Following a fantastic performance and victory against promotion chasing West Brom on Saturday QPR must now back up and secure more vital points against relegation rivals Plymouth.

Queens Park Rangers (16th) v Plymouth Argyle (23rd)
Coca Cola Championship
Tuesday March 9, Kick Off 8pm
Loftus Road, London, W12

I'd totally forgotten West Brom hated Neil Warnock as well. His introduction to the Loftus Road crowd before Saturday's game, met with enthusiastic acclaim by the home supporters, brought bile spilling forth from the Baggies fans in the School End. Ignore them? Not a bit of it, Warnock gave them a wave and a big grin just to wind them up a little bit. Then beat them 3-1.

West Brom's beef with the new QPR gaffer dtaes back to 2002 and a clash between Sheffield United, then Warnock's team, and West Brom. The game was abandoned with little under ten minutes still to play when the Blades ran out of players. United had goalkeeper Simon Tracey sent off for denying a goalscoring chance with a deliberate handball and quickly went two goals behind. Warnock then sent on Georges Santos, who later went on to play for QPR, and the fireworks really began. Santos, not very subtly, kicked Baggies midfielder Andy Johnson in the face within seconds of coming on and sparked a brawl during which both he and team mate Patrick Suffo were sent off. Johnson had fractured Santos' eye socket with a vicious elbow the season before. Our new assistant manager Keith Curle could also have gone for punching Derek McInnes but United then controversially took off Michael Brown and Rob Ullathorne with "injuries" that reduced them to six men and caused the game to be abandoned. I thought then, and think now, that had they not been two and then three goals down Brown and Ullathorne would have played on and West Brom were right to be furious with Warnock and the conduct of his team - although in Warnock's defence Suffo and Santos were both transfer listed and never played for the Blades again.

This could become a regular little section in the LFW match previews - what history does our manager have with today's opponents? The list of spats and enemies in Warnock's Wikipedia entry is impressively long - double the length of the details of his playing and managerial career. Some you can sympathise with him over, I wouldn't piss on Gary Megson if he was on fire either, others you can't, I'd kick off if kevin Blackwell had his ear against the door to hear my half time team talk as well. he hates Graham Poll and David Ellery, Leicester City and Sean Bean. He's hated by fans of his former club Bury and ended his time there by applauding a goal scored against them by Bolton.

On Tuesday he faces one of his 19 former clubs, one of five that play in this division, four of which we still have to play. What his reception will be like from the travelling faithful from Plymouth who knows? Warnock did very well with the Pilgrims, leading them to promotion in 1997 from the Thrd Division to the Second before leaving his current assistant at QPR Mick Jones in charge. Typically, the pair fell out when Jones decided to stay at Home Park rather than follow Warnock to Oldham after his sacking.

Whatever the reception it is crucial that Rangers get another three points on the board tonight in this game in hand against a relegation rival - Sheff Utd and Reading away followed by Swansea at home looks like a long week once we've finished tonight.

Five minutes on Plymouth
The story so far: It appears that time in the Championship has finally run out for Plymouth Argyle. The Pilgrims were promoted to this division at the same time as us, 2004, when they won the league ahead of us. Like QPR they have endured numerous scrapes with the drop since and worked their way through several managers. They seem to have cracked things with former Rangers manager Ian Holloway in charge but the impressive play off chasing side he built at Home Park weighed heavy on the club's bank balance and after Olly controversially decamped to Leicester mid-season that team was broken up and they have never been the same since.

Paul Sturrock returned for a second spell in charge after Holloway's departure, and despite overseeing the complete dismantling of a team that included Hayles, Ebanks Blake, Halmosi, Nallis, Buzsaky and Norris he managed to, just about, keep them in the league last season. There has been a takeover this season, but funds have remained scarce and the signings that Sturrock did make in the summer haven't really worked out - Bradley Wright Phillips was the most high profile arrival, and the biggest disappointment with just four sub appearances and no goals for Plymouth since arriving from Southampton.

Sturrock, increasingly affected by his Parkinson's disease, cut a forlorn figure on the touchline at the start of this season as Plymouth lost seven and drew two of their first nine games all but condemning them to a season of struggle. His position seemed, from the outside, to have been undermined still further when former fans' favourite Paul Mariner arrived as first team coach, and sure enough on December 8 after a 1-0 defeat to Swansea he moved upstairs with Mariner taking charge of the team. An impressive double over Christmas where they won at Cardiff 2-0 and then backed up with a 4-1 defeat of Reading at Home Park moved them to within two points of safety but they have been poor since winning only two further games, at home to Derby and at Barnsley, and drifting seven points clear of the fourth bottom team Crystal Palace.

