Pizanti’s FA Cup rocket, and QPR’s worst ever transfer - History Thursday, 8th Jan 2026 16:00 by Clive Whittingham QPR are three for three against West Ham in FA Cup ties, and ahead of Sunday’s big trip across London we look back to a chaotic fourth round tie from 1988, and how the Hammers came to steal one of the heroes of a 1995 cup win for an absolute song. Memorable MatchQPR 3 West Ham 1, FA Cup Fourth Round, Saturday January 30, 1988 In 1988 QPR and West Ham were drawn against each other in an all-First Division clash in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Jim Smith’s QPR side had won comfortably at Yeovil in round three, two goals from Mark Falco and one from Kevin Brock sealing a 3-0 win against the non-leaguers, while West Ham had beaten near neighbours Charlton at home. The Hammers lost 3-0 to QPR at Upton Park on the opening day of that season but had got their revenge with a 1-0 success at Loftus Road in the return fixture just a fortnight before this match. The stakes were high, and the knockout tie attracted huge interest on both sides of the capital. So much so in fact that the clubs decided to make it all ticket. Depending on who you believe QPR then either oversold the away end, or West Ham fans laid their hands on a bunch of forgeries, but however it came about it resulted in a farcical situation during the first half where Wet Ham fans spilled out onto the plastic pitch and had to be shuffled around the ground into any available space before play could restart. The match, played in front of an official attendance of 23,651, was delayed by an hour while order was restored and large amounts of police horse manure had to be cleared from the artificial playing surface. To begin with QPR had the better of the play. In the twelfth minute a long throw, flicked on at the near post in a similar style to Terry Fenwick’s equaliser in the 1982 cup final, gave Martin Allen a chance to arrive late and head for goal but he could only direct the ball over the bar and into the dangerously overfilled terrace in the lower School End. Minutes later a deep cross from Fereday picked out Alan McDonald at the far post, still up from a previous corner, but his angled header dropped just wide of the far post. But there was already clearly a problem behind the goal at this stage, with the action being played out against a backdrop of West Ham fans swarming onto the side of the pitch behind the goal. Despite the 1980s being known for football hooliganism the atmosphere seemed remarkably good natured as West Ham fans started to spread out around the pitch and sit down cross legged with their backs to the advertising hoardings. As polite chaos ensued police horses were brought onto the pitch to try and help the situation and it was a good hour before play could restart again. With space found in various parts of the ground for the overspill Rangers picked up where they’d left off, going close to beating Tom McAllister in the West Ham goal when Falco got on the end of McDonald’s downward header and hooked wide of the target. That technique of getting McDonald free at the back post for set pieces almost paid dividends again as darkness fell when he nodded Brock’s cross back into the goal mouth and Gavin Maguire headed over. Rangers hadn’t made their domination pay, but they then took the lead in spectacular fashion within four minutes of the start of the second half. Full back David Pizanti, starting for the first time all season in the absence of Mark Dennis and Warren Neill, carried the ball down the left flank and when faced with little other option decided to let rip with a shot from fully thirty yards out wide on the flank that flew like a guided missile right into the stanchion in the top corner of the net. Still, to this day, one of the great QPR goals. The travelling thousands didn’t have to wait long to get back on terms though. Their second corner of the game was nodded down by Tony Gale and the near post and a young Tony Cottee was on hand from typically close range to turn in an equaliser. Rangers retook the lead with another long range strike, this time striker Gary Bannister turning on the edge of the box after good build up from Dawes and Brock and catching McAllister