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Parejo and Ledesma impress as QPR comfortably beat Doncaster Rovers – full match report
Parejo and Ledesma impress as QPR comfortably beat Doncaster Rovers – full match report
Sunday, 24th Aug 2008 21:47

QPR returned to winning ways with an accomplished performance and 2-0 victory against Doncaster Rovers at Loftus Road on Saturday.

Better. Much better. Admittedly the opposition wasn’t up to much, Doncaster turned in their worst performance in the Championship so far, but QPR looked a lot more solid, a lot better balanced and much more creative and attractive when in possession.

With Parejo and Ledesma a joy to watch behind the much improved Dexter Blackstock and Gavin Mahon anchoring the midfield nicely this was a whole lot better than the victory against Barnsley, similarly limited opponents, on the opening day and there was no hint of the dissent from the stands that marred that win.

Unsurprisingly after the capitulation at Sheffield United Iain Dowie made shape and personnel changes to his team. Out went Angelo Balanta leaving Blackstock to play alone up front with support from Daniel Parejo who was given more license to roam with Gavin Mahon coming into a holding role in a five man midfield that also included Mikele Leigertwood in the middle, Emmanuel Ledesma on the right and Lee Cook down the left. There was no place for Martin Rowlands though who had to make do with a spot on the bench on his return from suspension. At the back Kaspars Gorkss was left out, and didn’t even make the bench, after a poor start to life at QPR and a week away with Latvia going into this match. Damion Stewart got the nod in the middle with Fitz Hall. Peter Ramage replaced Matt Connolly at right full back with Delaney on the left and Cerny still preferred to Camp in goal.

Doncaster arrived at Loftus Road in good form after a win and a draw to start and had former R Gareth Taylor up front with Lewis Guy who had scored both their goals so far this season. They were without summer signing Darren Byfield through a hernia though, and winger Jason Price who provides a physical presence and attacking force from wide areas, and while a lot of their football was good to watch they lacked anything meaningful in attack and Radek Cerny didn’t have a serious save to make all afternoon. Brian Stock was able to take his place in the midfield despite missing the Wales v Georgia game in the week with a back complaint so manager Sean O’Driscoll was able to name an unchanged team for the third straight league game.

QPR surged into the lead after just five minutes. Good hard work by the home side in the Doncaster right back spot turned a free kick and throw in to the away team into a dangerous free kick for the home side when Blackstock was tripped by Mills on the edge of the penalty area. Daniel Parejo came across to take it and produced a simply undefendable delivery into the six yard box where Blackstock was on hand to knee the ball over the line from less than a yard out. The quality of the set piece was really something to behold, Sullivan may be disappointed that he remained rooted to his line throughout but the pace on the ball would have made it very difficult for him to deal with even if he had made an attempt and Blackstock could hardly miss his second goal of the season as a result.

Blackstock ran off to celebrate, pointing to and kissing his black arm band in memory of Ray Jones as he did it. There is a lot of debate over what QPR’s best starting eleven actually is at the moment and very few people have Blackstock in theirs when forced to make a decision. He finished last season strongly but had a poor campaign overall and although he started this season with two goals in four games which isn’t a bad return it would have been almost impossible not to score with the balls in from Cook and Parejo that set him up. Still with Rowan Vine’s return still some way off he has time to prove to the supporters that he is worth a place in the team when everybody is fit and this was his best performance for some time.

QPR played some lovely football in the first half and continued to flood forward after the goal. Within minutes Damien Delaney had gone on a typically marauding run from left back and found himself played in and facing the goal but with the ball on his unfavoured right foot. Rather than have a crack he tried to bring the ball back onto his left and in the end couldn’t get a shot away, Parejo picked up possession and couldn’t get an effort in on Sullivan either so it was left to Lee Cook to shoot but he scuffed his effort and the chance had gone. Cook returned to his more recognised position wide on the left in the next attack and crossed for Blackstock but the old partnership just failed to click this time and the striker hit a weak effort straight at the keeper – still I bet Dexter is glad to have him back.

All Doncaster had to show for their efforts in the first twenty minutes was an acrobatic shot by one time QPR transfer target James Hayter but that was blocked by a crowd of defenders long before it could reach the goal.

