After a blistering eight goal start to his QPR career Jamie Mackie says he is hoping to catch the eye of Scotland manager Craig Levein

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With eight goals from his first eight games at QPR Jamie Mackie is the name on everybody’s lips at the moment. The former Plymouth man, a bargain summer purchase that will cost QPR £500,000 only if they are promoted this season, banged in two at Ipswich last Tuesday and followed it up with another brace in the 2-0 win at Leicester on Saturday. All this despite suffering with a hamstring problem that forced him off early at the Walkers Stadium. Now the 24 year old is hoping his form will play his way into contention for a Scotland call up.

Mackie told the club’s official website: “I haven't had any contact from the national side but I would be delighted if that did happen. My granddad was a very proud Scotsman and it would be a great moment for me if I was lucky enough to be called up. Hopefully that will happen but all I can do is concentrate on playing well for QPR, and seeing what develops.

"I couldn't have dreamed of a better start to my QPR career. It has been perfect really, and long may that continue. I don't know what to put my goal scoring down to. I am working extremely hard in matches as well as on the training ground, but I have been like that throughout my career. I always give 100 per-cent, and that will never change.

“I have had a bit of a problem with my right hamstring since the start of the campaign. I haven't been 100 per cent. We have had to monitor it, and there are times when I have to take it easy in training. The physio team at the club are quality and they are looking after me, and making sure I do the right things."

Another player being carefully managed by the new medical team at Loftus Road is Martin Rowlands, who hasn’t played any football for nearly a year now after rupturing cruciate knee ligaments on international duty. Rowlands returned to the first team squad as an unused sub at Leicester but manager Neil Warnock has told the Fulham Chronicle nobody should be getting ahead of themselves where his recovery is concerned.

Warnock said: “He was the last senior player available. All the others are injured, and he could only have played a cameo 20 minutes – if that. But the other thought in my mind was to give him a psychological boost by bringing him with us. He deserved it after all his hard work in rehab.”

Looking ahead to the weekend game with Doncaster Warnock has told the Yorkshire Post that his team will need to be right on its game to defeat Rovers at Loftus Road.

Warnock said: “I have always liked Donny and John Ryan. I think they have got a great chance of doing well this season. I told John that after he had signed Billy Sharp in the summer. Donny pushed the boat out a bit to get Billy and I think they will be very, very close. When you look at what Blackpool did last season, it is not beyond a good footballing team like Donny to do the same. They have made steady progress every season under Sean. When I was manager of Palace last season, they absolutely battered us. How we got a draw out of that, I don't know. We should have been 4-0 down at half-time.

"It is going to be a cracking game. We have been playing some decent football and Donny always play lovely football, so we are hoping for a good crowd. I see it as our toughest test yet. I said to the players after Saturday's win at Leicester how glad I was that we had a full week to prepare as it will be tough. Our start has been amazing, especially the part played by unsung heroes such as Shaun Derry. I will be honest and say that when I signed him for Palace from Leeds I thought I would get a maximum 18 months more out of him but he has been outstanding. I actually set the target of getting to the next international break no more than four or five points off the top. I thought if we could manage that then we would be in a good position. So, our start has been beyond our wildest dreams."

Ronnie Jepson’s reserve side beat Charlton 3-2 in a behind closed doors game at the Harlington training ground on Tuesday.

Former R’s

Well it’s about time Leon Knight annoyed somebody else I suppose, he’s been quiet for 20 minutes or so. The detestable striker, nicknamed the Poison Dwarf at Brighton where he fell out with manager Mark McGhee to such an extent the manager threw him off a bus trip to Southampton in the middle of the New Forest, has unleashed a controversial attack on former club Rushden and Diamonds via his Twitter account. Knight was fired by Rushden six months into a two year contract the season before last for repeated breaches of club discipline.

Diamonds kept hold of the player’s registration to prevent him playing against them – a move that has forced Knight to ply his trade in the lower leagues in Greece and then with Hamilton in the SPL for the last 18 months. Knight believed he was free to sign for Conference side Darlington this summer but Rushden cheekily took up a third year option on his deal and are demanding £30,000 for his services.

Knight responded by posting a host of allegations against the club including unlawful tax free gifts of cars and watches by way of backhand payments during his time there which he says the club has threatened to kill him over if they are not returned. Rushden have refused to comment on the allegations and Knight’s own agent had the player’s Twitter account closed yesterday.