out with an early shot that the keeper should perhaps still have done better with. Forced to chase the game West Ham left themselves vulnerable at the back and when Bannister played Allen into the right channel they switched off, perhaps believing the midfielder was sure to cross from so tight to the byline. Instead Allen cut back onto his left foot, ran back to the corner of the six yard box and then thumped the decisive third goal into the roof of the net at the Loft End. There was still time for Brady to curl a long-range free kick goalwards, but Nicky Johns, deputising for David Seaman, saved comfortably in the top corner. QPR: Johns, Dawes, Pizanti, Parker, McDonald, Maguire, M Allen, Fereday (Byrne), Brock, Falco, Bannister Classic encountersLFW regular and AKUTR’s columnist Dave Barton has set up a QPR Memories YouTube channel, with a mixture of clips, classic games, and old highlights packages. His three recent meetings at West Ham are embedded below, give him a subscribe on YouTube or follow @QPR_Memories on Twitter. Recent MeetingsQPR 0 West Ham 0, Saturday April 25, 2015, Premier League A surprise 4-1 win at West Brom and 3-3 draw at Aston Villa had given QPR a chance of Premier League survival under caretaker manager Chris Ramsey, but with a heartbreaking late home defeat to Chelsea and games away at Liverpool and Man City to come they really needed to beat a poor West Ham side with nothing to play for at home and take the chance to move out of the bottom three for the first time in 2015. Unfortunately a drab game was defined by Charlie Austin’s penalty miss and the 0-0 all but sealed Rangers’ fate with the subsequent games at Anfield and City predictably one-sided defeats. QPR: Green 6; Onuoha 6, Dunne 5, Caulker 6, Hill 6 (Yun 64, 6); Phillips 6, Barton 6, Sandro 6, Henry 6; Austin 5, Zamora 5 (Fer 67, 5) Subs not used: Kranjcar, McCarthy, Taarabt, Isla, Wright-Phillips Bookings: Austin 76 (foul) West Ham: Adrian 8; Jenkinson 6, Collins 5, Burke 6, Cresswell 7; Jarvis 5 (Cole 55, 5), Nolan 4, Kouyate 5, Noble 6, Downing 6; Valencia 6 Subs not used: Carvalho, O’Brien, Amalfitano, Poyet, Jääskeläinen, Oxford
West Ham 2 QPR 0, Sunday October 4, 2014, Premier League QPR turned in one of their worst performances of the season at Upton Park back in October. Live on Sky on a Sunday afternoon, they fell behind after just four minutes when Nedum Onuoha inadvertently diverted a Stuart Downing corner into his own net — Enner Valencia had glanced it into his path with a hand but only Robert Green appealed. Rio Ferdinand’s horrendous early season form reached a nadir here, and his attempts to stop centre half James Tomkins hooking a ball back across the face of the QPR goal after half time for Diafra Sakho to tap in had to be seen to be believed. Rangers, with manager Harry Redknapp motionless on the bench throughout, barely managed a shot in anger. West Ham: Adrian 6; Jenkinson 6, Tomkins 7, Reid 7, Cresswell 7; Song 8, Zárate 7 (Nolan 76, 6), Amalfitano 6; Downing 8; Valencia 7 (Jarvis 85, -) Sakho 8 Subs not used: Jääskeläinen, Poyet, Cole, Burke, Lee Goals: Onuoha own goal 4 (assisted Downing), Sakho 59 (assisted Tomkins) Bookings: Tomkins 48 (foul), Cresswell 82 (foul) QPR: Green 5; Onuoha 5, Caulker 6, Ferdinand 4, Traore 5; Henry 5, Sandro 4 (Taarabt 67, 6); Hoilett 4 (Zamora 46, 6), Fer 5, Kranjcar 6 (Mutch 78, 5); Austin 5 Subs not used: McCarthy, Isla, Dunne, Vargas Bookings: Sandro 13 (foul), Henry 88 (foul)
West Ham 1 QPR 1, Saturday January 19, 2013, Premier League Loic Remy scored on his QPR debut but Rangers were indebted to a fabulous performance from goalkeeper Julio Cesar for preserving a point on their visit to Upton Park in January 2013. The R's were deep in the relegation mire, and would eventually slip into the Championship, but the £8m capture of Remy had raised spirits and the Frenchman raced onto a fine pass from Adel Taarabt to slam in the opening goal after a quarter of an hour. Joe Cole equalised in the second half, having spurned QPR's attempts to buy him and gone to West Ham instead just the week before, but the real headline maker was Cesar who made a string of unlikely saves to keep the home side at bay. West Ham: Jaaskelainen 6, Demel 6, Reid 7, Tomkins 6, O’Brien 6, Noble 7, Diame 7, Nolan 8 (Vaz Te, 88 -), Jarvis 7, Cole 7, Chamakh 6 (Cole 62, 6) Subs not used: Spiegel, Potts, Collison, Taylor , Diarra Goals: J Cole 68 (assisted Jarvis/C Cole) Bookings: Tomkins 72 (foul) QPR: Cesar 9, Onuoha 6, Hill 7, Nelsen 7, Da Silva 7, Derry 6, Mbia 7, Mackie 5 (Bothroyd 67, 5), Wright-Phillips 5 (Traore 58, 6), Taarabt 7 (Park 82, -), Remy 6 Subs not used: Green, Ferdinand, Faurlin, Hoilett Goals: Remy 14 (assisted Taarabt)
