Two mediocre sides took to the pitch in this Championship encounter at Loftus Road last night. A debatable goal gave the Swans the lead, and as expected the away side succumbed to defeat in the last seconds of the game.
Michael Duff received a resounding round of boos and calls for his head at the end of this game at Loftus Road in a pretty poor championship encounter. I spent the whole game watching from the away end as a frustrating Swansea City, who bar the first ten minutes of this game were functionless against the poorest side I have seen in the league this season.
The estimated seven hundred Swans fans ( I stood next to two fans from Scotland ) witnessed a plucky start and a questionable Josh Ginnelly goal after seven minutes - although very well received to be honest that was pretty much the Jack Army had to shout about. Swans head coach Michael Duff set his side up with a flat back four with numerous changes including Bashir Humphries on the left hand side of defence. He really didn’t look the part on his full debut. Harry Darling was dropped as Ben Cabango was included alongside Nathan Wood with Josh Key on the right. It could be said the inclusion of Liam Cullen and Josh Ginnelly ( a lot of Josh’s ) made a difference for the first knockings of this game, but overall it was disappointing.
Once the Swans scored there was little threat to the QPR defence, in fact from the seventh minute there was little all round to be confident about. The second ball wasn’t contested, the aggression required to do so, even though Duff made five changes to Saturday night’s embarrassing performance was missing. Matt Grimes looked better, but then compared to Saturday he couldn’t have been worse, and Jay Fulton was the usual snapping dog midfielder we expect. It was much better compared to the weekend but really overall the opposition provided little resistance.
Whatever the head coach said at half time it was lost on his Swansea side in the second half. No threat was the sum of their fifty minutes of effort bar a weak Jerry Yates shot midway through the half. Carl Rushworth was the only real positive, his goalkeeping assured and competent and possibly Ben Cabango can take a bow after returning to the side. The home side’s equaliser was fitting for their effort. A ‘lofted’ cross in to the Swans penalty area in added time saw Dykes head a cracking ball home to take a point. However, the majority of the swans support in the upper tier were not happy with the performance, nor the effort. There’s no glossing over this game. Swansea were very average against a very poor QPR, and really should have taken the points.
They didn’t because they were directionless and completely without leadership off and on the pitch. Ollie Cooper’s second yellow should have been a straight red, and that just summed up the whole evening. My drive back to Lincoln will take longer than the head coach’s saunter along the M4 where he will pick his car up for a dash home to Cheltenham. Maybe that’s the commitment summed up perfectly.There isn’t any visible direction both on and off the pitch, and yes under normal circumstances a point away from home should be well received.
This point earned was most certainly two points lost due to a completely ineffective strategy on the pitch, and clearly little more off it as the players have a ‘well earned’ day off. Okay, we make our beds but having said that the rest of us get a few hours sleep before a twelve hour day at work as a result of following Swansea City.
To be perfectly honest this isn’t good enough, and overall Mr Duff, enough is enough. And all this on the ten year anniversary of schooling Valencia away in the Europa League. That’s how far we have fallen. Will I feel better come Saturday morning and another long drive to Swansea ? As it stands now in the early morning of Wednesday I’m not so sure.
Queens Park Rangers : Begovic (c); Kakay, Cook, Fox; Smyth (Kolli 87), Field, Willock (Kelman 73), Paal; Dozzell, Chair; Armstrong (Dykes 62)
Subs: Walsh, Clarke-Salter, Dixon-Bonner, Larkeche, Duke-McKenna, Adomah
Swansea City: Rushworth; 7 Key 6 (Tymon 34), 5 Cabango, 7 Wood, 6 Humphreys; 5 Grimes (c), 6 Fulton, 5 Paterson; 6 Ginnelly 6 (Cooper 73), 4 Cullen 5 (Yates 59) 4 Lowe 6 (Kuharevich 73) 5
Subs: Fisher, Pedersen, Darling, Patino, Ashby
Attendance: 13,500
Away : Approx 750
Referee : 5/10 : Missed a lot !