 by Clive Whittingham Neil Warnock and Steve Cotterill were united in their criticism of the match officials following Tuesday night’s draw between Portsmouth and QPR at Fratton Park. NewsReferee Gavin Ward, a familiar foe to QPR after our game at Reading last season, was at it again on Tuesday with a succession of errors in the second half. He allowed Portsmouth to retake a missed penalty for no reason at all and then awarded a spot kick to QPR for handball when the ball actually hit Liam Lawrence in his chest. Both managers were understandably fuming with the 28-year-old match official after the game. Neil Warnock told the club’s official website: “We go away talking about two linesmen. It was a poor decision to award Pompey a re-take. Paddy's feet are both on the line when Lawrence takes it. I'm so disappointed with it.Anyone who's played the game knows that's a fantastic save.What goes around, comes around. It's a hard league. It was a good game despite the conditions. Whatever the score, we shouldn't have to be talking about what we are. Matt's sending off was justified. We won't be appealing about that. “I thought our following was absolutely cracking. It was a miserable night, but they followed us in great numbers and they were in great voice from the first minute to the last. Fratton Park is a great place to play football and the atmosphere is always excellent. The noise volumes were great and it was very intimidating at times. But we showed great character and we were very positive throughout the 90 minutes and got the result we deserved.” Steve Cotterill said: “It should have been three points. We absolutely deserved to win that. We should have been the first team to defeat them. It was never a penalty. The ball hit Liam on the chest. He’s got the imprint of the ball on him. The only thing you couldn’t see was the word ‘Mitre’ written on him. Even Tommy Smith turned around and said he couldn’t believe the penalty had been given. Liam was bound to be upset. He had just run his socks off and then got done late on by a penalty. We can forgive Liam his frustration. We were two minutes away from beating the best team in the league and we got done by a penalty that wasn’t a penalty. “We played very well tonight and QPR will be very pleased to have got out of Fratton Park with their unbeaten run intact. Someone told me QPR had eight players missing, but they could still field a team like that. It’s not bad, is it? I think we were excellent, and John Utaka was outstanding. Kanu was excellent, and Dave Kitson worked very hard.” “Whether their goalkeeper has moved or not, I don’t know. But one thing’s for sure, ours was a cast-iron penalty.” Warnock may well bring in a defensive player on a short term loan deal ahead of the weekend game against Nottingham Forest. Warnock has Bradley Orr and Matthew Connolly suspended, Gavin Mahon and Fitz Hall injured, and Mikele Leigertwood away on international duty with Antigua and Barbuda. He told the Fulham Chronicle: “We ideally need a central defender who can also play defensive midfield.” But there will be no loan move away for central midfielder Martin Rowlands who is yet to make his comeback from a knee ligament injury that has sidelined him for the last year, but has been on the bench in recent games. Rowlands may get his chance shortly with Shaun Derry one yellow card away from a ban but had been linked with a shock loan move back to former club Brentford. Warnock told the Kilburn Times: “I don’t think so. We haven’t got that many midfield players, with Akos being injured. I think there would be others going out on loan before Martin Rowlands. He had an injection recently, but he’s done all right training-wise. It’s just that you’ve got to get fit, you’ve got to get into the team and at the moment I don’t think anyone’s done anything wrong. In the past he’s probably gone into the team to get fit, but you can’t do that any more – you’ve got to get fit first.” Incidentally Leigertwood, who looked set to move out on loan earlier this month with Preston showing an interest, played as Antigua and Barbuda beat Suriname 2-1 in the Digicel Cup earlier this week. He is due back in London just before our crucial top of the table clash with Cardiff later in November. Meanwhile the scorer of the controversial injury time penalty in the week, Tommy Smith, was left to reflect on a strange night where he played against the team that technically still holds his registration. Smith said: “It was a really strange night for me. I've never really experienced anything like it before to be honest. It was strange lining up against the club who still hold my registration, but I'm a professional and I had a job to do for QPR. “My first instinct was to appeal for a corner kick. I didn't think it was a penalty straight off, but the linesman had a perfect view of it and instructed the referee to give the decision. From then on it was all about keeping my composure and concentration. Jamie knows me quite well and there was a little bit of psychology involved. To be fair to him, he guessed the right way, but thankfully I kept my cool and it was a good enough penalty to creep into the bottom corner. "It wasn't the prettiest of matches, but you've got to grind out results on the road sometimes and we did that against a very good side. It was short on quality, especially when you look at the strengths of the two sides - it was a scrappy affair and we kind of cancelled each other out." Despite the deal only being a loan move, Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill told his club’s Official Website that it will definitely become permanent on January 1. He said: “Tommy has gone permanently, really. We were 20 minutes late so it's a bit more paperwork and a few more trees to chop down in January to make those loan signings permanent. They are loans as a technicality – the same as it is with Liam's. But they will be permanent from January 1 for sure. Tommy was popular with the players and myself. We would like to have kept Tommy for sure because he's a good player. At the time, I think we only had eight senior players so he wouldn't have been one we would have wanted to leave. But those decisions were out of my hands at the time, apart from the Marc Wilson one, which went the way I wanted it to go so that we got something in return there.”