QPR 1 West Ham 2, Monday October 1, 2012, Premier League
Subs not used: T McClenahan, R Brevett, J Walker
Previous ResultsHead to Head >>> West Ham wins 22 >>> Draws 20 >>> QPR wins 19 2014/15 QPR 0 West Ham 0 2014/15 West Ham 2 QPR 0 2012/13 West Ham 1 QPR 1 (Remy)
ConnectionsTrevor Sinclair >>> West Ham 1998-2003 >>> QPR 1993-1998 As you’ll see when we get to the ‘Others’ shortly, these two clubs are not short of player connections over the last 40 years, but the talent has been flowing pretty much one way right back to the days of Phil Parkes and Paul Goddard heading East. That was never more the case than with Trevor Sinclair, scorer of perhaps QPR’s greatest ever goal but also the subject of the club’s most catastrophically bad transfers. Sinclair, initially, was the Richard Thompson model working at Loftus Road. The club had signed Andy Sinton for low six figures from Brentford, turned him into an England international winger, and sold for a large profit to Sheff Wed. Gerry Francis and the club’s recruitment team already had the next cab off the rank in the form of Sinclair, then a promising dreadlocked winger who’d become Blackpool’s youngest ever player at 16. A few of the Northern R’s had seen him playing against Scunthorpe in a Wembley play-off final and were delighted when it turned out it was us who’d won the race to sign him for £600k. Given his young age and step up in levels you’d expect a settling in period but not a bit of it. Sinclair was Premier League ready. Starring in an August 4-0 win against West Ham at Upton park, and bagging his first goal for Rangers that midweek at home to Sheff Utd. Rangers had an electric autumn in which they won ten of 14 league and cup games, losing only two, to help set the early Premier League pace. Although things, typically, fell away after Christmas, and at one point the club dissolved into anger and protest over the sale of Darren Peacock to Newcastle, there were notable wins to finish the campaign at home to Everton and away to Spurs at White Hart Lane on the final day when Sinclair scored twice. Already an England Under 21 international at this stage, Sinclair continued to grow into an established top flight threat in 1994/95/ He scored on opening night at Loftus Road as Sheff Wed lost 3-2, Kevin Gallen’s first for the club sealing the deal, and his diving header from David Bardsley’s cross in a 2-1 home victory against Liverpool was top class. Sadly behind the scenes politics saw Gerry Francis depart after that win but Sinclair was then a key member of a Ray Wilkins side which finished top half and made an FA Cup quarter final at Old Trafford – Wilkins’ decision to bench Sinclair and double up with Rufus Brevett and Clive Wilson against Andrei Kanchelskis proved to be an error. Rangers had again beaten the Hammers in the cup at Loftus Road as part of that run. Little personal aside… Sinclair was not selected for an FA Cup Third Round tie at home to Aylesbury for which I was mascot, and he was charged with looking after us and showing us around the dressing rooms pre-game. He’d noted from the programme that I’d listed him as my ‘favourite player’ and in the kit room said that although he couldn’t give me his shirt, as he wasn’t in the line up, I could have one of Les’ instead. Come ten minutes to kick off the teams are lining up in the tunnel and a very angry, very topless Les Ferdinand is rampaging around wanting to know who’s had his shirt away (by now very safely stored away in my Thunderbirds backpack upstairs). I had to very delicately raise my hand as a ten-year-old in front of the QPR team of 1994/95 and say that I thought I, perhaps, knew where it was. Sinclair found this hilarious. Alan McDonald did not. Of course, Les was to be sold that summer, and predictably