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QPR Awaydays - Preston, Deepdale
QPR Awaydays - Preston, Deepdale
Wednesday, 13th May 2009 10:21

A sunny Sunday in Preston brought the curtain down on QPR's increasingly dull season last week. On the pitch Rangers were unlucky to lose to the play off chasers, but how were things in the stands?

1 – The Match
Excellent actually, surprisingly good. After the insipid display against Plymouth a week earlier and subsequent behaviour at the Player of the Year dinner I fully expected Ranger to quietly roll over and die for Preston who had recently beaten Cardiff 6-0 on this ground and needed another victory to stand a chance of making the play offs. Not so, Rangers more than played their part in an attractive game played at a relentlessly high pace and could count themselves unfortunate to end up on the losing side. Chris Sedgwick had a goal disallowed for the hosts before half time but QPR strung plenty of decent moved together themselves and should have scored when Wayne Routledge skinned his man and cut the ball back from the byline to Rowan Vine who could only turn it into the arms of the goalkeeper from close range.

In the end QPR were a victim of their own football philosophy with Preston's opening goal coming directly from a pissing about session on the edge of the QPR penalty area between Gorkss and Cerny who took it in turns to leave passes to one another short before watching stupefied as Parkin stole the ball and rolled it home from an acute angle. Simon Whaley could easily have doubled that lead in first half injury time but it was QPR who looked the more purposeful at the start of the second half and Patrick Agyemang deservedly drew the R's level with a powerful finish from Rowan Vine's through ball.

That goal, and news from Hillsborough that meant a Preston goal would seal a play off spot, seemed to reinvigorate the home team and for the final half an hour QPR faced a barrage of pressure. Neil Mellor volleyed several presentable chances into the stand, Paul McKenna hit the end of the wall with a free kick and volleyed half an inch wide from distance with Cerny beaten and then finally Sean St ledger forced the ball home from a Parkin long throw after substitute Brown beat Cerny to the initial cross. QPR didn't really have the heart for another push although the introduction of Angelo Balanta livened them up and with a pitch invasion about to commence only an acrobatic goal line clearance from Darren Carter prevented Matt Connolly opening his QPR account with a flying header from a corner in the final second.
8/10

2 – QPR Performance
Much better than I was expecting. The boys had clearly been given the freedom to express themselves and told to pass the ball out from the back and although the latter policy eventually led to the third goal it was refreshing to see a QPR team playing that way – especially in the superb new away kit, it was like watching us in the old days. Rowan Vine, Hogan Ephraim and Wayne Routledge tormented their opposite numbers in the first half but as ever we struggled for an end product and missed presentable chances that did come along. In midfield Mahon played well but Leigertwood was poor, up front with Vine Agyemang scored but missed an identical chance just before and wasn't terrific overall. At the back Gorkss had a rare below par day but Matt Connolly coped well with the physical Preston forwards. Pretty decent overall and deserved more than the defeat it got.
7/10

3 – Atmosphere
Pretty standard for the first hour. Deepdale was full but not exactly brimming with belief that the team was going to make the top six. Things quietened down still further as Burnley rattled in four goals against Bristol City to leave them relying on Cardiff for a slip up. The QPR goal seemed to puncture the mood altogether but the Preston team stepped it up as a result of conceding and at almost the same time news came through from Hillsborough that Cardiff were indeed behind. That ignited the home crowd and the home support in the final half hour was terrific, roaring their team on to victory as we did against Oldham in the play offs back in 2003.
7/10

4 – QPR support
Considering the trains were an absolute nightmare, a desperately dull season was finally over and the game kicked off at stupid o'clock hundreds of miles from home I thought the numbers QPR took north were a great credit to the club and the fans that made the journey. Singing was pretty limited although the group at the back of the stand gave it their best for an hour or so tormenting the home fans about their fading promotion prospects however once the home fans kicked into life we were sadly out numbered and drowned out. Still I'd say there was the thick end of 1000 up there, many making the most of a weekend in Blackpool, and that's a great following for a meaningless match at the end of a long and expensive season.
7/10

