Neil Warnock was pleased with the spirit shown by his side at Ashton Gate on Friday night as the R’s fought back from a goal down to take a point from the top v bottom clash.
Warnock told the club’s official website: “I think a lot of teams would have probably thought 'this is not going to be our night' - but we're not like that. We went a bit gung-ho in the second half, you do when you're a goal down. We come into games thinking we can win every one, not that we can't be beaten. Defenders look after themselves in games like that. I thought today was a team performance. Bristol City will make it difficult for a few teams now they've got their act together. I sometimes think the games against teams at the bottom are the more difficult ones.”
Warnock’s performance at Loftus Road so far this season has drawn praise from his former Sheff Utd charge Phil Jagielka. He told Sky Sports: “He’s doing a fantastic job. The gaffer’s well known for doing things on a shoestring budget and obviously that was the case at Crystal Palace. He’s moved to richer pastures at QPR and he’s bought some fantastic players for the Championship. You look at the bench they had on Friday night and it was amazing, really. I’m sure he’s enjoying being there and being able to spend. He’s a great guy who did a lot for my career. He gave me my chance and I’ll forever be thankful for that. He’s a character to say the least.”
Bradley Orr told the Bristol City website he was disappointed to only be on the bench for his first return to the club he left in the summer, but fully understands his position in the pecking order with Kyle Walker impressing at right back. Orr said: “It was strange coming back and walking into the away dressing room. It would have been nice to have got out on to the pitch but I understand how football works. It wasn't to be but I'm sure I'll have another chance to run out at Ashton Gate in the future. I was treated really well by all the fans and staff. I'd love Bristol City to do well and wish them all the best in the future."
Paddy Kenny’s three fine saves in the draw at Ashton Gate earned him a place in the division’s team of the week. Our opponents Bristol City had centre half Steven Caulker selected for his commanding display in his team’s backs to the wall effort.
Team of the Week: Paddy Kenny (QPR), Cliff Byrne (Scunthorpe), Steven Caulker (Bristol City) Gary Monk (Swansea), Chris Gunter (Forest), James Coppinger (Doncaster), Lewis McGugan (Forest), Owen Garvan (Palace), Martyn Woolford (Scunthorpe), Steve Morison (Millwall), Jon Parkin (Preston)
No surprise to find Adel Taarabt’s name missing from that list after his worst performance of the season so far on Friday. Taarabt seemed determined to stand out in the televised fixture and his greed and selfishness hampered the team throughout his 70 minutes on the field. Taarabt’s poor free kick after a quarter of an hour actually led directly to Bristol City’s goal. It’s this wild inconsistency that keeps Taarabt at QPR rather than a Premiership side but his attitude does seem to be bubbling to the surface again, and as well as underperforming at Ashton Gate he has threatened to stop playing international football for Morocco after a row with the coach.
Taarabt told Le Martin: “This season I think I’m going to stop playing for the national team. I want to concentrate on my club because the national team hasn’t respected me and since I don’t want to hut it then I’m just going to pull back and let other youngster take my place. The fact that I was called up and didn’t play doesn’t sit well with me at all and since I have a personality that makes me want to always play and now I’m not playing, I’m going to step back. Last time, I travelled for 22 hours by plane and in the end I didn’t play and nobody explained why. I took this decision with my family. I don’t want to respond favourably to the FRMF call-up to face Northern Ireland on the 17th of November."
Finally Ipswich manager Roy Keane has bemoaned his club’s failure to sign Shaun Derry from Crystal Palace in the summer. Derry spoke with Ipswich before signing for QPR and he has been one of the season’s surprise packages at Loftus Road. Keane said: “He was here, we wanted to sign him, he wanted to sign, but we never did the deal. They are the type of players that I think you need to try and get out of this league, even though our younger players are doing well. The John Eustaces, the Lee Carsleys, you need them. I’m not surprised when I see where QPR are with people like Shaun Derry in their team. He knows I’m a fan of his anyway. I had a good chat with him in the summer and I was disappointed we didn’t get the deal done. He’s knows the Championship very well, he knows the game.”
Manager Neil Warnock has played down suggestions that he is about to move for Arsenal’s FA Youth Cup winning captain Jay Emmanuel Thomas. The Gunners’ utility player was linked with Loftus Road by a host of newspapers last week, with some even suggesting he would be signed in time for Friday night’s game in Bristol, but Warnock told the Ealing Gazette today he is happy with his squad and not looking for temporary additions.
Warnock said: “Is a loan signing in the offing? Not that I'm aware of. I read who I'm supposed to be signing and he was supposed to be playing on Friday wasn't he? I've not made any inquiries and I'm quite happy with what I've got.”
Despite this The Mirror has once again reported that Rangers are on the brink of signing Cypriot midfielder Giorgos Tofas on a free transfer. Tofas has apparently been trialling at Loftus Road this season.
Lee Brown scored the first senior goals of his professional career as Hayes and Yeading won through to the FA Cup First Round proper with a 3-1 success at Poole Town. The result was expected, with Poole four divisions below Hayes, but it needed left back Brown to score twice to make passage to the next round safe. Brown headed the first midway through the first half and then finished the game off with a penalty in stoppage time at the end of the match. Hayes and Yeading will face league side Wycombe, Gareth Ainsworth and all, at home in one of the ties of the first round on November 6.
There was not such good news for Josh Parker as Northampton Town cut his loan move short a week early. Parker had been due to stay at the Sixfields Stadium for a further week but the Cobblers’ camp is not a happy one at the moment and after not being selected for the weekend game at Oxford United Parker asked to return to Loftus Road. The 3-1 defeat at the Kassam Stadium leaves Northampton second bottom of the entire Football League.