relegation followed in 1995/96 as the team fell apart with the likes of Clive Wilson released and David Bardsley injured. A disastrous summer transfer intake with the money received sealed Rangers’ fate. Sinclair was the best player in that team be an embarrassing margin, in the end seconded as an auxiliary striker through the back half of the campaign. A goal in a 3-1 win at Leeds a rare highlight. Regularly linked with moves to Arsenal and others, it was remarkable that Sinclair ended up staying with QPR for a 1996/97 First Division season which included his memorable bicycle kick at home to Barnsley in the FA Cup. He was still here a season later too, as the club started to descend into the financial mire under Chris Wright and plummet down even the First Division under first Stuart Houston and then Ray Harford, who’d infamously promised Wright a promotion if given a chance to manage a team with a forward line of Gallen, Sheron, Spencer and Sinclair (to be fair to him, that was ridiculous at that level). Sinclair’s agitations for a move saw his name booed by the crowd before a home game against Man City, and he responded by lobbing the goalkeeper from 50 yards. With the financial collapse in full swing QPR then made the unfathomable decision to let a winger who they’d been knocking back £8m bids for not so long ago move across town to West Ham for a basic fee of about £2.3m plus a job lot of ageing, creaking Hammers who would go on to be remembered as some of Rangers’ worst players from a bleak time in our history - Keith Rowland and Iain Dowie, soon to be chased around the North Circular by Tim Breacker and Ludek Miklosko. West Ham had Andy Impey from the other side of that team, and soon Rufus Brevett as well. Fume. As Rangers collapsed into administration and the Second Division, West Ham played European football and Sinclair started on the flank for England at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. He enjoyed a stellar top flight career with the Hammers and later Man City. He retired after a spell at Cardiff and has worked as a pundit on television and radio since, though that work has rather subsided since comments made in the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Others >>> Harrison Ashby, QPR (loan) 2024-2025, West Ham 2020-2023 >>> Jordan Hugill, West Ham 2018-2020, QPR (loan) 2019-2020 >>> Ravel Morrison, QPR (loan) 2017, (loan) 2014, West Ham 2012-2015 >>> Robert Green, QPR 2012-2016, West Ham 2006-2012 >>> Paul Konchesky, QPR 2015-2016, West Ham 2005-2007 >>> Mauro Zarate, West Ham 2014-2016, QPR (loan) 2015 >>> Bobby Zamora, QPR 2012-2015, West Ham 2004-2008 >>> Harry Redknapp, QPR (manager) 2012-2015, West Ham (manager) 1994-2001, 1965-1972 >>> Mobido Maiga, West Ham 2012-2015, QPR (loan) 2014 >>> Rio Ferdinand, QPR 2014-2015, West Ham 1992-2000 >>> Hogan Ephraim, QPR 2007-2014, West Ham 2004-2008 >>> Gary O’Neil, QPR 2013-2014, West Ham 2011-2013 >>> Yossi Benayoun, QPR 2013-2014, West Ham 2007-2010 >>> Kieron Dyer, QPR 2011-2013, West Ham 2007-2011 >>> Anton Ferdinand, QPR 2011-2013, West Ham 2003-2008 >>> Tal Ben Haim, QPR 2013, West Ham (loan) 2010-2011 >>> Danny Gabbidon, QPR 2011-2012, West Ham 2005-2011 >>> Nigel Quashie, QPR 2010, 1995-1998, West Ham 2007-2010 >>> Iain Dowie, QPR (manager) 2008, 1998-2001, West Ham 1995-1998 >>> Steve Lomas, QPR 2005-2007, West Ham 1997-2005 >>> Rufus Brevett, West Ham 2003-2005, QPR 1991-1998 >>> Les Ferdinand, West Ham 2003, QPR 1987-1995 >>> Terrell Forbes, QPR 2001-2004, West Ham 1999-2001 >>> Keith Rowland, QPR 1998-2001, West Ham 1993-1998 >>> Tim Brecker, QPR 1999-2001, West Ham 1990-1999 >>> Ludek Miklosko, QPR 1998-2001, West Ham 1990-1998 >>> Darren Peacock, West Ham (loan) 2000, QPR 1990-1994 >>> Neil Ruddock, West Ham 1998-2000, QPR (loan) 1998 >>> Andy Impey, West Ham 1997-1998, QPR 1990-1997 >>> Martin Allen, West Ham 1989-1995, QPR 1984-1989 >>> Clive Allen, West Ham 1992-1994, QPR 1981-1984, 1978-1980 >>> Leroy Rosenior, West ham 1990-1992, QPR 1985-1987 >>> Paul Goddard, West Ham 1980-1986, QPR 1977-1980 >>> Phil Parkes, West Ham 1979-1990, QPR 1970-1979 Pictures - Reuters Connect Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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