QPR travelled to Coventry full of confidence after the midweek win against Preston and gave their survival chances another big boost with a 1-0 victory thanks to a second half strike from Jimmy Smith.

1- The Match
Christ I can't see either side shifting many copies of this on video. Not exactly a classic - in fact it was absolute crap. Iain Dowie had promised before the match that his Coventry side would react to the first defeat under his tenure the week before at Birmingham - there was no doubt about it he said. That turned out to be almost as much rubbish as was served on the pitch. Coventry were terrible, QPR almost as bad, but it was the visitors who had the stronger back bone to their side and more belief about themselves. In the end it was the alertness of Stefan Moore to nod the ball back into the path of Smith after his shot had been saved that set up a scrappy win. Dele Adebola missed a sitter for the home side but an equaliser never looked on the cards and QPR celebrated another valuable three points in their quest to survive.
6/10

2- Rangers' Performance
I'll be honest and say that when the team sheet was read out I all but gave up any hope of taking points from this one. The back four consisted of four centre backs, Kanyuka and Timoska both pressed into full back rolls, Cook sitting up with the away supporters with Jimmy Smith returning in midfield and Stefan Moore making a shock return to the side wide on the left. It certainly didn't have the look of a side capable of winning the game to me and yet that spine of Camp, Cullip, Bolder and Blackstock was there and that's all that seems to matter for QPR at the moment.

Those four held things firm and although the performance was fairly poor, and the game dire, it looked like it might be enough for a point. Rangers offered little in attack until Bolder tricked his way into the area, Furlong had a shot saved when he should have scored, Moore saw the rebound blocked and Smith forced it home at the third time of asking. After that the visitors held on with some degree of comfort and just about deserved their win.
6/10

3- Rangers' Support
As the going has got tough and the season has moved towards a conclusion, the QPR supporters have responded brilliantly. Almost 2000 Hooped supporters made the journey into the Midlands for this one and they comprehensively out-sung the home crowd. Once the R's had taken the lead the chorus of "we are the Rangers boys" could be heard echoing around the empty spaces at the Ricoh Arena and the celebrations with the players and supporters together at the end were fantastic. There seemed to be a real belief about the fans and the team after the fantastic Preston win in midweek - for the first time in weeks people seemed to really believe we could pull off the great escape. The Rangers fans were joined in the away end by injured winger Lee Cook wearing a worryingly feminine knitted cream scarf.
8/10

4 - The Ground
Last season I gave this place the benefit of the doubt. It was the first day, the place had been given its safety certificate just hours before we arrived, the capacity was limited by the safety certificate, the game shouldn't really have been played there - at one stage at half time they had to employ four stewards to hold the hand rail in place on the banister because it wasn't secured to the floor. The place simply wasn't finished, it wasn't ready. Or was it?

On arrival this time around it was hard to notice any difference at all. Look down and there's a bare, uneven concrete floor with random splodges of paint all over the place, look up and there's a maze of steel and shutters hanging down from the roof, few of which actually seem to serve a purpose. The bare wires, wobbly hand rails and poorly fitted plywood toilet cubicles are all still there. Below decks the place is quite frankly a disgrace - you can even see into the bloke's toilets and watch them all standing there having a piss from the stairs. I mean what kind of lazy arsed git designed this place? I thought it looked that way last time because it wasn't finished, it appears now that they intend to leave it like this.

Upstairs isn't much better. There were massive amounts of empty seats for our last visit and it was blamed on the safety certificate, this time those same seats remained empty for no reason at all. The ground is entirely sky blue and on one level around three sides - yes it's a positive that unlike Leicester and Southampton there's something a little different to look at down one side but a nice big second tier would look more impressive than a flat white wall with RICOH scrawled across it.

To cap it all off the stands have been very imaginatively named after multinational corporations. "Let's hear some noise from the Tesco stand!" Yeh right. I'm not naïve enough to think that clubs should turn down valuable sources of income by companies stupid enough to think that more people will shop in their supermarket because they sponsor the stand they sit in at the football, however wouldn't it be nice to at least give the stands a proper name? One of the bloody stands had a different name this season to last and the place has only been open 18 months. Why not name it after a great player or manager and just tag the sponsors name onto the end?

Overall it's a horrible, characterless corporate wasteland lacking atmosphere, class or any example of love or care applied to it by its designers or builders. Is it too late for them to go back to Highfield Road?

3/10

5 - Atmosphere
There was none. The away fans did their bit, and made a row but there was nothing from the home ends - a real end of season feel to the whole thing from their point of view. Last time we came here a good collection of brain dead Neanderthals just to the right of the away end who did their best to cause a bit of trouble and get on the away fans' nerves. This year their numbers had been reduced to two middle aged bald men who gestured in our direction every now and again but that was it.

Coventry were tipped by many to have an outside chance of the play offs this season and their campaign has been a disappointing one resulting in a change of manager. Iain Dowie clearly has a lot of work to do on the team over the summer, they were very poor, but the fans need to do their bit as well and turn up in August ready to back their side better than this.

In fairness the blandness and design of this ground doesn't exactly lend itself to creating a good atmosphere. It really is a soulless place.
4/10

6- Pre-Match
Pubs are pretty scarce, like everything else round this place, but The Black Horse did the job pretty well for the second season running. We parked in the field right next to the M6 and then walked back under the motorway to the pub where I wiled away time with a couple of message board regulars in the beer garden. This pub does have the live football on inside but it's quite a small place and I think it's only proved such a decent place for us over the past two seasons because both our visits have been on gloriously sunny days and we've been able to sit outside. If we all have to cram inside on a cold December day next season it might not be so handy. Minus points for the dreaded plastic glasses.

A good portion of the pre match was spent fending off the outrageous accusations that my directions to the pub were "crap". Come off the M6 and park in the field is, as far as I'm concerned, more than adequate to get anybody where they need to be at Coventry. What more do these people want?
8/10

7- The Journey
Easy and dull. With Coventry's "green travel plan" built around a stadium three miles away from the nearest train station, and no trains running into Coventry on the day we play there for the second season running we were faced with no option but to drive. The trip down from Sheffield was quick and uneventful, parking in said field was cheap and secure although again I wonder how easy this day would be if we had to come in the rain what with all these beer gardens and muddy fields to park in.

On the way back we were treated to a ten minute dose of Paul, Northern Steve and Ian in the back of the car after we foolishly offered them a lift back to Hinckley. Hopefully 'Kiwi' or 'Keith' (they really struggled to remember which) the German Shepherd made it through the night although the group seemed to have big plans for it.
7/10

8- Police/Stewards
Last season the stewards were in your face and objectionable, this season they were barely noticed and that is to their credit. Lots and lots of police officers outside afterwards but, unlike last time, no real sign of any trouble - wouldn't like to be the one footing Coventry's police bill with the overkill on display here.
7/10

Total- 49/80

Photo: Action Images

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