The new system with two holding midfielders and three attacking ones was working beautifully with Mahon, Ledesma and Parejo excelling. The Spaniard went close to his first goal for the club when a flowing move that he started with a ball into Blackstock on the edge of the area finished with an excellent cross from Ramage onto Parejo’s head but he sent a powerful effort a foot or so over the bar and into the Lower Loft. On the next attack Parejo flung himself to the ground inside the area under minimal contact from Roberts but Mick Thorpe rightly waved the appeals away and the foreign boys really are going to have to cut their play acting out now they’re playing in the Championship – it’s the one thing that keeps letting them down.

Just before the half hour Rangers doubled their lead with a goal that was far too easy to score from a Doncaster point of view. Stock fouled Parejo on halfway and with Rovers seemingly fast asleep Mikele Leigertwood knocked a quick free kick into the heart of the penalty area where Ledesma had time and space to chest the ball down and poke it into the bottom corner for his first goal for the club. Doncaster offered a weak appeal for handball against the Argentine but they were waved away. Leigertwood deserves credit for the quick thinking with the free kick, and the quality of his pass which flew fully fifty yards before landing plum on Ledesma’s chest. A terrific goal all round for us to score, a poor one for Doncaster to concede.

Ledesma, goal celebrator in chief in the games so far this season, finally had one of his own to get excited about and he ran to the fans in the Lower Loft to hand out high fives and group hugs. He didn’t go over the advertising hoardings or cause any great problems or delay in restarting the game but referee Mike Thorpe decided it was worthy of a yellow card and hoisted it high in a triumph for pickiness, officiousness and small minded joyless bastards everywhere.

The good mood around Loftus Road was tempered immediately though when Fitz Hall was forced off through injury – Hall had been struggling for ten minutes or so after an awkward fall and Matt Connolly came on to replace him. Hall looked unfit and injury prone in the second half of last season after arriving from Wigan where he’d hardly played at all in the previous six months. He’s looked much fitter so far this season and this latest set back is a worry. Having said that Stewart was excellent before and after the change and Connolly continues to look a class act when used at centre half. I reiterate the opposition was of poor quality but Connolly and Stewart looked very good together.

The change at the back didn’t upset the rhythm of the QPR performance and their total dominance of proceedings continued in the remaining quarter of an hour of the half. Ledesma, who lofted a few free kicks too close to the keeper or out without a touch on the day, managed a good one after he’d been fouled by Roberts but Stewart could only head straight at Sullivan at the back post. Ledesma tried a somewhat more spectacular bicycle kick following a cross by Gavin Mahon but that failed to trouble the scorers.

Parejo took the next free kick after a foul by Stock on Cook thirty yards out from goal but the Spaniard could only find the Loft with an ambitious effort that Sullivan waved farewell long before it reached the goal line. Doncaster strung one or two nice moves together but Radek Cerny was a virtual spectator in the first half with hardly a save to make.

Things didn’t improve much for them in the second half although James Coppinger fired into the side netting when well placed to do better after poor play by Delaney. Certainly nobody could argue with the style of football played by both sides – it was all a far cry from some of the hoofathon games we’ve seen at Loftus Road in recent years. The teams traded overhit crosses after this with Ledesma sending a free kick too close to Sullivan and Cerny plucking the ball out of the air when Coppinger looked for Guy.

The Czech keeper got down to make a comfortable save from Wellens just before the hour but the half was disrupted when the ball came back into play when young centre back Matt Mills received treatment for a knock to the jaw and in the end he had to be replaced by Dutchman Van Nieuwstadt. After that the half moved on at a pedestrian pace with QPR happy to hold what the had and Doncaster unable to do very much to trouble their hosts. The only moment of any excitement or controversy saw Parejo booked for arguing the toss and failing to retreat at a free kick, depending on what he said it looked like another overly officious and petty booking from the match official.

Ledesma curled a free kick just over the bar on the hour and he was probably the outstanding QPR player on the day once again.

Dowie made his second change of the game with less than twenty minutes to go replacing Lee Cook with Angelo Balanta. Cook showed nice touches and made a couple of decent runs but is still a long way from being the player that he was in his last spell with us and seems to be lacking an extra yard somewhere. Whether that will come with match fitness and practise I’m not sure but at the moment he looks the most vulnerable midfielder with Buzsaky due to return after the international break.

Balanta nearly announced his arrival in the best possible fashion with a jinking run from the left flank that ended up with him on the edge of the box, facing the goal with Doncaster backing off and offering him the shot. In the end he delayed it too long and could only scuff a toe poke that failed to trouble Sullivan unduly. Balanta endured a tough time at Sheffield United last week but looked more than useful after coming into this game and is certainly a promising young talent.

