Rangers eased back into action with an easy 4-0 win against Gary Waddock’s Aldershot side at the Recreation Ground in the first pre-season friendly of the summer on Saturday.

I found myself on the defensive several times on Saturday as people questioned the sanity of spending an entire Saturday travelling from Sheffield to Aldershot for a pre-season game. Do what makes you happy I say, and there are surely only so many Saturdays spent at barbecues and traipsing round Meadowhall that any man can stand before putting a foot down, saying enough is enough, and travelling to the ends of the earth to a football match.

Sure I moan and groan about QPR all the time but there is still no better feeling than climbing out of bed before day-break on a Saturday and attacking the rail system to get to a Rangers match – even if it is meaningless friendly game like the one we faced on Saturday.

For my troubles I was rewarded with a comfortable 4-0 QPR win. Aldershot were poor, and while they have the rest of the summer and six more friendlies to get it right alarm bells must surely be ringing there about what League Two sides will do to them if they keep playing like that, but QPR did what they had to do and escaped from the Recreation ground fitter, more confident, and seemingly not nursing any particularly bad injuries and that has to be the prime objective for games like this.

There were plenty of positives both obvious and subtle. Akos Buzsaky was the standout QPR performer for me and capped his return from injury with a fine goal, but to be honest I took almost as much pleasure out of Magilton’s insistence that Cerny roll and pass the ball short to Connolly or a full back whenever he got hold of it as I did from the Hungarian’s return. Magilton is certainly not my favourite person, and would not have been in my top 100 choices for the manager’s job at Loftus Road this summer were it my decision to make, but if his main failing at Ipswich was in the transfer market perhaps the more optimistic among a sizeable QPR following on Saturday may allow themselves to think that we already have the midfield ball players within our squad to execute his preferred style of play. We can but hope.

The new gaffer’s first team selection saw Rangers start in a conventional 442 formation, but with one or two names in unconventional positions. Romone Rose, for instance, started the game at right back despite being seen more as a winger or striker up to now and right footed attacking central midfielder Akos Buzsaky returned from injury wide on the left. There was a first glimpse of David Connolly in action alongside Heidar Helguson in attack, Wayne Routledge, Matteo Alberti and Gavin Mahon made up the midfield with Hall and Connolly the centre backs in front of Radek Cerny in goal. The lesser spotted Gary Borrowdale finally made an appearance for the QPR first team some eight months after first arriving at the club at left back.

There were few familiar names on the Aldershot team sheet with former QPR youth teamers Scott Donnelly and Nikki Bull both conspicuous by their absence.

The main objective of games like this is of course fitness – building up the players’ stamina ahead of the first game of the season, and trying desperately to avoid serious injury to key players. The latter has often blighted QPR pre-season campaigns with the likes of Alan McDonald, Ray Wilkins, Richard Ord and others all picking up nasty long term injuries during meaningless pre-season games. Things certainly did not bode well on Saturday when in the very early stages David Connolly, Matteo Alberti and Romone Rose all appeared to be limping and Wayne Routledge required treatment from physio Paul Hunter after being felled in full flight. Luckily all four went on to complete the first half with few further problems.

These knocks and the excessively long grass on the pitch that seemed to take the players some time to get used to contributed to a slow start to the match but the action exploded into life in the twelfth minute. Heidar Helguson received a pass from David Connolly around the edge of the penalty area and after bundling his way through two challenges launched a fierce drive that beat Mikael Jaimez-Ruiz in the Aldershot goal all ends up and cracked off the angle of post and cross bar. The rebound fell to Buzsaky who won a corner from which David Connolly attempted to clip a shot into the top corner from the back post but just did not get enough curl and whip on the shot and could only watch it fly wide.

Aldershot’s first serious attempt on goal came in the eighteenth minute in the form of a free kick. Lewis Chambers drilled an effort from 20 yards out wide of the wall, but Radek Cerny was more than up to the task of saving down low to his left. Within two minutes Rangers had taken the lead with a goal to bring joy to the hearts of QPR fans everywhere.

There seemed to be little on when Akos Buzsaky picked up the ball just inside the left corner of the penalty area but after pausing to think for a moment he dropped his left shoulder, shifted the ball right to create some space for himself and then unleashed a fearsome strike into the roof of the net. Buzsaky had made a bright start on his return, looking sharp and lively wide on the left, and the quality of touch and vision for the goal was typical of the man. How QPR missed him last season and how much we must hope he remains fit and able through the coming campaign. Speaking in the QPR magazine on sale beforehand Buzsaky says his aim for the coming season is to better his 2007/08 tally of ten for QPR. If he can do that, and on this evidence there’s nothing to suggest he can’t, then we will be so much more threatening as a team than we were in 2008/09.

