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QPR prepare for first ever Keepmoat visit - full match preview
QPR prepare for first ever Keepmoat visit - full match preview
Monday, 9th Mar 2009 23:10

QPR are back in action on Tuesday night as they travel to the Keepmoat Stadium for the first time to face a tough match with in form Championship new boys Doncaster Rovers

Doncaster Rovers (15th) v Queens Park Rangers (11th)
Coca Cola Championship
Tuesday March 10, Kick Off 7.45pm
Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster


In a week where the Cheltenham Festival will see your local bookmakers rammed with people you have never seen there before in your life what price a goalless draw a mile away from another of Britain’s favourite racing venues?

When QPR travel to Doncaster on Tuesday night it will be a clash between two of the lowest scoring teams in the division. Rangers, with just thirty five goals to their name this season and only thirteen of those away from home, face Rovers who have scored thirty one in total and a paltry eleven at home. Every single team in the league has more home goals than Doncaster – Southampton are next worst but have six more. Likewise QPR’s away haul is bettered (if you can call it that) only by fourth bottom Barnsley who have twelve.

I often wonder whether football is a simple game over complicated by people keen to stress how frightfully difficult it all is in order to justify their large salaries. You can, and we have certainly been guilty of doing so on LFW these past few weeks, talk about formations and systems and tactics and attitude until the cows come home but in truth the reason QPR are so good at the back and so poor up front is because they have very good defenders and very poor strikers. There are other mitigating factors – poor service from wide areas, inconsistent team selections, full backs that cannot cross, good old bad luck (on closer reflection Matteo Alberti’s horrendous miss at the weekend did come bobble assisted) but essentially the people we are paying to score goals are not doing their job.

Probably more through circumstance, you can only buy players who are available and want to come, Rangers have built from the back since being taken over by Flavio Briatore eighteen months ago. Of the twenty permanent signings made thirteen have been goalkeepers, defenders or defensive midfielders. QPR have dabbled with strikers and attacking midfielders like Wayne Routledge, Heidar Helguson, Sam Di Carmine and Emmanuel Ledesma with carrying degrees of success but when it boils down to it I cannot help but think that in this simple game of ours where the team that scores the most goals wins we still have the same problem we did a year ago – we do not have anybody in our team capable of doing that for us often enough.

Doncaster are very similar. Their big summer outlay went on young, and as it turns out very talented, centre half Matt Mills from Man City. They also signed right back James Chambers from Leicester. Darren Byfield was added to the attack but has enjoyed limited success and in fact Rovers’ leading goal scorer this year has eight, just six in the league – midfielder Brian Stock.

Therefore you would think that a goalless draw at 8/1 is a better bet than anything you will find racing round at Cheltenham this week. So why will more than 10,000 people pay £20 apiece tomorrow night to watch a match between two teams that have nothing to play for and cannot score goals in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the week, in the middle of a division swamped in mediocrity? Because this is football and you cannot predict it. This could just as easily be 3-3 as 0-0 and we have no way of knowing until we get there. I'll no doubt see the usual suspects at the Keepmoat tomorrow night. Come on you R's.

Five minutes on Doncaster Rovers
Once upon a time Doncaster was a stick used to beat clubs in danger of relegation with. “Enjoy Doncaster” we would say as teams vanished beneath the water line. It must be something about this part of the world - people in the Premiership always told us we would enjoy Grimsby during our times of struggle and Scunthorpe, in between the two, is hardly Torremolinos itself as we found last season - although the hospitality afforded to us at Glanford Park was second to none as it turned out.

Rovers and Scunthorpe used to have a weird M180 rivalry going on back in the day when they shared places in the bottom division. The idea of passionately hating a team the best part of half an hour drive away is alien to us because we have so many clubs on our door step but in a land where you can drive for an hour and still be looking at the same field you were when you started Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Hull, Doncaster and Lincoln could hardly be described as best of friends. Hull have sky rocketed of course and are likely to get a second season in the Premiership after a great start to the season. Grimsby have fallen apart altogether - strange to think looking at the league table now that for the first few years we were in this division they were regular opponents and regular conquerors of our team. Lincoln are just about exactly where they were to start with while Doncaster and Scunthorpe have risen to levels not experienced by a generation or more of their supporters.

Both have characterless new grounds in the middle of nowhere on the edge of town although Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium, that Rangers visit for the first time in their history on Tuesday night, is a lot more impressive than Glanford Park and a whole lot more necessary as any recent visitors to their old Belle Vue ground would testify to. Being a local it has been my misfortune to sit/stand in/on all four sides of that ground and there was not a decent view in the place.

Scunthorpe got a crack at this level for the first time in the best part of 50 years last season and made a bit of a mess of it. They unearthed a decent talent in martin paterson, now banging them in for high flying Burnley, but balked at a £400k asking price for Jermaine Beckford. The Iron were only willing to pay £250k - the player would now be worth ten times that amount in the transfer market. They weren’t good enough, did not score enough goals and were predictably relegated at the first attempt. Things did not bode well for Doncaster then who were similarly good to watch and supported in League One but who also arrived in the Championship with a tiny playing budget and few summer arrivals. Only Darren Byfield, already departed, arrived with any kind of reputation at this level and even his was admittedly not good.

