108 Not Out for Beckham...

David Beckham equalled the great Bobby Moore's record of 108 England caps for an outfield player after coming on as a second half substitute in England's 2-0 defeat in Spain.



Beckham, currently on loan at AC Milan, now joins Moore behind goalkeeper Peter Shilton, England's record appearance holder with 125 caps.

Congratulations, David Beckham!!

LH New Mascot...

QPR have 'Spark' the Tiger, now Lofty Heights is proud to announce it's very own mascot, in the shape of Corp's Family dog, Coco.



More pictures of Coco will be appear on a regular basis.

A Good Result???

Forest 2-2 QPR

Matteo Alberti scored his first goals for QPR in a 2-2 draw with Forest at the City Ground, but could and should have taken all three points.



The City Ground in Nottingham, is a ground that QPR have never won in what is now 27 attempts at and without question, we should have done today. But despite a good away point, I am sitting here writing this with slight disappointment. But the day started on a positive enough note. What with all the snow and everything in the week, there was never any doubt that this game would go ahead and myself, PK and the Henley mob enjoyed a trouble free journey and arrived at around 12.30. From there, we took a walk and after years of not quite making it, we FINALLY made the famous 'HOOTERS' bar for our pre match entertainment. One for the lads this one, definitely, with TV's everywhere showing the lunchtime Sky match. But in truth, many other distractions meant that the TV's were hardly even given a second glance.



The American Style food on display also looked appetising enough, but our lack of foresight in booking a table, meant that we turned to a burger van for our pre match food.

Onto the game and Rangers largely controlled the first half and certainly looked the more threatening, with a double goal line clearance from the home side and Liegertwood hitting the post, were all that were keeping the scores level. But on the stroke of half time Forest won a penalty when McGugan chipped in a superb ball for Chambers and he was quite stupidly pulled back by Alberti. McGugan made no mistake from the spot. Three minutes into first-half injury time, Alberti redeemed himself when Matt Connolly pulled the ball back from the right byline and the Italian fired beyond Paul Smith to bring the sides level.

Alberti added his second two minutes after the break, latching onto Wayne Routledge's flick on, holding off the defender and firing a superb shot across goal and into the top corner.



Routledge missed a golden chance to make the game safe, minutes later, but on 66 minutes, Forest were level. Chambers cross in looked like Camp's all the way, but it went over the R's keeper, too the unmarked Cohen to nod past the standing Stewart and Gorkss on the goaline. Lee Camp cried foul, after the match, Paulo Sousa has cried foul, but to me, it looked like Camp made a complete mess of it. Either way, the scores were level. Mikele Leigertwood thought he had put QPR ahead again with a superb header, only to be denied by a stunning save from Smith.

QPR: Camp, Delaney, Stewart, Mahon, Leigertwood, Routledge, Gorkss, Connolly, Miller (Ephraim 70), Alberti (Balanta 82), Di Carmine (Blackstock 59). Subs: Hall, Rose.

Lofty's Man of the Match - Kaspars Gorkss. Hard to look elsewhere than the Rangers centre backs this afternoon, but Gorkss just shaded it for me today.

In summary, it probably shows how far we have come that most are disappointed with a draw away from home, especially as Forest have been in such good form recently. Both sides had key players missing, but Rangers were so much better than Forest in all departments. Forest in comparison, were pretty poor I have to say, which makes it even more frustrating that two mistakes have cost us another good three away points.

And finally, I mentioned in last week's report, I mentioned Vickie's cool new gloves which have proved to be a godsend for her in this bitterly cold weather. I am pleased to announce that Vickie kindly agreed to model them for us today...

Forest Away, UPDATE

From the Official QPR Website;

Nottingham Forest v QPR - latest update 11.00am

The Club has received an e-mail from the Secretary at Nottingham Forest Football Club this morning (Friday) to confirm that their pitch is currently playable.

As long as there is not a severe deterioration in the weather overnight, the fixture at The City Ground will go ahead as planned.

Lofty Needs You...

If you don't know already, the Football Fans Census awards have come around again and much to my surprise, LH was nominated in the Best Blog in The Championship category this time last year. Unfortunately, it didn't make the final 10, but it would be great to think that LH could do well again and if not, get a bit further.