Manager Ian Sampson told the club’s official website: “Josh has gone back a week early. He was not happy when we told him he would not be in the starting 11 for the game at Oxford at the weekend. He asked to go back and we agreed that was the best course of action."
Rowan Vine completed another 90 minutes without scoring for Hull City on Saturday as they lost 2-1 at home to Portsmouth – their second home defeat in four days. It’s now 23 appearances and counting over the course of more than a year since his last goal in the 4-1 home victory against Reading last October.
Joe Oastler and Ramone Rose both started for Torquay at the weekend as they drew 1-1 at Gillingham in League Two. The Gulls started the season well but have not won in their last nine matches now and have slipped to 13th in the table. They needed a last minute equaliser from Kevin Nicholson to salvage a point at the Priestfield – by that stage Rose had been substituted but Oastler completed a full 90 minutes.
Youth teamer Danny Fitzsimons has returned from his loan at Histon early after picking up an ankle injury.
Danny Shittu impressed on his Millwall debut on Saturday as the Lions finally got a victory under their belts – beating in form Derby 2-0 at The Den. Shittu pulled up with cramp in the second half betraying a lack of fitness after four months out of the game but still impressed with a typical all action centre half display.
Manager Kenny Jackett told the South London News Shopper: “At centre-half, he has the ability to go one-on-one and come out on top. If you’re going to attack and play along the line, your defenders have got to be able to handle one-on-one otherwise it limits your selection as a manager. He has that ability and he brought that to the game. He had cramp in both legs and he's had a few weeks off with internationals. His fitness will improve with the more training he does. He did, I thought, have an impressive debut for us.”
Shittu’s former QPR team mate Kevin Gallen is back in the Football League after an 18 month absence. Gallen has signed a loan deal with lowly League Two outfit Barnet from Conference side Luton Town. Barnet currently sit third bottom of the Football League, just two points away from Northampton in the final relegation spot, but did win 1-0 on Saturday at home to fellow strugglers Macclesfield – Gallen appeared for the last 25 minutes as a substitute.
Damien Delaney made his long awaited comeback from the compartment syndrome that almost cost him his leg in the summer with a 90 minute run out for Ipswich in a 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Delaney contracted the freak injury after a training ground incident last season and told the Green ‘Un that it has been a long struggle to get back to fitness.
Delaney said: “In the early stages, just walking to the toilet or going to the kitchen to get something to eat, I couldn’t do it. I was knackered, I was out of breath and I was light-headed. Just making a cup of tea, I’d need an hour’s sleep after it. You’re expected to come back and play at the level that the other lads are at, and yet I couldn’t even string two training sessions together.
“It was scary. People were going on about amputation, but I think that was a long way off. But there was a massive threat of having to have part of my thigh muscle cut out. That was very realistic, which would have meant the end of my career. I had messages from people who had a similar injury to mine, and they were horror stories. I had a letter off a sports player whom it took three hospitals and nine hours to diagnose the exact same thing. She lost 90% of her thigh muscle.”
Finally former youth team defender Ed Harris was on the scoresheet at the weekend for the first time in his senior career – his goal enough to seal a 1-0 win for AFC Wimbledon at Basingstoke in the FA Cup. The Dons will face Ebbsfleet at home in the first round proper – other ties that catch the eye include Sheff Wed away at Southport, Charlton at Barnet, FC United of Manchester at Rochdale and Luton at Corby Town.
- Cardiff moved level on points with QPR at the top of the table on Monday night after a comprehensive 4-0 demolition of Leeds at Elland Road. Jay Bothroyd (two), Lee Naylor and Michael Chopra got the goals to move the Bluebirds onto 29 points – but they still trail Rangers by seven goals so will have to make do with second until Saturday at least. Their next two games are at home to Norwich and Swansea who QPR faced in a similar double header last week drawing 0-0 in both games. Leeds, with Alex Bruce particularly culpable as always at centre half, have now conceded 15 goals in their last five matches.
- A weekend of brinkmanship from Portsmouth’s administrators seems to have paid off. After declaring the club was about to close on Friday the club was suddenly sold to Balram Chainrai, Levi Kushnir and Deepak Chainrai on Monday and exited administration. The debate about whether supporters’ emotions should be toyed with like this for a favourable end result is second in my mind to the question of why Portsmouth have been allowed to add Dave Kitson, Liam Lawrence and others to their squad on hefty weekly wages while in administration without incurring the transfer embargo or points deduction that the likes of Leeds, Luton, Southampton and others have been subject to I recent years.
- Doncaster’s record signing Billy Sharp faces six weeks on the sidelines after tearing his hamstring in the weekend win against Sheffield United. Sharp scored the second goal in a 2-0 victory and celebrated by revealing an under shirt with the slogan “just a fat lad from Sheffield” but his joy was shortlived.
- Iain Hume says he wants to stay at Preston rather than return to Barnsley when his current loan deal expires. Hume, two goals in six starts for North End, said: “"I am contracted to Barnsley until the end of the season and if they insist that I go back it is what I must do. I am hoping, however, that the two clubs can come to an arrangement."
- Derby are close to agreeing a deal to extend the loan of striker Luke Moore from West Brom. Moore - one goal, two starts and four sub appearances so far – was due to return to the Hawthorns today. Nigel Clough said: “We're very close to extending it. He hasn't played much but we're delighted with him."