Loan watchGoalkeeper Niki Lee Bulmer made his full debut for Hayes and Yeading on Tuesday night as they lost 3-1 at Bath. Bulmer was a second half substitute for regular number one Lee Harrison in the FA Cup against Wycombe at the weekend and deputised for Harrison from the start in the West Country on Tuesday. He told the Uxbridge Gazette: “I came here because I wanted experience and I want to grab the chance of getting a game. Lee came off at half-time on Saturday and told me he was not fit, I did not have time to get nervous. I think I had a steady game, but I can definitely improve on it. I am 100 per cent ready and I want to get as many games as I can. It is bad that Lee got injured, but it is a chance for me if he is not fit.” “We just have to look at the way we played on Saturday. The lads have now set their standard and we have to play like that week in, week out. We were unlucky to get beat on Saturday and if we play like that then not many teams in this league will be able to live with us.”
RumoursQPR are said to be close to signing Norwegian attacker Petter Vaagan Moen on a free transfer, beating Premiership side Newcastle to his signature. The 26-year-old winger was reportedly in London yesterday for a medical ahead of a move in January when his contract with current club Brann expires. He has scored 14 goals this season and featured for Norway in their European Championships qualifying games. One of the sizeable branch of the Norway QPR Supporters Club kindly provided information in the comments section of our Portsmouth match report and said that the deal has been widely reported on Norwegian sports programmes this week. He said: “Just had his best season of his career, after moving from the left wing to a more central attacking midfield position. Very decent left foot, good range of both passes and shots. Similar to Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen, with good set pieces delivery.” Elsewhere Port Vale goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson has also been linked with a move to Loftus Road, and Sheffield United, after playing his part in an impressive start to the season for Vale in League Two. Tomlinson signed for the Valiants from non-league Barrow in the summer after starting his career with Crewe and played at Loftus Road in August when Vale knocked QPR out of the League Cup in the first round. Responding to the speculation he told Sky Sports: “It was the first I'd heard of it when I saw it in the paper at the weekend. I've only played 20 games for Vale, so I think it's too early to even think about it. We've started the season well, we're scoring goals, and are keeping them out as well. I've kept about ten clean sheets so far, so it's going okay at the moment. I was expecting to be second choice to Chris Martin who'd played well last season, but I got my chance in pre-season and have not looked back.”
Former R’sIt appears that Stefan Moore has finally found his level. The man who Ian Holloway said would “chase paper bags in the park all day long” before he went on to be a complete flop at QPR has 15 goals to his name already this season – for St Neots Town in the United Counties League. Moore scored just three times in 42 appearances for Rangers after signing from Aston Villa where he won the FA Youth Cup alongside his brother Luke. Rangers fans joked at the time that Holloway had signed the wrong brother by accident and Moore has since plummeted down the leagues with unsuccessful spells at Port Vale, Walsall and Kiddersminster. But after firing 22 goals in 29 games for Halesowen last season ambitious St Neots paid £10,000 for his services and he fired four goals on his debut against Felixtowe and Walton in the first round of the FA Vase earlier this month. Manager Dennis Greene, whose side have an astonishing +67 goal difference after 15 league games, said: “It was Stefan's debut in the First Round and he got what will probably be goal of the season in the first three minutes. And he had four by half-time. He's done fabulously well. He's scored every week and he's had a couple of hat-tricks so he's settled in marvellously." Ian Holloway, the man who signed Moore at Loftus Road, has railed against suggestions he may be fined by the Premier League for fielding a weakened team at Aston Villa on Wednesday night. Blackpool made ten changes to their line up as they face four games in a fortnight and last season Wolves were fined £250,000 for making widespread team changes for a game at Old Trafford. Holloway said: “Let some person from the Premier League even try to tell me who I can pick," said the boss, in a heated press conference at Villa Park. I am the manager of Blackpool Football Club and I select people to come to the club, and that means I can play them whenever I want.”
Championship Shorts- Things went QPR’s way on Wednesday night with Bristol City recording a shock win at third placed Swansea and Reading holding second placed Cardiff to a draw. The results leave QPR a point clear of second, and four of third, at the top of the Championship. Elsewhere Leicester and Sheffield United drew 2-2. - Derby have lost young midfielder Miles Addison for the next six weeks after he was forced to have another operation on his troublesome foot injury. Addison has just spent nine months out of action with the injury but returned to hospital this week to have surgical screws removed. - Leicester have reached an agreement with Aston Villa to keep defender Curtis Davies on loan until January. The 25-year-old, who played four times in the first month of his deal, said: “I am really enjoying my football. It is great to be playing regularly again and I am grateful to Aston Villa for allowing me to extend my deal.” - Blackburn have been linked with a January move for Cardiff’s in form striker Jay Bothroyd who is yet to sign an extension to his contract that expires at the end of the season. - Hull City have finally agreed to sell a controlling interest in the club to local Egyptian born businessman Assem Allam who has vowed to bring financial stability to the troubled former Premiership club. Allem is said to be worth in the region of £150m. - Millwall have extended the contract of Tamika Mkandawire just six months after signing him from Leyton Orient. The new deal will run through to 2013, 12 months longer than originally planned. QPR were linked with a move for the player during the summer.
Parish NoticeboardOn Thursday morning QPR had just 350 of their 2000 allocation left for this Saturday’s game at Nottingham Forest. The R’s have never won at the City Ground in 28 attempts but that hasn’t stopped Rangers fans snapping up the away allocation ahead of the game. Tickets are priced £28 adult, £20 for over 60s, £12 under 18s, £6 under 12s and £12 students. They will remain on sale at Loftus Road until noon on Friday and then returned for sale on the day. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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