QPR v Preston North End Match Preview Friday, 4th Apr 2008 10:44 Two of the division's form sides meet at Loftus Road on Saturday as QPR host Preston North End. Queens Park Rangers (14th) v Preston North End (15th) The news that Rowan Vine has broken his leg in training on Thursday has cast a long shadow over an increasingly optimistic QPR camp. Vine follows in the hobble steps of Simon Walton and Martin Cranie who have both suffered leg breaks with QPR this season and we of course wish him a speedy recovery. We'll miss him while he's out that's for sure. He may have his critics but for me he's been a terrific signing for us, particularly before Christmas when he played a big part in keeping a piss poor team in touch with the rest while waiting for the cavalry to arrive in the transfer window. He'll play a big part in where we're hoping to go next season and his threat from wide areas and down the middle will be noticeable by its absence in the remaining five games of the season. Six goals and eight assists from 31 starts is not easy to replace, and he makes so much happen around him when we get him running with the ball at his feet. Get well soon Rowan. If there is a silver lining to this cloud for both player and club it's that we now have just five matches left until the end of the season, starting with this Saturday's visit from Preston North End. We should also be thankful that with 53 points and Colchester and Scunthorpe potentially leaving the league over the next seven days we are nice and safe in the midtable. This fixture last year was the stand out game from the whole season for most fans - a tight and tense 1-0 victory sealed by a glorious long range volley from Dexter Blackstock and half an hour of resolute backs to the wall defending at the Loft End as Preston sent on one giant striker after another to try and force an equaliser. One of the unsuccessful visitors that night, Patrick Agyemang, will line up for QPR against his former club at the weekend. It's a sign of changing times that none of the four forwards Preston chucked at us that night are still at Deepdale. Agyemang we know all about but Dave Nugent is now with Portsmouth reserves, Danny Dichio is playing in the MLS with Toronto and Michael Ricketts is continuing his descent to the British Gas Midlands League with alarming speed. It's the failure to replace this fire power this season that had Preston in serious trouble for so long after missing the play offs last season and only a fantastic run of form recently has lifted them clear of danger and prevented a total role reversal at Loftus Road on Saturday. This game is essentially a dead rubber between two teams safely positioned in the middle of the league but for so long it looked like being so much more for both sides. Thank goodness we can all breathe a little easier now because with the season still a good month away from ending we're starting to pick up injuries and suspensions to key players. Five minutes on Preston Irvine will be a familiar face to regular watchers of the Premiership after assisting David Moyes, another former Preston manager from north of the border, at Everton before taking over at Deepdale. Irvine was a player in the early part of the Blackburn revolution of the early 1990s and cut his coaching teeth alongside Glenn Roeder in the prolific Newcastle United academy set up. This is his first managerial appointment and it looked for so long like he'd bitten off more than he could chew. Preston have been the nearly men of this division for some time now. Losing out in the promotion play offs under Moyes and Billy Davies, another Scot, in 2001, 2005 and 2006 before just missing the top six last season under Paul Simpson. It was Davies' eye for a lower league bargain that reinvigorated the Lilywhites after a disappointing spell under former Scotland manager Craig Brown - David Nugent proved to be a tremendous acquisition for £100k from Bury and he led the line of Davies' Preston side to great effect. Nugent earned an England cap as a Championship player, the first man to do so since Paul Merson, last year and scored a goal as well against Albania. Whether you can actually fairly describe it as Nugent's goal or not is open for debate as he smashed a goalbound shot from Jermaine Defoe over the line from all of half a yard out but the cap itself was a significant achievement and he was one of the league's hottest properties last summer. Portsmouth were the club that took a chance on him, paying Preston £6m to secure his signature, and while Nugent has been off in the glamorous world of Premiership reserve team football and sending pictures of his button mushroom to the girls back home Preston have been struggling to replace him. The fact that Danny Dichio and Michael Ricketts, their other strikers from last season, also left in the summer didn't help and when Simpson's gamble on Carlisle hitman Karl Hawley didn't make good returns in goals this always looked like being a season of struggle. Neither Simpson, nor his mid season replacement Irvine, could find a starting position in the faltering team for Patrick Agyemang. The fact the Ghanaian then went to QPR in January and scored eight goals in his first six games, more than any Preston