Our regular look at the experiences of supporters at QPR away games takes us to Charlton and a thrilling 2-2 draw on Boxing Day.

1 – The Match
A good advert for what the Championship is all about really. The quality was not good from either team but it was played at a frightening pace, went from end to end, was abysmally refereed and had four goals and therefore was very entertaining. Charlton started fairly well but looked low on confidence and after about a quarter of an hour QPR took the game over. Lee Cook gave the R’s the lead with a sweetly struck free kick over the wall and Sam Di Carmine should have made it two from close range just before half time. After the break Charlton switched tactics, using Lloyd Sam against Matt Connolly more often to great effect and with rangers doing their usual sitting back trick it took Nicky Bailey just four minutes to equalise. Charlton were the better team after that but Rangers retook the lead against the run of play through Dexter Blackstock after a throw in that should have been given to QPR in the first place was thrown straight to Mikele Leigertwood by the Charlton man. Once again Rangers sat back and once again Bailey equalised after a mistake by Radek Cerny. Rangers forced a string of corners in stoppage time and thought they had won the game when sub Helguson hit the post and Ledesma forced in the rebound but the goal was ruled out for a foul by Dexter Blackstock on Martin Cranie. Rip roaring and breathless stuff at times.
8/10

2 – QPR performance
Sousa picked a strange team for this match, with six changes to the one that beat Preston the week before. Heidar Helguson was left out despite scoring two the week before and Matteo Alberti was given a debut in midfield. As a consequence of that Rangers failed to a win a game that really was there for the taking – Charlton were so poor that even with a scratch side out Rangers were only denied a win by a decision from the referee. In the first half the R’s played reasonably well and deserved to be in front at half time. In the second half we played poorly and scarcely deserved retake the lead when we did. Ultimately it was more of the same old story – the second we take the lead in a match our attitude changes completely and we immediately sink deep into our own half and start giving the ball away. We have a lamentable attitude to holding onto the lead in matches, abandoning all the good things that got us into a position of advantage in the first place and in favour of bad practices that have never yielded anything other than defeats, draws and every so often, once in the last 20 away matches and counting, a narrow win.
5/10

3 – QPR Support
Decent in number if not in volume. Just over 2500 R’s made the journey across London on Boxing Day however the atmosphere was strangely muted in the away end even when we were winning. This could be down to a Christmas hangover, the freezing conditions or the team’s infuriating fascination with sitting back on a single goal lead. It may also be down to my position near the front of the stand – perhaps the atmosphere was better further back or in another part of the stand.
6/10

4 – Atmosphere
The Charlton fans were nervous and keen to moan and groan at their own players in the first half but, like the team, they improved immeasurably in the second. The backing given to Charlton in the second half was excellent and the fans were rewarded with two goals – they did collapse somewhat after Blackstock’s goal but soon picked up again as Charlton pushed for an equaliser. As said the QPR fans were fairly quiet throughout.
7/10

5 – The Ground
I was a fair-weather fan and stayed at home to watch last season’s game on the television therefore The Valley has changed a great deal since my last visit. Corners and an additional tier have been added to the stand at the far end although as the seats around a third of the new build have faded to pink in the sun it looks like it has been there a lot longer than it has. You can tell they have added to it bit by bit over the past 15 years or so since moving back from Selhurst because it is all a bit of a higgledy-piggledy mess with nothing quite matching or sitting on the same level. Still, I like it – everybody is close to the pitch and the high, steep stands lend themselves to a good match day atmosphere. That is before you get to the away end however which has been left to rot while the rest of the ground has been developed. The facilities for away fans are grossly inadequate for the number of people that can sit in that stand – even with 1000 odd empty seats in the away end the toilets were absolutely rammed, the refreshment kiosks swamped and the whole area outside the stand cramped. The area where the toilets, food and betting was is a small open air concrete courtyard type area very similar, almost identical in fact, to the one behind the away end at Crewe – the difference is you can only get 1500 people in the away end at Crewe and even then that area struggles to cope. The stand only has one exit out to it which meant for a squeeze at half time and a very long wait at full time – heaven forbid they have to evacuate the place in a hurry. The seating area was dirty and cramped, the only obstructing pillar in the whole place was slap bang in the middle of the away end and several very large, fat pigeons were having a great time bombing the away fans from a television gantry that hung precariously directly above the goal. Overall then a nice modernised old ground on three sides, but an away end in desperate need of attention.
6/10

6 – The Journey
Urgh. I had to drive. I hate driving, I spend all week rattling up and down the M1 in a car and on a Saturday I like to ditch the bloody thing and take the train. Sadly our country has a third world rail system that along with the sky high fares for abysmal service also offers no service whatsoever for 48 hours over Christmas despite repeated promises from the operating companies when they are bidding for the franchises. That and a 1pm kick off (why?) meant the whole thing was a ball ache. I set off from Scunthorpe at half six, picked up two in Sheffield at half seven and then drove down the M1 for a couple of hours. Winding our way through north London and the city was easier than normal because there was nobody else around although the Blackwall Tunnell still found reason to close for 20 minutes just before 11 when we arrived meaning we had to sit there wondering if we had come all this way just to sit at the mouth of a glorified public sewer for three hours and miss the match. Anyway once through there we parked up on the nearby industrial estate and walked up to the ground. A lack of forward planning when parking meant we were the wrong side of the ground to get back through the tunnel without encountering a load of traffic so we went past Woolwich Barracks and out to the M25 on the A2, under the Dartford crossing and then up the M11 and M1. I arrived back just in time to see Villa equalise against Arsenal but could feel myself nodding off at the wheel several times so had to keep stopping. Like I said – ball ache.
3/10

7 – Pre Match
Driving and an early kick off meant a trip to the pub was pointless and so I actually went into the ground more than an hour before kick off for the first time in my life and froze my bits off. I had an interesting chat with a member of staff at Charlton – whose name and job shall remain a secret for fear of getting him the sack as he was less than complimentary about their current team. That was it really – cold and bored until the players came out to warm up. Watching the QPR players was quite interesting but it just goes to show you can tell little from training because Sam Di carmine was taking everything on his right foot and shooting strongly beforehand then when given a chance in the game he brought it back onto his left and made a mess of it and Cook’s free kicks and shots were poor in the warm up and then he scored.
4/10

8 – Police and Stewards
Very few police about from what I could see although that may have been different round by the pubs. The stewards insisted on doing a thorough search of everybody arriving at the gate which was a pain. The ones in amongst the seats demanded to see our tickets, and then had absolutely no idea where our seats were once they had looked. Clueless.
5/10
Total – 44/80

Photo: Action Images

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