Monday turned out to be a productive day for QPR who scored 17 goals in two pre-season friendlies against non league opposition.

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The first team is currently down in Cornwall on a summer tour and they started with a bang on Monday, thrashing Tavistock 13-0. Rangers played the South West Peninsula League club this time last year and won 8-0 so maybe we are getting better after all.

Just as he did last summer, Hogan Ephraim revelled in the meagre quality of the opposition and scored four times. Heidar Helguson scored twice and there were goals too for Tommy Smith, Patrick Agyemang, Danny Shittu, Danny Webber, Petter Vaagon Moen and Matthew Connolly. Tavistock helped out further with an own goal.

Former Ipswich keeper Brian Murphy played between the sticks for the R’s and there was another chance for Brazilian defender Bruno Perone to impress as part of his trial. Former West Ham defender Danny Gabbidon also had a run out as he bids to win a Loftus Road contract.

Clearly buoyed by his goal against the mighty Tavistock, Patrick Agyemang quickly told the Ealing Gazette that he is gunning for the lone striker position ahead of new signing Jay Bothroyd. Agyemang, with a straight face, said: “We need good players if we are playing in the Premiership. Hopefully the extra competition can bring out the best in people. I'm 100 per cent fit I feel I can do anything. It's the first time in a while that I haven't broken down in training, which is good. I've been working hard on my fitness and my strength work. I need a good pre-season under my belt. In the past I've been playing catch up, especially last year, and when I came back the boys were flying. It's important that I get a good start. The more games I play during pre-season the more goals I will score and the more confidence I will get. Everyone's on trial. Even though we went up, the gaffer's bringing in a lot of players so no one's place is safe. It's good competition."

And Hogan Ephraim was pretty chuffed too, telling the official website: "I was pleased with the goals and, until the minute I came off, I felt strong. It was a good team performance - some good movement and a good work-out. It looks like the rustiness has gone. And it was nice for us to score some goals. Goals in any game will give the boys confidence. Some of the goals were very good, no matter what the opposition was. There were some fantastic one-twos and the amount of goals that Patrick Agyemang was involved in was ridiculous. It's pleasing to see some of the movement that we showed after just a week back to pre-season training. The boys have come back really fit this season. There's a great professionalism within the team. I think we realised that we needed to come back at our sharpest.

"We're going to go out there, give it our best and we won't fear anyone. It's a massive season for us. You saw in the second half, we didn't let-up and wanted to keep on going. No-one wants to let themselves down. We all want to do ourselves, the manager and our families proud. For all the boys, it's the biggest season of their lives." Midfielder Shaun Derry added: “It could have been 20-0! It's always nice to hit the back of the net, that's what it's all about. It gives the forwards, such as Hogan Ephraim, a lot of confidence. The opposition, with the greatest respect, didn't really cause Hogan any problems all night. There was a hell of a downpour before kick-off and that made the pitch slick. The pitch was in great form and that played into our hands." “We're starting to get there. The boys are looking good and it's encouraging. This tour proved to be a sound footing for last season, and it can absolutely do that again. It's about getting to know people - especially new signings. It's difficult when you're a new player, because you can't really express what you're about as a person when you're training. But when you're living in each other's pockets, you get to know people, and that's what we're here for."

QPR: Murphy, Orr, Perone, Derry, Trialist, Gorkss, Ephraim, Vaagan Moen, Agyemang, Smith, Faurlin.

Subs (used unless stated): Cerny (unused), Hill (unused), Helguson, Webber, Connolly, Hall (unused), Ramage, Gabbidon, Shittu

Goals: Ephraim (5, 27, 64, 73), Smith (24), Agyemang (37), James (OG, 62), Shittu (65), Helguson (72 & 75), Webber (77), Vaagan Moen (84), Connolly (88)

Back in London Ronny Jepson’s reserve side had another outing, this time at St Albans City who are now bossed by friend of LFW Dave Howell. The ressies had been embarrassingly beaten by Conference South outfit Hampton and Richmond on Saturday and to be honest, although they won this game 4-0, it was easy to see why. Goals from Leon Clarke (two), Antonio German and Alessandro Pellicori barely papered over the cracks in what is a second string made up of players with no ability and those that have long since given up on their QPR careers. More on that match to come on LFW later this evening.

St Albans City (First half): N.Jupp, R.Dedman, A.Chaves, D.Ijaha, R.Moran, T.Jinadu, D.Hart, D.McGonigle, R.Haworth, J.Walker, Se.Shields

Subs So Shields, F.Attoh, J.Holy.

St Albans City (Second half): N.Jupp, M.Farrelly, M.Terry, J.Mengeli, J.Gray, R.Yorke, J.Ehui, A.Fry, B.Haule, L.Hall, L.Walters

Subs S.Mentis, M.Alebiosu, M.Turner.

QPR: E.Putnins, M.Harriman, G.Borrowdale, M.Rowlands, T.Parmenter, M.Ehmer, L.Cook, L.Clarke, M.Shariff, M.Doughty, A.Balanta,

Subs: L.Olley, A.German, A.Pellicori, M.Henri-Francis, B.Andrade, J.Gibbons.

The eagle eyed among you will notice that amongst all those names there was no mention of Jamie Mackie. Sadly a trip back to his surgeon has revealed that his broken leg has not fully healed which means despite his recent return to training he will now not be fit for the start of the season.