Head coach Paul Mariner says they are not playing badly, but badly need to turn draws into wins - three of their last four games have finished level including Saturday's home match with Preston. Four of their next five fixtures are away and three of them, against QPR, Ipswich and Scunthorpe, represent their last chances to rope those teams towards them at the bottom. You would think that failure to win at least two of these next five games will all but condemn them to a return to the third tier which will be sad, as we've had a pretty good relationship with them since the 2003/04 season, but a welcome relief for our travelling expenses next season assuming we stay up.

The Manager: The inevitable removal of Paul Sturrock from his second spell as Plymouth manager occurred just before Christmas. Sturrock, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease that has affected his speech in recent times, cut an increasingly beleaguered and bedraggled figure in the Home Park dugout this season and with results not going well the writing was on the wall from the moment the club brought in former player Paul Mariner as a first team coach from his assistant manager’s position at New England Revolution. Mariner, who QPR fans remember best from his time at Ipswich where they baited him mercilessly when the sides met, started his playing career at Home Park and scored 56 goals in 135 appearances between 1973 and 1976. He enjoyed a similarly successful eight year spell with Ipswich after Bobby Robson spent £220k on him and he won 35 England caps before moving to Arsenal, Portsmouth and then a succession of Major League Soccer teams. His impressive and high profile playing career is in stark contrast to his coaching which has so far included only one professional team, New England, Harvard University, Bolton School and a succession of junior set ups in America. This is his first experience of coaching professional football in this country and the task of leading the club that gave him his big break in the game to safety looks like a seriously challenging one.

Three to Watch: In this section of the match preview this week we turn our attentions to two players who could well have been QPR players in different circumstances, and one who was to no great effect.

Argyle have loaned Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale in to replace Frenchman Roman Larrieu who played for the Pilgrims when we battled them all the way for promotion from the Second Division and who has always impressed against us. Stockdale came through the ranks at York City but came to the attention of higher division scouts for his performances at Darlington. It was there that QPR allegedly showed an interest as a young understudy to learn from and ultimately replace Radek Cerny, but ultimately he went to Fulham. Since then he has played his football out on loan at Rotherham, Leicester and now Plymouth where he is sure to get plenty of practice.

More recently the R’s were aiming to sign full back Richard Eckersley from Manchester United. A loan, or even a permanent deal, was mentioned during the summer before Premiership new comers Burnley arrived on the scene late and took the product of the Old Trafford youth set up to Turf Moor. No doubt Eckersley was attracted by the lure of Premiership football and Premiership money at a club close to his home but things have not worked out well for him – he’s made no league appearances for the Clarets this season and now finds himself on loan at the other end of the country and the bottom end of the Championship looking for action. Bearing in mind QPR’s problems at full back this season he may well have been better off moving to Loftus Road.

And that leaves our old mate Chris Barker to complete our trio of players to watch. I remember being quite impressed when John Gregory brought Barker to Loftus Road in the summer of 2007, but all was not well that summer and Barker was just one of several very poor signings made that season that contributed to a terrible start to the season – 11 games without a win. Barker always struck me as a steady sort during his time with Barnsley and Cardiff but he was quickly shown up at Loftus Road as being biblically slow and was regularly toasted by even the most meagre Championship wingers. He was suffering from hernia problems while at Loftus Road in his defence but, yeh, not good. QPR struggled at left back before his arrival, and have struggled since, but Barker was most certainly not the answer – the only shame is we no longer have Wayne Routledge to run at him.

Links >>> Plymouth Official Website >>> Plymouth Message Board

History
Recent Meetings:
Rangers travelled down to Home Park in the opening week of the season as part of a three match mini-tour of the south west that also included a 5-0 win at Exeter in the cup and a 1-0 defeat against Bristol City in the league. While grateful not to be sent to Plymouth on Boxing Day again the rangers faithful were left disappointed by a lacklustre performance that still almost yielded a narrow win. Heidar Helguson converted Adel Taarabt's cross shot with his head in the first half but as Rangers performed their time honoured trick of dropping deeper and deeper the longer time went on a scramble in the goal mouth forced an injury time own goal equaliser out of Kaspars Gorkss. The fourth time in as many seasons Rangers have surrendered points to a late goal at Home Park, the third time in four years they had conceded in injury time.

