It's been such a long time since I was last at a QPR game and like everyone else have been desperate to get back for some time. When the day came yesterday I was less giddy than I expected but it turned into an incredible day.
I went with my 12 year old Son and got to the ground at around 2pm to try and soak up the atmosphere. We used the digital tickets which was actually very simple and straightforward, they have changed the turnstiles in the lower Loft so it's now a screen you scan your tickets against. I'm not sure if anyone had problems but I found it a doddle.
The covid restrictions were limited, they had hand washing stations and some wore masks some didn't but didn't see anyone getting stick for wearing or not wearing a mask, all seemed quite good on that score.
Had a few cold beers in the Blue and White Bar where the new staff were being trained and were struggling to use tills and understand orders so hopefully that is sorted out before the season starts. Once in our seat it all felt quite surreal, like I'd never really been away but seeing so many familiar faces around me was heartwarming.
Stefan Johanssen was brought onto the pitch to a great welcome from the crowd and the stadium began to fill up. Looked a good crowd around 10/11,000 although not sure how busy upper loft was the other stands looked reasonably full. The roar when the teams came out was great. We had a 20 something year old Man Utd fan behind us at his first ever game, a typically cocky know it all very loud and obnoxious shouting what a different class his team were early on before claiming it was only an academy side when the goals started to flood in. Not sure Juan Mata counts as an academy player. He was not enjoying the stick he was getting from his QPR supporting friends and family by the end and spent most of the second half shouting abuse at Fred who we eventually pointed out to him wasn't playing.
In truth United had 5/6 players who will play a reasonable part this season with Wan Bissaka, Lingaard, Matic, Williams, Tuanzebe, Greenwood, Perreria among the starters. The United players and a few of our took the knee before the game which seemed to get a good reception, not sure that will be the same when we play Millwall in a few weeks.
They opened the scoring early and really I feared the worse as the movement of Lingaard looked a class above what we are used to. You can never read too much into pre season results but I think you can tell a lot about teams on performance in these games and we looked like we have the makings of a very good side. All confident on the ball, they passed it around when under pressure and never seemed to lose belief.
The equaliser was a nice move and wonderful cross by Wallace. We really grew into the game and for me were the better side in the first half. Chair and Wilock were so good to watch whilst I was quite impressed with Dozzell in midfield. At the back Dickie out in one hell of a sliding tackle on Lingaard who couldn't jump out of the way quickly enough.
At half time I thought we'd make changes and get weaker as the game wore on, still thought we'd lose but blimey second half we absolutely blew them away. They could not cope with Chair and Wilock who ran riot. This was the first time I've seen Dykes live and he was more than a handful, good movement off the ball, hold up play was good and had a real goal threat. His 2nd goal was a superb finish.The 3rd one by Moses is well worth a watch as well, great finish from outside the box, he looked very impressive all game. Very quick, strong in the tackle and wanted to get forward.
As we began to make more changes we lost our way a bit and needed a few desperate blocks and a couple of saves from Joe Walsh to keep us ahead but we finished the game well with Bettache in particular looking impressive and in truth could have scored 2/3 more goals. The left back from Norwich looked excellent and also Dunne at the back was very good.A nice cameo from Adomah who put in one brilliant cross for Dykes.
It was great to be back and very exciting to see this team, I'm not usually one for getting carried away pre season but this to me looks a very good squad capable of pushing for promotion this season. I'm sure we'll be back down to earth soon enough but lots to be excited about. |  |
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