Physio Nigel Cox told the official website: "Jamie has been doing really well. He has worked very hard throughout the summer and has done everything he can to speed up the recovery process. His own personal aim was to be fit for our first game of the season, although that was always going to be a very tight target. When we previously saw the surgeon he was happy for Jamie to step up his rehab, which he has done recently with some outdoor running. We visited the surgeon again last week for a check-up, and it appears the fracture site itself needs a little more time to heal, so we need to be careful. It's a mother-nature thing more than anything else. There is nothing Jamie could have done which would have helped speed up this part of the process, it is simply a case of waiting for the bone to heal. It means Jamie's target will have to be adjusted but the good thing is that he is a naturally fit lad and very strong."

Whether that means the pursuit of Mackie’s replacement last season Wayne Routledge wll be renewed remains to be seen. Swansea have had a bid of £1.8m accepted for the player by Newcastle, but Routledge himself doesn’t seem overly keen on the move. He told his Twitter followers: “People I honestly have no idea yet where I will be playing my football next season. It’s frustrating but all I can do is train hard get my fitness up and take each day as it comes! And when I know, so will you.” Routledge then bizarrely re-tweeted Jay Bothroyd’s assertion that QPR should move to sign him.

Rumours

No sign of Adel Taarabt on any team sheet yet this summer either, although that comes as no surprise as we were told last week he wouldn’t be travelling to Cornwall. His proposed transfer to PSG seems to be drawing closer, although some reports today suggest Marseille could be a late runner in the bidding. This despite Taarabt saying last month that he had little interest in moving to the French Ligue 1. Some of the money currently being spoken about is astronomical, up to £15m in some reports, but it’s where that money might go that is of interest to QPR fans. Spurs get 40% as part of their sell on clause but what of the rest.

Some newspapers and websites have taken it as an opportunity to re-start their QPR rumour mill with Peter Crouch, Jermaine Jenas, Jimmy Bullard, Kyle Naughton, DJ Campbell, Victor Moses and Pa Saikou Kujabi all linked afresh in various places today. The Metro tipped the R’s to move for Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton who is coming to the end of his current contract on Tyneside.

Premiership Shorts

- Aston Villa have completed the £4m signing of Man City goalkeeper Shay Given to replace Brad Friedel who has joined Spurs. Villa have given the 35-year-old Ireland international a five year contract. The club has had a £10m bid for Wigan winger Charles N’Zogbia rejected however.

- Jerome Boateng has also left Man City just a year after signing from Hamburg. He has returned to Germany to sign for Bayern Munich on a four year deal for an undisclosed amount.

- No complaints of fixture congestion and player exhaustion from Blackburn this season I trust, given the club’s undertaking to embark on a tour of India at the beginning of October two months into the new campaign. Rovers, owned by a family of Indian chicken farmers, were due to travel there this week but have postponed, rather than cancelled, the trip because of terrorist attacks on Mumbai. Manager Steve Keen said: “The trip is not cancelled, it is postponed to another date because of the activity out there. That trip will now take place at the beginning of October."

- If transfer sagas are your thing, and I pity you if they are, then Barcelona say they are going to fight tooth and nail to sign Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal but he hasn’t gone anywhere yet, John Terry says he’d love Chelsea to sign Luka Modric from Spurs but he hasn’t gone anywhere yet, and Corinthians have denied Man City’s assertion that a deal has been agreed for Carlos Tevez so he hasn’t gone anywhere yet either.

LFW was Tweeting live from St Albans City last night and brought you news of a goal for Alessandro Pellicori first. If you missed out, make sure you’re following @loftforwords for the next time.

Photo: Action Images

SheffieldSteve added 23:02 - Jul 19 A couple of points, first, Tavistock, and Plymouth, for that matter, are in Devon, not Cornwall, secondly, I wish I could have been there, my favourite place I've ever lived... Football-wise... Oh yes! Seems like more of the same stuff that happened last year, though I'll be very surprised if we come out of the blocks as fast come 13th August, but great for team building. But, are we going to actually buy anyone?

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qprninja added 14:16 - Jul 20 I was at the Tavistock game and I'm also going to Argyle tonight and Bodmin on Friday, I live about 5 mins walk from Home Park so it's great that we're there this pre-season. It was a good performance on monday night with fitness looking good already, apart from the little left back who scored that free kick at harrow limping off with a hamstring after about ten mins. Gorrks also went off in the first half after a clash of heads, he walked off bleeding quite heavily. Gabbidon replaced him and looked solid all night as you'd expect against non league opposition, didn't get injured either! We all hoped to see bothroyd and dyer play but they remained stood on the sidelines in their tracksuits. We had a triallist goalie on the night, no idea of his name but he looked very short and sounded irish. Peroni started at centre half but was moved to midfield second half where he looked quite tidy and started to play a few nice passes around too, could be one to watch out for as new holding midfielder. Webber didn't do much all night, wouldn't sign him on evidence of this match, ephraim was the stand out player on the night, quick, skillful and creative and took his chances well, dave is clearly fit for a change and was trying very hard to impress and did some good things but just does not look dangerous in and around the box. Hope to see dyer get a run out at home park tonight and not get hurt,even though me and my mates are betting on what minute he limps off. Don't envy your trip to see the forgotten men at st albans, i went to see the reserves play at saltash last pre-season and watch rowan vine sulking round the pitch and get outplayed by non league players, sad when it comes to that.

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