So, if you have a moment and would like to vote, please click here.

Whilst your there and in a generous mood, you may also like to consider voting for the excellent site I do a few bits for, Loft for Words in the best online fanzine category, along with Clive Whittingam as best writer/editor. Clive's work is excellent and an award would be richly deserved.

The closing date is tomorrow (Friday), I thank you!!

R's On the Road...

Weather permitting of course, QPR's next game is away at Nottingham Forest this coming Saturday 7th February. Lee Brown brings you some info, hints and tips for those R's fans making the journey to the City Ground.

Rough Guide to Forest, by Lee Brown

The City Ground, Current Capacity 30,576



Nottingham Forest play at The City Ground situated south of Nottingham City Centre and the River Trent opposite Trent Bridge Cricket Ground. The visitors are accommodated in the Lower Tier of the Bridgford Stand. The capacity is 4,750 but this is usually reduced to about 3,000. Access to the visitors turnstiles is through The Brian Clough Stand car park via Scarrington Road off Lady Bay Bridge. It
is also possible to follow Colwick Road (and Orston Road), to get to these turnstiles, this can be found halfway along Radcliffe Road next to a pedestrian crossing.

Parking prohibitions are in force on match days around the ground. Nottingham City Council operates a paying car park 15-20 minutes walk away on Victoria Embankment. Access is via Clifton Bridge complex to Queens Drive and then
Riverside Way. South of the river in West Bridgford it is permitted to park in the side streets; however, it should be noted that this parking is in short supply and is unpopular with residents. There are also a number of places on the opposite side of the Trent, including Notts County's Meadow Lane ground, which charge about £2 to park.

As you may or may not know, Rangers away form at the City Ground is dreadful! QPR have never won there in their history, making it one of the only grounds they have failed to pick up a win from. Having only scored 16 goals in the previous 26 fixtures at Forest, it is essential that Rangers continue their rich vain of form away from home having scored 5 and kept 2 cleans sheets in the previous 2 away games.

On top of the 2 clean sheets in the last 2 away games, Rangers also have a clean sheet from the weekend game against league high-flyers Reading. Defensively QPR now look very stable, the combination of Connolly, Stewart, Gorkss and Delaney now looks a settled and well oiled back four. It's all a question of who has their shooting boots on to go and score the vital goal(s) that their smooth passing and counter attacking football deserves.

It may only be a matter of time before we start finding the net on a more frequent basis. Forest themselves have been in good form and were on a 6 match unbeaten streak until losing to Cardiff on Saturday. Since being under the guidance of ex Preston and Derby boss Billy Davies, Forest have clawed themselves away from the relegation scrap and are now climbing the league at a healthy rate and are currently laying in 17th place. The main dangerman for Forest has been Rob Earnshaw, whose 11 goals in all competitions, 4 in the last 5 games before missing the Cardiff game, has helped lift Forest up the table and also defeat Man City up at Eastlands in the FA Cup.

Pubs, Grub and Sights

The Meadow Club on Meadow Lane has now become the 'unofficial' pub for away supporters it adjoins Notts County FC. The Trent Bridge Inn and Larwood and Voce do not allow away supporters in. There are a large number of food outlets around the ground including a McDonalds, which is less than 5 minutes walk down Radcliffe Road. If you have time to spend in the city centre there are a vast number of pubs, clubs and eating places. For those of you who like a bit of culture when it comes to a good old fashioned pub with some light hearted entertainment then I would highly recommend Hooters, although it is not suitable for some of our younger viewers.



If you are looking at buying any football memorabilia then I would strongly advise a trip to the MSR memorabilia shop located in the Broadmarsh shopping centre. For a bit of history visit the Trip to Jerusalem near the castle, or even take a trip to the castle itself.

QPR v Swansea Postponed...

QPR's home clash with Swansea tomorrow has been postponed due to adverse weather conditions.



At the time of writing, the games at Palace and Deby have also fallen foul to the snowy weather. Cardiff's cup replay at Arsenal has also been called off, meaning the R's trip to Wales on the 15th February, will also have to be re-scheduled.

In better news, QPR striker, Rowan Vine has been given the all clear to resume training, after breaking his leg at the end of last season.