QPR's bid for survival really kicked into gear at Leicester's Walkers Stadium. Marc Nygaard's blinding second goal was the highlight on the pitch, Jawad looks at how things went off it.

1- The Match
The first half was dreadful. It was arguably the worst half of football I've seen. Leicester started the brighter of the two teams and defensively we looked all at sea. Going forward we were pretty dire too and our only chance came right on half time when Nygaard somehow managed to miss from eight yards out. The second half wasn't much better, with our two early goals killing Leicester off and the game was virtually over as a contest. Nygaard's 2nd goal was a goal fitting for a game of much higher quality, shame it had to come in such a dire match. Leicester scored a meaningless consolation goal in injury time to make the score a bit more respectable. Well, I say it was a meaningless goal…..My friend, Doug, had put a £5 bet on Idiakez to score first and QPR to win 3-0. God knows where he pulled that one out from. Anyway, Leicester's injury time penalty (which replays show should never have been awarded in the first place) cost him about £1200! He was the only QPR fan to leave the Walkers a bit depressed! A pretty forgettable match for a neutral, but come the end of the season, it could prove to be the most important in our season.
6/10

2- Rangers' Performance
As I've mentioned already, our first half performance was pretty poor. Even Lee Cook was having a mare. The team pretty much picked itself, with Blackstock and Rowlands ruled out due to injury. Camp had an outstanding match in goal, and showed why he is so highly rated. If we do stay up, we must do all we can to sign him. He pulled off 2 or 3 outstanding saves at crucial times in the match. As much as I like Simon Royce, Camp is different class. We improved defensively in the second half, and Cullip is starting to have a real impact on the team. The much maligned Marc Nygaard was quiet in the first half, but came out a different player in the second half. I feel sorry for him, as I think he gets a lot of unfair stick from the supporters. You can never question his work-rate and commitment to the team, and for this reason, I find it hard to understand the supporters who do boo him. He proved to be the difference between the two teams, scoring two and setting up one. His restrained celebrations at the full time whistle were fully understandable. Overall, a performance that lacked quality at times, but the effort and commitment more than made up for this. A few more spirited performances like our second half one here and we'll be sure to stay up….I hope!
6.5/10

3- Rangers' Support
The Rangers support was again impressive, with the official number being quoted as 1,225. We were in good voice from start to finish, and it seemed that everyone was fully behind the team. Once we scored the first goal, the volume was raised a couple of notches. The away support has been pretty impressive all season considering our dire away form. I think the fans have, especially in recent weeks, appreciated the effort that the players have put in, even if the results haven't been good. The victory at Leicester was a reward for those supporters who have travelled to midweek matches at Leeds, Barnsley and Southend in recent months and had long, unhappy journeys back! I've not managed to make quite a few of the recent away matches, but those that have definitely deserve a lot of credit!
8/10

4 - The Ground
Now I can't make my mind up about the Walkers Stadium. I've spoken to those who think it is very impressive, but others I've spoken to aren't so complimentary. My feeling is it is too similar to many others around. From the outside it looks good enough, everything neat and tidy, plenty of space around the ground for car parks etc. However, once inside the away concourse area is a bit dark and dingy. The stadium is one tiered all the way around and I find it a little bit boring. There will be those who would love QPR to have a ground like this, but personally I'd prefer something a bit different and more personal.
7/10

5 - Atmosphere
The atmosphere in the ground wasn't too bad. The 14 and 15 year old Leicester fans that sit either side of the away supporters do enjoy a bit of banter, and were full of the expected 'going down' chants. However, these chants were soon rammed down their throats. Once Marc Nygaard's third goal hit the back of the net, quite a few of them left, even though there was a good 25 minutes left! What loyal supporters. These chants of 'going down' might just come back to haunt them! The rest of the Leicester fans were extremely quiet, and maybe in their eyes they believed their season to be over and were in a relaxed kind of mood. Writing this a couple of weeks after the match, they have been dragged into the relegation dogfight with us, so maybe they aren't quite as relaxed now.
7/10

6- Pre-Match
Like so many of these new grounds, there isn't a huge deal to do around the ground pre-match, unless you want a bit of a walk in to the town centre. There was some pre-match 'entertainment' around the ground, provided by Walkers, all to do with their participation in Comic Relief. There was a bucking Bronco, face painting and bits and bobs like that but I can't really criticise it too much seeing as it was for a good cause! Dare I say, that outside the ground there was a bit of a relaxed, party atmosphere amongst the Leicester fans- maybe they thought that their season was over. However, if this was the case, recent results have somewhat changed that idea. We went straight into the ground and watched some of the Manchester United vs Bolton match, so a pretty uneventful pre-match from my point of view.
5/10

7- The Journey
The journey to Leicester was plain sailing. Instead of going up on the M1, we went on the M40 and cut across at junction 15. The only traffic we encountered was in and around the town centre, which was probably heavier than usual as the Leicester rugby team were playing at home as well. We managed to find some street parking close to the ground, but with all the space they have in and around the ground, surely they could have built a car park for away supporters!? Getting away from the ground last season was a bit of a nightmare and it was no different this season. Once out of the town centre we got back home in no time.

8/10

8- Police/Stewards
In Loftus Road on match days you there are usually very few police officers on duty inside the ground. You occasionally see them in amongst the away fans, but only when the likes of Stoke and Cardiff visit. With this in mind, the number of police on duty inside the Walkers Stadium for this match was staggering. In the first half, to the left of the away supporters there was a line of over 30 police officers in their full gear and about another 15 or so to our right. There was a tiny bit of aggro last year when a minority of Leicester fans started singing about the London Bombings, but surely not enough to warrant this number of officers on duty inside the ground. The Leicester fans that sit either side of the away supporters do like a bit of banter, but most of them are probably taking their GCSE's this summer and aren't old enough to smoke, let alone cause a lot of trouble. It just seemed a bit of an over-reaction on Leicester's behalf. Their police bill for this match would have been interesting! The stewards in the ground were ok and seemed friendly enough, but points lost for a definite over the top police presence.
5/10

Total- 52.5/80

Photo: Action Images

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