5 – The Ground
This was my first visit to Deepdale since the completion of the new side stand which completes the renovation and makes it a four sided stadium once again. I say completed, the top row of executive boxes are yet to be fitted, but the new stand fits in well with the rest of the ground and makes Deepdale an impressive venue both inside and out. The steep stands, close to the pitch make for excellent views for all supporters and help with the generation of atmosphere. The floodlight designs seem to be needlessly complicated but they add to the unique look and feel of the place and, particularly when approaching the ground through the surrounding side streets, it gives a very impressive look. It's a long way from the station which is a bit of a pain but with an unique paper programme retailing at just £2, a bookies and bar downstairs in the away end with Sky Sports, spacious, clean toilets and an excellent away end with cheap, well priced tickets – this is one of the best grounds we visit in the Championship and one I shall look forward to going back to.

One of the most impressive things about Deepdale and the club in general is the way they remember their former stars at every turn – there are faces of former players painted into the seats, a legends stand, a parade of ex players before the match. Having read a sad indictment of our own club from dave Thomas recently who said QPR do next to nothing for people who used to play for them we could certainly learn plenty from Preston in the way they appoint and back managers, treat former players, redevelop their ground, treat their fans, play their football and sign their players.
8/10

6 – The Journey
Although an early kick off on a Sunday meant train travel from London was impossible we could thankfully still make it from Sheffield and so at 9.10am six of us (Owain, Steve, Ellis, Phil, Joanna and myself) set off across the Pennines on the rattler all nursing varying degrees of Saturday night induced hangovers/headaches/misery. That session earlier in the weekend meant my decision at Manchester Piccadilly to purchase not only a six pack of lager, roast beef sandwich and bucket of cornflake cakes but also a packet of horrendously spicy King Prawns (for breakfast) somewhat unwise and while I had to maintain a stiff upper lip amid growing mickey taking on the train from Manchester up to Preston I could have chundered at any point. That train went through Bolton and Chroley sparking numerous Peter Kay impressions from the people around us and pitched us into Preston at half eleven – half an hour before the nearest pubs or station bar were due to open.

Going back we had our taxi, expertly hailed from some distance away by Steve, stolen by Northern Steve and Ian – I haven't forgotten lads, I'll be requesting a drink next time I see you. That set us back a bit timewise and when our second driver neglected the back streets in favour of sitting in traffic it left us with a light trot/full scale sprint down the platform at Preston to our train which had conveniently been parked so far down the station that we'd almost run to Bolton by the time we got on it.

The trains back were a little fuller than they had been on the way there thanks to East Midlands Trains continually mystifying decision to run just two carriages between Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Norwich. A lady at manchester leapt into owain's seat next to me before he could, which we didn't mind to start with being the fairer sex and all, but she then proceeded to tut, sigh and gasp exasperatedly whenever I tried to have a conversation with Steve, Phil or anybody else because she wanted to read her book. I was going to invite her to piss off out of my friend's seat to q auieter part of the train if it was bothering her that much but I decided to go to sleep instead.

We arrived back in Sheffield just before seven, the sun was still beating down and as usual at the end of the season there was a nostaligic and somewhat anti climactic feeling as I took my leave of the group and walked the three miles home up the hill.
6/10

7 - Pre Match
Like I say the early Sunday kick off and train journey plunged us into Preston a good half an hour before anything selling alcohol opened. That wasn't a bad thing for me really as I had to recover from the prawns and train beers but there was no need for the appalling, and very rude, service we received in the station bar on arrival at Preston. "I'm sorry sir, the bar is closed, it will be open at noon." Is it really that hard? Apparently so. I'd be miserable working a Sunday at Preston train station too but hey, mate, at least you've got a job and I'm your bloody customer in case you hadn't noticed. We got half an hour of drinking in before cabbing it up to the ground. Pretty poor really.
2/10

8 - Police and Stewards
Rangers have had real problems here in the past with both police and stewards. On the train before the match we were recalling last season's boring 0-0 game which sadly our mate Phil saw very little off after he was violently and needlessly ejected by the hired help for persistently standing after less than ten minutes of the game - not fifty feet away from 500 Preston fans also standing in the seating area. Thankfully this time the stewards were friendly and low profile, the police mostly absent and the game passed off without incident in the away end.
7/10
Total - 52/80

Photo: Action Images



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