player has managed all season, only heightened their frustration. Consecutive home league defeats against Scunthorpe and Cardiff followed by a 2-1 loss at Sheffield Wednesday had Preston firmly routed in the bottom three as Christmas approached and the problems were mounting. Out went Simpson and in came Irvine, immediately boosting his squad with the signing of Richard Chaplow who'd been great in this league for Burnley, Chris Brown who was up to that point more famous for his off the pitch antics than anything he achieved on the pitch, and Neal Trotman from Oldham Athletic. Craig Beattie and Tamas Priskin arrived on loan as well and slowly but surely Irvine started to turn things around. Preston are currently six without defeat, and have won five of those including their last two. They're scoring goals as well - three against Sheff Utd, two against Burnley, Wolves, Charlton and Stoke and four at Premiership side Derby in the FA Cup. Their form over the past three months has been that of a team chasing the play offs with eight wins from 13 league games and although a proper replacement for Nugent still looks to be their Achilles heal they certainly look like a team on the up. Another Scottish inspired assault on the play offs looks possible next season. Who to watch out for After a January move to Preston though things seem to be turning round. His winning goal against Burnley last week was his fourth so far for Irvine’s men and third in his last five matches. Neil Mellor, there when Irvine arrived, bagged a couple against Sheff Utd last week although he still looks to be carrying a spare tyre or two. Tamas Priskin on loan from Watford adds much needed options to the attack. Karl Hawley, the one Paul Simpson put his faith in to replace the goals he lost last summer, is out of the team at the moment after five goals in 27 appearances. He’s found the step up tough. Further back the midfield has a nicer balance to it as well. Mr Preston North End Paul McKenna is nearing his 350th league appearance for the club and has always looked very impressive at the heart of the midfield against QPR. He’s now got Richard Chaplow alongside him who looked like a very good player when he was at Burnley before moving to West Brom where he sort of got buried in amongst all the other quality Championship midfielders and rarely got a chance to play in the first team. With two goals from four starts and five sub appearances I’d be happy to see him on the bench this weekend as he was for their 3-1 win against Sheff Utd last week because I really rate him. Former Birmingham man Darren Carter got the nod ahead of him last week. In Simon Whaley they have another promising player from Bury on their hands. He has six goals to his name from wide areas this season and will provide a real threat to us. Less so Chris Sedgwick who impressed in this league for Rotherham before moving to Deepdale but lacks the real blistering pace needed to make a go of things on the wing in the higher divisions. At the heart of the defence Youl Mawene provides the physical aspect to the back four, he has a last minute equaliser against QPR to his name in recent years. He was Derby County’s player of the season before moving across to Deepdale. Alongside him Sean St Ledger may be more familiar to you as the moody one on Big Ron Manager but he’s comfortably made the step up to Championship level from Peterborough United. Past Meetings Preston: Lonergan 4, Jones 8, St. Ledger 7, Mawene 7, Hill 8, Sedgwick 5 (Mellor 82, -), Davidson 6, Nicholls 7,Gallagher 5 (Whaley 67, 7), Hawley 6 (Ormerod 69, 6), Agyemang 6 QPR: Camp 9, Mancienne 7, Stewart 7, Cranie 8, Barker 7, Ainsworth 5 (Nygaard 57, 7) Bolder 4, Leigertwood 7, Rowlands 5, Ephraim 6, Vine 6 The meeting between these two sides at Loftus Road last season was a real cliff hanger, culminating in a narrow and crucial win for struggling QPR. That set them on an unlikely path to Championship survival and is, unsurprisingly, the featured match in this week’s ‘Memories’ section. Click here for a full run down and memories from supporters of that great night at Loftus Road. Head to Head Previous QPR v Preston results: Team News Callum Davidson and Simon Whaley have both recovered from knocks picked up against Sheff Utd and are fit to start. This is Tamas Priskin's last match of his loan spell before returning to Watford. Referee What’s happening elsewhere? Form Rangers have two wins and three draws in their last six matches. They have lost only one of their last nine matches and have won their last three home games scoring three goals in each. Rangers have lost just one of their last nine home games and won seven of those. Rangers have nine wins five draws and six defeats from their home games this season but again the majority of the poor results, five of the defeats and three of the draws, came before Christmas. With just one defeat between them in 15 matches this promises to be a match of unusually high quality for two teams so low in the actual table. Prediction Fancy the R’s for a win? Discuss this match on the Message Board Click here and be the first user to comment on this story
Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
Queens Park Rangers Polls[ Vote here ] |