Buzsaky was heavily involved in the second goal that followed moments later too Receiving a cross field pass in a similar position to the one he scored from the Hungarian decided, obviously brimming with confidence, to unleash a first time half volley. He didn’t catch the ball as well as he would have liked and sent it flying across the face of goal rather than into the net but luckily for Rangers it flew straight at Heidar Helguson who had the presence of mind to somehow divert it back past Ruiz and into the bottom corner. It was a bizarre and scruffy goal, one that many of the QPR fans around us at the back of the covered terrace appeared to believe had gone wide. Still, 2-0 it was and if the game could ever really have been classed as a contest that was well and truly over now.

It could have got worse still for the hosts on the half hour with Buzsaky again to the fore. His low cross into the six yard box missed Ruiz, Connolly and Vine and Wayne Routledge really should have done better at the back post – the little right winger hammered the loose ball high into the side netting.

Aldershot did come back into the game somewhat in the remainder of the half. First the magnificently named Marvin Morgan broke clear of the QPR defence and bore down on goal from 40 yards out only to be caught and robbed of possession splendidly by Matt Connolly tracking back. It was very gratifying to see Connolly used as a centre half rather than full back by Magilton in this game and despite being the junior of both Hall and Borrowdale it was Connolly doing the talking and the organising throughout the first half. Hall looked pretty poor to me again – losing out in defensive headers against much smaller opponents and always seeming to be stretching in a last ditch manner, lacking anticipation and on the back foot when balls bounced in his direction. Borrowdale too was not particularly impressive – found wanting for pace both when Buzsaky was looking for an overlapping run on several occasions and then again when Aldershot broke in behind him.

Shortly after the Morgan chance Wayne Routledge conceded possession on halfway and Rangers should have been punished as the Shots broke down field and reached the byline. Sadly for Waddock’s side the man it fell to, numbered three but apparently not Anthony Straker as the team sheet suggested, could only send a first time volley high over the bar when the ball was cut back to him. Whoever he was he should have at least hit the target. Cerny bundled a routine shot from Louie Soares wide of the post five minutes before half time and the resulting corner was headed onto the terrace to leave QPR two goals to the good at the break.

After half time it was nearly an entirely different QPR side that took the field. Radek Cerny remained in goal on the absence of any alternatives but all ten outfield players were changed as QPR moved into an attacking 3-4-3 set up. Peter Ramage, Kaspars Gorkss and youngster Joe Oastler made up the defence while Vine, Agyemang and Blackstock began in attack. On the right side of midfield Gareth Ainsworth, who announced during the week he would return to playing duties this season after a year of coaching and caretaker managing at Loftus Road, got 45 minutes to the delight of the travelling QPR fans. Angelo Balanta and Mikele Leigertwood played in the middle of the midfield four with Hogan Ephraim the winger on the opposite side to Wild Thing.

The new look sides traded early blows in the opening five minutes. Balanta and Agyemang combined messily on the edge of the Aldershot penalty area to create an opening that was eventually bundled wide of the post, at the other end Morgan headed wide of the far post when his physical presence really should have enabled him to manoeuvre a better effort on goal. Aldershot’s attacking ambition and threat really only lasted for the first quarter of an hour after half time but during that period I was pretty impressed with the youngster Oastler. He doesn’t look the biggest for a centre back but he seemed good positionally, strong in the tackle and very composed when bringing the ball out of defence and involving the midfielders with play. It is difficult to tell anything from these early friendlies, particularly against such meagre opposition on such a difficult playing surface, but I certainly liked the look of the former Portsmouth man.

QPR extended their lead ten minutes after the break when Patrick Agyemang sprung the offside trap, held off weary defensive efforts as he arrived in the penalty area and then scuffed/delicately chipped the ball over Ruiz and into the back of the net for three nil. Before our travelling party of five could finish a conversation about whether that finish was clever of a complete fluke it was four nil as a low cross from Ainsworth fell loose in the penalty area after slack defending and Dexter Blackstock turned and tucked it away from ten yards out. Blackstock’s loan move to Nottingham Forest was unpopular with supporters last season and judging by the fans’ reaction to him on Saturday many are hoping he will form a key part of Magilton’s plans over the coming nine months. We did seem to play slightly more long ball when Agyemang and Blackstock were up top, although that could easily be down to the withdrawal of Buzsaky as much as anything else.

