Jay Simpson’s sixth goal in eight starts for QPR at Derby on Saturday earned him a place in the division’s team of the week.

Simpson has been in scintillating form at Loftus Road since arriving on loan from Arsenal at the end of the transfer window. His sixth goal in QPR colours put the R’s ahead for the first time in the game on Saturday and his arrival in W12 has coincided with a sudden burst of goals and form from the entire team. The side was otherwise dominated by players from Watford, Blackpool and Preston despite two of those teams drawing their games this weekend.

Full Team: Gilks (Blackpool), Jones (Preston), Mariappa (Watford), Seip (Blackpool), Crainey (Blackpool), Parry (Preston), Nolan (Newcastle), Lansbury (Watford), Whittingham (Cardiff), Simpson (QPR), Henderson (Sheff Utd)

Elsewhere at the club today former player and current youth team coach Marc Bircham has been talking about his decision to ban the YT’s at Loftus Road fronm wearing colourful boots. Bircham told Extra Footie: “It has been proven that if a winger wears coloured football boots it is easier for a full-back to pick them up than if they are wearing black boots. That’s not why we banned them. We just don’t want the players getting too flash.

“The players have to do jobs like clean the senior pros’ boots - things that I had to do when I started as a youth player here, back in 1994. Academies have stopped doing that sort of thing, but we think it gives players a sense of discipline. We have some old-school ideas – like punishments for lateness and insisting they do jobs like cleaning – backed up with state of the art coaching techniques.”

Looking back to Saturday’s game at Derby, Rams manager Nigel Clough was bemoaning goals either side of half time when he belatedly spoke to the media on Monday morning.

Clough told the Derby Evening Telegraph: “Having gone 2-0 up, whether we deserved to or not, we did not look after the lead well enough. There were two crucial moments. First, conceding before half-time and, secondly, conceding again in the 47th-minute. You want to get in at half-time at 2-0 and then it gives you a fighting chance. Then you look to keep it tight for ten minutes second half and see what happens from there but we couldn't do either of those things.

“We are disappointed with the way we conceded the goals. On the free kick, first of all we shouldn't be giving away free kicks in that position and then the ball should not go round the wall at the height it did and find the net but we were more disappointed with the second goal. Dean Moxey has been done at the far post but then we are looking for the two centre-halves to react and they were sleeping.

"We actually thought the third one was a foul on the edge of the box, whether it was is probably academic but a little break there and maybe we could have hung on at 2-2," said Clough. If you look at the two penalties we have conceded in the last two games and the two we had turned down at Leicester, little things like that have gone against us. The referee did not give the penalty and the linesman, from possibly a worse angle, did. If he wants to get involved that much, he should flag for a foul on the third goal. But I thought QPR played extremely well. You saw a side full of confidence. They have scored four goals in each of their last three matches and everybody wanted the ball. I thought that was the major difference between the two teams. We gave the ball away too much first half. The full-backs gave it away and didn't get us going, and the ball was not being held well enough up front.”

Goalscorer Adel Taarabt also pointed to the timing of QPR’s first two goals as being crucial in obtaining the win when he spoke to the club’s official website. Taarabt said: “It was a difficult match. At 2-0 down, we were staring defeat in the face, but the free-kick just before half-time was crucial. The timing of it, just before the break, gave us a huge boost. Had that not gone in, it might have been a different game. We knew we had 45 minutes to win the game and we did it. Every game in this division is tough but we are a confident side and if we can keep this run going we will be in the picture at the end of the season.”

Skipper and LFW man of the match Gavin Mahon said he was delighted with his goal, and the win, and called on the team to focus and continue the good run with two home games to come this weekend. Mahon said: “Teams will look at that performance and think this QPR team is the real deal.' The gaffer has made it clear that the hard work is still very much ahead of us and we're experienced enough to know that is very much the case. Of course we're enjoying the run we're on at the moment, but nothing is rubber-stamped at this time of the year, so we're all very much focused on what's ahead.”

In former QPR news two of our more recent managers Paulo Sousa and Ian Holloway fell out following a goalless draw between their Swansea and Blackpool sides in South Wales at the weekend. Sousa, who was abused by a Swans supporter during the game, objected to Ian Holloway’s comments about his QPR side during a televised match with Ipswich last season and felt that referee Andy Hall (oh yeh, him again) missed a blatant penalty for his side in Saturday’s game.

Elsewhere in the Championship today Gordon Strachan has been confirmed as the new manager of Middlesbrough succeeding Gareth Southgate who was sacked last week. Strachan, most recently with Celtic, praised the club’s stability and said the fact that chairman Steve Gibson is renowned for giving his managers time to build a side was a key factor in his decision to drop down into the Championship. Boro drew 2-2 at Preston on Saturday under the caretaker guidance of Colin Cooper.

In the Monday night game Reading slipped deeper into trouble as Leicester leapfrogged QPR into the play off zone with a 1-0 win at the Madejski Stadium. Rangers have a chance to go back into the top six when they meet the Foxes live on Sky this Friday evening.

Photo: Action Images

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