Martin Rowlands made his keenly awaited return a few minutes after Balanta came on replacing Parejo who was given a standing ovation from the crowd on his way off. Soon the two new arrivals combined on the edge of the area in a move that finished with Balanta having a shot blocked. Rowlands also pulled the strings on another move that worked Damien Delaney into space in the penalty area but the big Irishman couldn’t find the target with a wild effort.

Doncaster made a couple of changes themselves, sending James Chambers and Stuart Elliott on for Lewis Guy and Gareth Taylor. QPR fans will remember Elliott as the man who scored twice in the last minute of a game at the KC Stadium the season before last to turn a 1-0 QPR lead into a 2-1 defeat but there was to be no repeat of that on Saturday, Elliott barely got a touch after coming off the bench and Rovers finished the game without registering a serious effort on target in the whole match – three shots on target according to the statistics, but Cerny was able to gather all of them without breaking a sweat.

Mr Thorpe decided we should have six minutes of stoppage time which seemed a little excessive despite the earlier injury to Mills but it passed off without further incident before the final whistle was blown as the crowd struck up a chorus of ‘there’s only one Ray Jones’ in tribute to the young striker who died a year ago.

It’s impossible to tell just how good a performance this was because the opposition was so weak. Doncaster have started the season quite well but it will be a long hard winter for them if they keep playing like that. This match reminded me very much of one we played with Gary Waddock as manage near the start of the 2006/07 season where we beat newly promoted Southend 2-0 at Loftus Road in August. Everybody thought that was the start of something special and we’d go on to achieve great things with Waddock – in the end it was the last game we won under him in the league and Southend turned out to be one the league’s worst teams and relegated anyway.

I tipped Doncaster for relegation before the season started and I saw little here to change my mind. Therefore it’s hard to get carried away with QPR’s performance. Mind you everybody, me more than most, went to town on the boys last week when they lost to Sheff Utd which was only one defeat against a good side that won well again yesterday away to Blackpool. It’s not like me to sit on the fence as regular readers will know but I simply don’t know how good this performance or result was and won’t for another few weeks until we get to see how good we are and how good Doncaster are.

I thought the new formation worked very well, Gavin Mahon was excellent as the holding midfielder and should really have played at Sheff Utd. The team was more balanced across the park than last week and with Ledesma and Parejo excelling at the heart of everything good we did there was only ever going to be one result here. Dexter Blackstock played well as a lone striker and Matt Connolly and Damion Stewart were both very impressive at centre half, albeit against little by way of a challenge. If there was a negative it’s that Rangers didn’t put the rounds of the kitchen through Rovers and score a few more in the second half when they seemed to be there for the taking.

I’d expect changes for the Carlisle game on Tuesday night at Loftus Road and then next week we’re at Bristol City which will be a real test of whether we have progressed and found a few answers to the problems we had at Sheffield United or whether this success was more to do with the poor opposition than anything brilliant QPR were doing.

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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

QPR Star Man – Emmanuel Ledesma 8 Lots of candidates for this award this week – Gavin Mahon was again outstanding and I really don’t understand him not playing at Sheffield. Damion Stewart and Matt Connolly were both excellent but I’ve overlooked them because of the lack of serious opposition. Daniel Parejo was a joy to watch and pulled plenty of strings but likewise Ledesma and with him getting a goal as well he just gets the nod for me. A player that makes all the expense of following QPR worthwhile.

Referee: Mike Thorpe (Suffolk) 6 Refereed pretty well throughout but I’ve knocked two marks off for the bookings. To book a 19 year old kid for over celebrating his first goal for a new club is miserly and officious at the best of times but to do it when the player remained on the right side of the advertising hoardings with his shirt on is just petty. Likewise the Parejo booking for delaying the taking of a free kick when he didn’t lose his temper or stand in front of the ball, he was actually about nine yards away when the card was shown. Really uptight on those two occasions, needs a young lady to show him a fun time so he can loosen up a bit.

Attendance: 13,536 Some dispute about this with the public address system and scoreboard giving this figure but the website and news agencies adding two thousand. For me the lower number looked the more likely and I’m intrigued as to how a club that says it sold a record number of season tickets, 10,000 of them to be precise, is getting exactly the same crowds for home matches that it did when it only had half that many. Decent atmosphere all the same.



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