Aldershot had a perfect chance for a consolation strike with twenty minutes left for play when an uncharacteristic mistake from Gorkss in his own half, allowing the ball to run under his foot, saw Danny Hylton race in behind the QPR defence and win a penalty when he was chopped down by Hogan Ephraim. It looked an obvious spot kick but after winning the argument with his team mates over who should take the penalty Hylton could only muster a tame effort low to Cerny’s right that the keeper saved easily.

The game petered out to a large extent after that – lower levels of fitness than you would hope for come August and a sapping pitch probably taking their toll. There was an amusing moment when the linesman on the QPR side of the ground failed to award a throw in despite the ball crossing the touchline to such an extent that the players had to retrieve it from the adjacent railway tracks. Gareth Ainsworth endeared himself to the QPR fans late on with a bone crunching tackle on the Aldershot left back that left the home player requiring lengthy treatment while Ainsworth bounded off pretending not to be hurt in a tackle that he really looked like he should have come off worse from. Ainsworth’s performance was certainly whole hearted and committed but he looked like an older player who hasn’t had much football in the last 12 months to me and he will surely only be used sparingly if at all this season.

QPR made a final change ten minutes from time, sending on youngster Antonio German for Rowan Vine who had started the half brightly but quickly faded and seemed to be complaining of a hamstring or calf complaint as he left the field. That potential injury blow apart this was a reasonable start to the summer for QPR against admittedly meagre opposition.

It is almost impossible to glean anything from friendlies at the best of times, but with this match coming less than a fortnight after the player returned to training and on a pitch with grass length more appropriate for rugby league QPR deserve credit for calmly dispatching what was put in front of them. Three of the four strikers that featured on the day got a goal which was good to see after last year’s problems and Buzsaky returned to action with a lovely goal and sharp looking performance. There was plenty of rustiness about, Agyemang and Leigertwood both seem to have added four yards to their first touches during the break, and some concerns as well, particularly at left back, but overall there were more positives to be taken from the game.

Radek Cerny, Romone Rose, Matt Connolly, Angelo Balanta and Joe Oastler all played very well for me while the likes of Ainsworth, Blackstock, Helguson and Mahon all did reasonably. Having picked up a knock almost from the kick off David Connolly did little to catch the eye in his 45 minutes on the field – and of course his propensity to pick up knocks is one of the primary reasons many QPR fans would like the club to steer clear of a permanent deal unless it is on pay as you play terms. He needs to do much, much more out in Slovenia next week to justify any kind of deal at Loftus Road

Overall a satisfying and workmanlike success.

Aldershot: Jaimez-Ruiz, Blackburn, Soares, Chalmers, Grant, Morgan, Hudson, Winfield, Harding, Wilson, Sandell
Subs: Straker, Hylton, Ainge, Hinshelwood, Hateley, Hopkinson, Connolly

QPR First Half: Cerny 7, Rose 7, Hall 5, Connolly 7, Borrowdale 5, Routledge 6 Mahon 6, Alberti 6, Buzsaky 7, Connolly 5, Helguson 6

QPR Second Half: Cerny 7, Ramage 6, Gorkss 5, Oastler 7, Ainsworth 7, Leigrtwood 6, Balanta 7, Ephraim 6, Agyemang 6, Blackstock 6, Vine 6 (German, 80, 6)

QPR Star Man – Akos Buzsaky 7 Great to see him back, and a fine goal into the bargain. He looked the sharpest of the QPR players to me, clearly the summer of training while the others have been sunning themselves has paid off. Will be a great asset to us this season if he can stay fit.

Referee: Darren Sheldrake (Surrey) 8 Very little to referee as you might expect from such a game. Got the penalty decision right, tried to let the game flow and allowed some pretty robust tackling which livened the game up a little bit. No cards which was good, no stoppage time at the end of what seemed like two short halves either. Overall an easy afternoon that he coped fine with.

Attendance 2,214 (917 QPR fans) A great following from W12 for such a game, the numbers seemed to catch Aldershot on the hop and with a queue of Rangers fans stretching out into the woods behind the covered end another turnstile had to be opened quarter of an hour before kick off. There were one or two chants floating around, particularly after the goals, and the Aldershot fans to our right gave it a good blast every now again but overall, as you’d expect, a distinctly relaxed atmosphere around the whole thing.

Photo: Action Images

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