Plymouth: Larrieu 8, McNamee 6, Seip 6, Timar 6, Sawyer 5, Fletcher 5, Paterson 7 (Duguid 86, -), Judge 7 (Noone 82, -), MacLean 5 (Sheridan 46, 7), Mackie 6, Fallon 7
Subs Not Used: Letheren, Arnason, Summerfield, Johnson
Goals: Gorkss 90 og (assisted Fallon) 

QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 6, Hall 7, Gorkss 6, Borrowdale 6, Routledge 7, Leigertwood 7, Mahon 5, Buzsaky 6 (Ephraim 72, 6), Taarabt 7 (Vine 76, 5), Helguson 6 (Agyemang 61, 5)
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Stewart, Pellicori, Connolly
Goals: Helguson 43 (assisted Taarabt)

These two met in the final Loftus Road fixture of last season, fighting out a dire goalless draw on the penultimate weekend of the season. QPR had by this point loaned out Dexter Blackstock and were short of attacking penetration, Plymouth had confirmed their league safety a couple of games before so with nothing to play for and temperatures soaring the two meakly played out 90 minutes of turgidity with few threats on goal. Carl Fletcher should have scored for Argyle in the first half but that was about it.

QPR: Cerny 6, Leigertwood 6, Gorkss 6, Stewart 5, Connolly 5, Routledge 5, Miller 6 (Ramage 62, 5), Mahon 5, Cook 5 (Balanta 56, 6), Helguson 5, Agyemang 5 (German 66, 5)
Subs Not Used: Delaney, Hall

Plymouth: Larrieu 6, Judge 5, Barker 6, Seip 6, Sawyer 5, Duguid 5, Fletcher 5, Gray 5, Gallagher 6, Barnes 5 (Fallon 84, -), Mackie 5
Subs Not Used: Saxton, Timar, Clark, Douala
Booked: Judge (shirt pulling), Fletcher (kicking ball away)

Head to Head:
QPR wins - 17
Draws – 7
Plymouth wins - 24

Previous Results:
2009/10 Plymouth 1 QPR 1 (Helguson)
2008/09 QPR 0 Plymouth 0
2008/09 Plymouth 1 QPR 1 (Helguson)
2007/08 Plymouth 2 QPR 1 (Vine)
2007/08 QPR 0 Plymouth 2
2006/07 QPR 1 Plymouth 1 (Cook)
2006/07 Plymouth 1 QPR 1 (Blackstock)
2005/06 Plymouth 3 QPR 1 (Baidoo)
2005/06 QPR 1 Plymouth 1 (Gallen)
2004/05 Plymouth 2 QPR 1 (Furlong)
2004/05 QPR 3 Plymouth 2 (Furlong 2, Gallen)
2003/04 Plymouth 2 QPR 0
2003/04 QPR 3 Plymouth 0 (Gallen 2, Thorpe)
2002/03 Plymouth 0 QPR 1 (Pacquette)
2002/03 QPR 2 Plymouth 2 (Pacquette, Thomas)
1973/74 QPR 0 Plymouth 3 (League Cup)

Played for both clubs:
Evelyn Lintott
Plymouth 1906-1907
QPR 1907-1908
We're not normally in the habit of copying and pasting old copy on LoftforWords (honest) but in this instance the matches with Plymouth are too Lintott, born in Godalming in 1883, started life as a school teacher and part time footballer with Woking. He joined QPR in 1907 from Plymouth Argyle after just two appearances for the Home Park club and made his debut in a 2-2 draw against New Brompton. He played 35 games for the R’s over two seasons scoring once and becoming the club’s first ever England international in the process. QPR won the Southern League and twice played Manchester United in the new Charity Shield competition during his time with the club. While with QPR he continued his work as a teacher in Willesden.

He won eight England caps while with Rangers, five as an amateur and three as a full international player. He never lost a game for his country while with Rangers, beating Ireland 6-1 and 3-1, Holland 12-2, France 12-0, Belgium 8-2, Germany 5-1, Wales 7-1 and drawing 1-1 with Scotland.

In an effort to dig QPR out of a financial hole (as much as things change they stay the same) Lintott signed professional terms with the club that meant we could demand a fee of £1000 when he moved to Bradford City in 1908. The City manager at the time Peter O’Rourke met Lintott at Paddington station after QPR had played at Swindon Town. He later played for Leeds United between 1912 and 1914. Lintott went on to become secretary of the football association later in his career and the first head of the Professional Footballers Association.

After the outbreak of war Lintott enlisted in Leeds with the 15th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales Own) – the ‘Leeds Pals’ giving his occupation as teacher rather than professional footballer. Lintott was killed on July 1 1916 leading his troop over the top on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and being cut down by machine gun fire. His name can be found on the Thiepval war memorial, his body was never found.

His death was reported in the Yorkshire Post at the time. The report read: “Lt. Lintott’s end was particularly gallant. He led his men with great dash and when hit the first time declined to take the count. Instead he drew his revolver and called for further effort, again he was hit but struggled on but a third shot finally bowled him over."