Much like Scunthorpe last year Doncaster started poorly and quickly became the charity team of the division. Managers queued up to praise them, normally after inflicting another defeat on Sean O’Driscoll’s men. Birmingham director Karen Brady said Rovers were the best footballing team she had seen in this division for a long time - City beat them 1-0 with ten men. They won at Derby and against Coventry in the opening month but lost all five games in September, lost four and drew one in October and won only one of five in November - the 1-0 victory at home to Ipswich was their first in thirteen attempts and still left them firmly on the bottom, four points adrift of safety.

The team they were trying to catch at that point was Southampton - twenty first in the table with sixteen points to Rovers twenty fourth and twelve. That Rovers are now, little over three months later, fifteenth and nine points ahead of Southampton who occupy the final relegation spot is testament to the job being done by one of football’s quiet men at the Keepmoat. O’Driscoll, a former Fulham and Bournemouth player, would not say boo to a goose but since arriving in South Yorkshire and ending a two decade long association with the south coast Cherries he has done a quite remarkable job. They beat odds on favourites Leeds in last season’s play off final to delight the nation and now look set for another season in the Championship thanks to a remarkable run of ten wins and three draws from sixteen matches starting with a 4-2 win at Nottingham Forest over Christmas.

Rovers are still playing the pretty football that won them so many friends last season - they are right up there with their fellow promotees Swansea in the passing stakes smashing the League One hoof and hope stereotype to smithereens. The difference is now, since the turn of the year, it is getting them similar results to the Swans. The recent 3-0 and 3-1 defeats to the two South Wales teams in this l;league was a concerning hark back to their early season struggles but the generally accepted wisdom is that fifty two points is enough to survive in this league, I think it will be less this season, and Doncaster already have forty six with thirty left to play for. In form Derby and Bristol City have been beaten, as have play off chasing Sheff Utd and Burnley, and Premiership side were held to a draw here in the FA Cup - and Martin O’Neill’s men were lucky to get that replay.

It has been a wonderful second half to the season for Rovers so far and assuming a bizarre run of results over the run in does not relegate them after all (it won’t happen) they will be here again next season. The trick then for O’Driscoll would be to use the new found status as a secure Championship club to attract better players on his budget and avoid the dreaded second season syndrome. In the meantime it is between him and Martinez for the division’s Manager of the Season award in my opinion.

Men to watch
Doncaster have been getting great joy recently by allowing a couple of classy midfield players to join a more orthodox front man when attacking. That man at the top could be Paul Heffernan who once scored a hat trick against QPR during his time with Notts County and has four goals in his last seven league games after initially only managing three in the whole first half of the season. It could also be Jason Price - a winger by trade but tall and physical enough to play up front. QPR fans may remember Price from his time with Brentford, or his presence in the Swansea team that annihilated us in the FA Cup back when Ian Holloway was in charge at Loftus Road. Price has also spent time with Hull City and has always impressed me whenever I have seen him - he just does not seem to be able to do it consistently in this league though.

The classy support from deep comes firstly from James Coppinger. he was irresistible in their play off semi final thrashing of Southend at the end of last season and is starting to translate that form into the Championship now after a slow start. Doncaster picked him up from Exeter when the two teams shared the upper end of the Conference together and he has come up through the leagues with them. A purchased player joins him in the attacking midfield berth. Martin Woods, until recently more famous for being “that one in the blue sweater” in the Sunderland roasting video scandal, has made a name for himself as a free kick specialist this season with a couple of spectacular long range goals and near misses. He was bummed out by Roy Keane at Sunderland and played for Rotherham in this league and the one below before decamping three stops down the slow train line to Doncaster.

Mark Wilson was always a bit of a celebrity in his home town of Scunthorpe when he signed for Man Utd and his career looked set for lift off when Middlesbrough paid big money to take him and team mate Jonathan Greening to the Riverside. Greening’s career took off, Wilson’s most certainly did not and he has since spent time knocking round on loan at clubs from Livingston to Dallas (go on, hum the theme tune, you know you want to). He has now found a permanent home and place in the Doncaster side as he looks to fulfil early potential.

Darren Byfield provides an extra option for the attack although after starting the season injured he has struggled to make an impact and spent the winter on loan at League One side Oldham scoring once in eight matches. Brian Stock is the other midfield man although he is said to be struggling with injury for this one. QPR fans may well recall midfield hard man Richie Wellens, once sent off in Blackpool colours at Loftus Road.

At the back Doncaster have solid former West Brom and Watford full back James Chambers on the right side with a young but imposing pair of Matt Mills (formerly Man City) and Sam Hird (formerly Leeds) in between. Mills in particular seems to be maturing into a really excellent Gareth Roberts, a former Liverpool trainee who made more than 300 appearances in Tranmere colours, completes the line up. Veteran keeper Neil Sullivan - once of Wimbledon, Tottenham and Leeds - keeps goal.

