Having seen the R’s perform well in the previous two away fixtures at Cardiff and Chelsea, today we arrived at Loftus Road with high hopes. With a home victory so far eluding us today was the perfect opportunity to take three points, rejuvenated Barnsley were the opponents.
Barnsley have enjoyed a small turn around since Mark Robins took the hot-seat and even beat Burnley in the cup during the week, their reward was announced at lunchtime – a trip to Old Trafford. Having seen the draw the question had to be asked, would Barnsley be distracted by the trip and would the Superhoops be able to capitalise on it? Those were a few questions that were asked as me, Lofty, PK and Mark were joined by two young R’s Aaron and Coral, who was attending her first game at Loftus Road.
The same team that defeated Cardiff 2-0 last week took to the field in hope that they could extend Barnsley’s dreadful run of results at Loftus Road, they haven’t won on their last 19 visits which stretches back 59 years!
The opening minutes saw opportunities at both ends, Buzsaky having an effort cleared by a sea of Barnsley legs and Ian Hume scuffing an effort wide when all of the gang thought disaster was about to strike.
Rangers continued to knock the ball around really well and on seven minutes we witnessed the opening goal.
Rowlands won the ball in centre midfield and laid the ball off to Leigertwood, as he advanced the Barnsley midfield and defence just stood off him and no challenge came so when he was 20 yards out he unleashed an unstoppable low drive into the bottom right hand corner.
Just eight minutes later it was 2-0.
Rangers broke away and as Watson advanced through the Barnsley half he spotted the run behind the Barnsley defence by Buzsaky, Watson slid a ball through and Buzsaky was more than happy to take advantage of this opportunity as he curled his effort into the same corner as Leigertwood did previously.
Hot on the heels of the second goal it looked as if a third was going to follow and effectively end the game as a contest. Watson was once again the provider, this time he played in the on rushing Routledge, his effort once again beat Barnsley keeper David Preece but he saw the shot bounce off the foot off the left hand post.
It was great to finally see the team knocking the ball around with relative ease but still seem as if we were playing within ourselves and had an extra gear or two in reserve.
Barnsley then created their first opportunities since the opening exchanges but a fantastic last ditch challenge by Damion Stewart on Andy Gray and then Gary Borrowdale timed his sliding tackle perfectly on Ian Hume to deny another goal scoring opportunity.
Rangers then got themselves a third goal and looked to be cruising towards their first win of the season.
Once again the break was down the left hand side and Simpson was in possession. He held the ball up until laying off to Buzsaky. Like with the first goal, for Leigertwood, the defence just stood off Buzsaky and with Preece not far off his line the Hungarian curled his shot from 30 yards out, over the keeper and into the top right corner. A truly wonderful strike and is an early contender for goal of the season!
The half time interval was a very enjoyable one for us all, think some of us were even in shock as we were so in control and at times the game had a training kind of feel to it.
A few of us expected that maybe a change or two would come around seeing as we have two very difficult away fixtures in the next seven days but there wasn’t any and the second half begun.
After a decent opening five minutes and with an effort just being flashed wide by Simpson it looked as if service was resumed but Barnsley, who must’ve had a stern talking to by manager Mark Robins, had different ideas.
It was a corner from the left for the visitors that proved to be the undoing of what looked to be a solid R’s back four. The corner was floated in and Foster arrived unchallenged at the far post to guide the ball home and give Barnsley a glimmer of hope.
Three minutes later that glimmer turned into a real opportunity of coming back into the game.
Damion Stewart inadvertently tripped Hammill just inside the box and the ref awarded the visitors a penalty.
Gray took the penalty and Cerny done brilliantly to save it but unfortunately the rebound fell kindly to Gray once again and he lashed the ball home from close range.
Cerny then produced the save of the match as he managed to get his finger tips to Hume’s curling effort which seemingly looked as if it was heading for the top corner.
You could feel the tension build in the stadium as Rangers who seemed to be cruising at half time now looked as if they were going to throw away all the hard work from the opening 45 minutes.
After seeing out a difficult ten minute period normal service resumed.
Buzsaky this time turned provider as his cross was laid off by Vine into the path of the fantastic Ben Watson and his shot went straight at Preece but he was unable to keep hold of the shot and it spun back into the net. You had to feel sorry for the goalkeeper there but the fans were not going to let him off lightly as they started to sing “you’re supposed to catch the ball” and after Cerny caught a ball up at the other end of the pitch the song changed to “that’s how you catch the ball”.
Just after the fourth goal a double substitution was made, Faurlin and Taarabt came on for Routledge and Vine.
The goals didn’t stop there either!
A corner from the right hand side from Faurlin floated towards the back post, Gorkss was there to head the ball back into the danger area and Simpson was there to get the last touch on what will probably the easiest goal he will ever score in the hoops.
The game was over as a contest back there was enough time for a sour moment to be left in the R’s fans memories.
Rangers broke away with Taarabt and as he advanced the Barnsley defence melted away in front of him. Buzsaky was free in space and if Taarabt laid the ball off to him then it would’ve been the perfect opportunity for Buz to get his hat trick, instead he took the greedy option and didn’t even get a shot in. The R’s faithful went mental and Taarabt’s reaction didn’t go down well with the group of us in Upper Loft. When he did pass a minute or so later, which was greeted by a few ironic cheers, once again got a reaction from the arrogant Moroccan. He looked disinterested from that moment on and really needs to be told to improve his attitude before pulling on the hooped shirt once again. We’ve performed fantastically in the last three games without him so I think he will have to get used to life on the bench for a while longer anyway.
So a fantastic seven goal thriller that had everything in it and some brilliant goals to watch over the weekend. The next test up at Newcastle looks to be a tasty encounter after their 4-0 demolition job at Ipswich.
All that remains in the Man of the Match award.
This week Lofty has given the award to two players, Akos Buzsaky for his two wonderful goals and Ben Watson for controlling the midfield.
QPR: Cerny, Stewart, Leigertwood, Routledge (Faurlin 69), Vine (Taarabt 69), Buzsaky, Gorkss, Rowlands, Watson, Simpson (Pellicori 79), Borrowdale.
Subs not used: Heaton, Ramage, Mahon, Ephraim.
Goals: Leigertwood (7), Buzsaky (15 & 39), Watson (67), Simpson (79)
Barnsley: Preece, Colace, Foster, Hume (Bogdanovic 60), De Silva, Butterfield (Kozluk 56), Hammill, A. Gray (Campbell-Ryce 76), Dickinson, Shotton, Doyle.
Subs not used: Rusling, Devaney, J. Gary, Thompson.
Goals: Foster (51), Gray (55)
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