A true legend and hero. With thanks to queensparkrangers.co.uk, Ron Gould and bantamspast.co.uk for the information.

Links >>> Plymouth 1 QPR 1 Match Report >>> QPR 0 Plymouth 0 Match Report >>> Match Report Archive >>> Connections and Memories

This Tuesday
Team News: QPR were only spared a fine and possible points deduction for fielding too many loans when Marcus Bent pointed out the error to Neil Warnock in the build up to Saturday’s game. With Connolly and Ramage back in and suffering no reactions the only injuries Warnock has to deal with are the long term absentees Gavin Mahon (another month) and Martin Rowlands (rest of the season). The presumption is Lee Cook’s absence on Saturday was injury related but there has been no word on his condition. Expect him to replace Hogan Ephraim if fit.

Plymouth are without Craig Noone and Chris Clark who both picked up knocks on the heavy Home Park pitch against Preston on Saturday. Reda Johnson has a groin injury that kept him out of the weekend action and will again prevent him from turning out at Loftus Road on Tuesday. Alan Judge, impressive in the corresponding fixture between the teams, missed out on Saturday with a hamstring problem but is fit to play here.

Elsewhere: There are going to be a few of these Tuesday nights coming up where there are scraps of fixtures from the football league scattered around all over the place as clubs attempt to catch up with the games that fell victim to the harshest winter I can remember for years. This was meant to be our first Saturday home game of the new year you may recall and there are seven other rearranged games on the list this Tuesday - seven of the eight teams below QPR are in action. Palace will be looking to build on their win on Saturday with another success against out of form Bristol City at Selhurst Park - while City have probably done enough to scrape home without too many other problems their form, including a home thrashing by Doncaster at the weekend, could drag them deeper into the mire if they lose again to Paul Hart's side. Ipswich host play off chasing Cardiff, Sheff Wed have a tough looking task at West Brom while Reading must shake off their cup hangover to beat Derby on Wednesday.

Referee: A new referee for both teams this week, Paul Tierney takes charge of QPR and Plymouth for the first time in this only his second ever Championship appointment. His previous one was with Neil Warnock earlier this season as Crystal Palace won 2-1 at Scunthorpe with an injury time goal. Warnock will take a repeat of the result, but not the card count of eight yellows and one red. More details at the link below.

Links >>> Dean Sturridge Memorial Injury List >>> Arthur Gnohere Discipline Counter >>> Big Weekend >>> Tierney in charge >>> Referee League

Form
QPR: Rangers have won two of their last three, and both of their last two games at home, having won only one of their previous 17 and lost at home to Leicester, Scunthorpe, Middlesbrough, Sheff Utd and Ipswich in that spell. Rangers have won only two of nine matches against the bottom six so far this season – including a one one draw with Plymouth at Home Park. Despite the impressive victory over promotion chasing West Brom on Saturday the unwanted record of going the longest of any team in the football league without keeping a clean sheet remains – it’s 24 matches since a shut out now, more than half a season. Only Scunthorpe (six) have had more players sent off than QPR this season - five, although Ben Watson got two of those.

Plymouth: Argyle have drawn three and lost three of their last seven matches. They have however scored six goals in their last two away games in defeat at Sheff Utd (3-4) and victory at Barnsley (3-1). Their form since Christmas has not been great, but it has been better than ours – they have four wins in their last fourteen matches with successes against Derby, Cardiff and Reading to go with that Barnsley win. Plymouth haven’t kept a clean sheet in eight matches. Overall away from home this season they have won four, more than everybody around them except Palace, and those wins came at Barnsley, Cardiff, Middlesbrough and Peterborough. Argyle have been playing catch up since the start of the season when they began with seven defeats and two draws from their first nine league games. Plymouth have actually conceded relatively few goals, 48, compared to those around them – Peterborough 57, Sheff Wed 55, Scunthorpe 61, Reading 49, Watford 49, QPR 52, Bristol City 49, Preston 49. Their 3-1 win at Barnsley a month ago was the first time they have come from behind to win since Boxing day 2007 when they came from a goal down to beat QPR at Home Park.

Prediction: Not the walkover many fans are expecting, but a QPR win all the same. Yes, yes I know whenever I predict a win it turns out to be a disaster and if Plymouth watched the video of Saturday’s game with West Brom they’ll have plenty of weaknesses to go at but still, it genuinely feels like a bit of a corner has been turned. I won’t go so far as to suggest we may finally get that elusive clean sheet, but I do think we will win all the same.
QPR 2 Plymouth 1

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