Good to see he’s still as repugnant as ever.

Elsewhere Ian Baraclough looks set to be named the new Scunthorpe United manager following Nigel Adkins’ move to Southampton. Baraclough made 137 appearances for Rangers after signing from Notts County in 1998 for £75,000 scoring once. Since leaving the R’s following our relegation in 2001 he made another 100 appearances back at Notts County and then proved an unlikely success in the centre of midfield at Scunthorpe as the Iron rose up from League Two to the Championship. He was Adkin’s assistant at Glanford Park and was expected to follow him south but appears set to start out as a manager in his own right now as Scunthorpe continue a policy of promoting from within.

Tamas Priskin scored a fine header at The Den last night, his third goal of the season, as Ipswich beat Millwall to reach the last 16 of the League Cup. Scott Sinclair, another of our former loanees, scored a first senior hat trick as Swansea knocked out League One Peterborough. Lloyd Dyer scored for Leicester as they won at Portsmouth.

Championship Shorts

- Ipswich, Leicester and Swansea are three of four Championship sides who remain in the League Cup after a high scoring round of action. Preston and Scunthorpe fell this evening after both leading against Premiership sides Wigan and Man Utd but there was a giant killing of sorts for Burnley last night who beat Bolton at Turf Moor on Owen Coyle’s first return to his former club.

- Sheffield United have signed former Ipswich keeper Richard Wright on a four month contract. The former England international will provide competition to Steve Simonsen at Bramall Lane after leaving Ipswich at the end of his contract in the summer. Manager Gary Speed said: “Gary Speed said: "We are delighted to be able to bring in someone of Richard's calibre. He has hundreds of first team games behind him."

- Forest striker David McGoldrick completed 45 minutes for the reserves on Tuesday as he continues a comeback from a summer shoulder operation.

- Swansea have signed Congo goalkeeper Yves Makabu-Makalambay until the end of the season following his release from Hibs. He made his debut at Peterborough on Tuesday and will provide competition for first choice Dorus de Vries.

- Preston goalkeeper Andy Lonergan has been fined £5,000 by the FA for making abusive gestures to Burnley fans during his team’s dramatic collapse from 3-1 up to 4-3 down at Turf Moor on Saturday evening.

- Cardiff striker Jay Bothroyd has denied media reports that a persistent calf muscle injury is threatening his career. Bothroyd said: “With so many games and our training regime being so high intensity, little things like this happen. It's not going to hinder on my career, it's just a strained muscle, there's other players more unfortunate."

…and finally

From the man who brought you “don’t be a c*** to yourself” as an acceptable piece of advice to give to children during a daytime television programme I give you – inflatable sex doll scandal in Derby. Rams goalkeeper Stephen Bywater has been forced to apologise after displaying “artwork” in his front garden that includes a blow up sex doll and rubber genitalia.

The Derby Telegraph reported earlier this week that neighbours of Bywater had complained about his ongoing art project that already features a horse box, portable toilet, mattresses, road cone, inflatable sex doll and rubber genitals.

One neighbour told the paper: “We are trying to sell the house, it's horrible. We were away on holiday when he put it up. Our neighbours sent us pictures to show us what he had done and my wife didn't want to come home. He adds to it all the time, painting extra bits and putting more things on. He says it is his artwork but we just want him to take it down. It is horrible to have to look at it. Children go past on the bus as well. We are totally bewildered by his actions."

In a statement on Derby’s official website Bywater said: “Although I consider this a private issue I would like to apologise to any supporters and local residents in Derbyshire who have been offended. It was and is still my view that my actions were made as a private citizen and in no way linked to Derby County Football Club. However, now it has been brought into the public domain, I acknowledge that this does not reflect well on me as a professional or the Club in general. I am one of the club's longest serving players and therefore I, better than anyone, appreciate the responsibilities that come with representing Derby County, both on and off the pitch.

“Although I'm disappointed this private matter has become a public issue I have now taken action to remove from view the items which have caused offence to local residents and I apologise again if my actions have in anyway damaged my reputation or the reputation of the club.”

Sky presenter Claire Tomlinson lost her job as host of Goals on Sunday after Bywater stated that “don’t be a c*** to yourself” was the best piece of advice he’d ever been given live on air.

Photo: Action Images

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