Previous Meetings
QPR comfortably beat Doncaster 2-0 at Loftus Road back in August. Dexter Blackstock converted from close range at the Loft End in the fifth minute after a wicked free kick delivery from Daniel Parejo out on the flank. The lead was doubled when Leigertwood lobbed a quick free kick in behind the Doncaster defence and Emmanuel Ledesma slid it into the corner of the net leaving the Rovers players appealing for a handball with his first touch.

QPR: Cerny 6, Delaney 6, Hall 6 (Connolly 29, 8), Ramage 7, Stewart 8, Cook 6 (Balanta 72, 7), Mahon 8, Leigertwood 7, Parejo 8 (Rowlands 78, 6), Ledesma 8, Blackstock 7
Subs Not Used: Camp, Di Carmine
Booked: Ladesma (over celebrating) Parejo (arguing/failing to retreat)
Goals: Blackstock 5 (assisted Parejo), Ledesma 28 (assisted Leigertwood)

Doncaster: Sullivan 5, O'Connor 5, Roberts 5, Mills 5 (Van Nieuwstadt 57, 5), Hird 5, Guy 4 (Chambers 84, -), Stock 4, Wellens 5, Coppinger 5, Hayter 5, Taylor 5 (Elliott 84, -)
Subs Not Used: Woods, Spicer

Match Report

This is QPR’s first ever visit to the Keepmoat Stadium and they haven’t played in Doncaster at all since 1985 when they suffered typical FA Cup disaster at the old Belle Vue ground. Despite dominating for long periods Rangers were knocked out by a fine long range strike from midfielder David Harle ten minutes from time.

Head to Head:
Doncaster wins – 5
Draws – 1
Doncaster wins – 4

Previous QPR v Doncaster results
2008/09 QPR 2 Doncaster 0 (Blackstock, Ledesma)
1984/85 Doncaster 1 QPR 0 (FA Cup)
1966/67 Doncaster 1 QPR 1
1966/67 QPR 6 Doncaster 0
1958/59 QPR 3 Doncaster 1
1958/59 Doncaster 2 QPR 0
1951/52 QPR 0 Doncaster 2
1951/52 Doncaster 4 QPR 0
1950/51 Doncaster 0 QPR 2
1950/51 QPR 1 Doncaster 2

Team News
QPR might welcome back Lee Cook or they might not. We’re never told these things any more. We do know however that long term absentees Rowan Vine (broken leg), Patrick Agyemang (thigh), Martin Rowlands and Akos Buzsaky (both ligaments) are still out and if you want to talk about a lack of goals there’s a big reason for our struggles around the penalty area this season. Heidar Helguson had a groin injury at the weekend and is unlikely to play here.

Doncaster are likely to be without injured top scorer Brian Stock who had back spasms and was substituted during the 3-0 defeat at Cardiff on Saturday. Striker Paul Heffernan, second to Stock in the goal scoring charts with seven, is likely to return after missing the weekend action with an illness. James O’Connor will have a late fitness test while Stuart Elliott has a knee injury following his loan spell at Grimsby. Steve Brooker is Rovers’ only long term absentee.
Injury List

Referee
For the second time in reasonably quick succession we have Tyne and Wear official Colin Webster in charge on Tuesday night. He was the referee for our heartbreaking late FA Cup replay defeat at Burnley in January and Rangers will no doubt be hoping for a better result than that at the Keepmoat.
Details

Elsewhere
God almighty we’re in an intense period of fixtures at the moment. I seem to have stared at fixture lists trying to write this section twice a week for the last ten million years and they are starting to blend into one. I suppose Wolves and Ipswich looks like quite an attractive fixture, Wolves have certainly picked up their form again recently. Trying to keep pace are Birmingham who go to Barnsley and Reading who have a home banker against Charlton but have only won three times since Christmas. Burnley v Crystal Palace is a day later than the rest of us.
Tony’s Championship Preview

Form
QPR are currently rock bottom of the Championship form guide with no wins from their last six matches. Doncaster are third despite a weekend set back at Cardiff. It is now seven games without a win for the R’s since a 3-0 win at Blackpool lifted them to within touching distance of the play offs. Four of those games have been drawn, three of them nil nil and Rangers have now played in a mind numbing eight goalless games so far this season. Away from home the poor defeat just down the road from here at Barnsley ten days ago brought to an end an impressive run of six away games without defeat, although again stalemate proved to be an issue with four draws in that run.

Donny were easily beaten 3-0 at Cardiff on Saturday but that cannot hide the progress they have made since Christmas. In form Derby were beaten here 2-1 last time out – Rovers’ seventh home game without defeat, five of which have been won. Wolves were the last team to win here, 1-0 just before Christmas, and ten teams have left here with at least a point this season – Charlton, Southampton, Sheff Utd and Barnsley make up an unimpressive list of teams to have won here but they all did so in the early part of the season.
Form Guide

Prediction
As I said at the top with the division’s two lowest scorers it’s a relatively simple prediction to make – whether it will turn out to be accurate remains to be seen.
Doncaster 0 QPR 0

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Photo: Action Images



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