Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

Goals, goals, goals. It’s what QPR need and it should be a mantra in their dressing room prior to kick-off. As goals have such a key importance in the winning of football matches, it, of course, should be taken for granted that the players value them highly but frequent QPR displays over the last year suggest quite the opposite.

There is still no news on a 20-goal a season player appearing out of the ether and Jim Magilton indicated recently that he is happy with the crop of strikers at his disposal. We will have to wait and see which of those players most handsomely repays the manager’s faith but in the meantime, the rest of the team will have to chip in on the scoring front.

That could be helped by the imminent debut of record signing Alejandro Faurlin, pictured on the right (though as his career to date has been in the Argentinean Second Division, very few observers at Loftus Road can give much indication as to his ability). He is included in the match-day squad for tonight’s game where he will most likely start on the bench. Martin Rowlands is close to returning to match fitness, but not in time for this one and it’s a similar story for Angelo Balanta who continues to nurse a leg injury. Both could return for the visit of Nottingham Forest this weekend though.

The line-up will be largely dictated by how much of a tinkerer Magilton proves to be. He might throw his toys out the pram and drop half the team following the last-minute concession against Plymouth but I think that’s unlikely. That game was only three days ago though, so a degree of squad rotation would make sense. Cerny is surely a guaranteed starter despite the arrival of Tom Heaton on loan from Man United. Fitz Hall had a decent game against Plymouth so he may well be retained, but Damion Stewart and Matt Connolly both merit inclusion soon so it will be interesting to see how the defence shapes up.

In midfield, I hope he doesn’t go for the dreaded Mahon-Leigertwood pairing again but Bristol City are a better team than Plymouth so thoughts of safety may take precedence. Until Lee Cook returns QPR cannot call on their best left-sided winger so Akos Buzsaky could be placed there leaving fewer options in the middle and making the inclusion of Mahon more likely. I’d prefer to see Magilton gamble on Hogan Ephraim on the wing, freeing up Buzsaky and then Faurlin once he is fit to contribute more from the middle of the pitch.

Up front, expect Heidar Helguson to start after his goal against Plymouth, most likely with Adel Taarabt who along with Wayne Routledge is currently the most threatening player in the QPR side.

Bristol City would not have been considered a tricky fixture ten or even five years ago, but under current boss Gary Johnson they have developed into potential promotion candidates.

The club was formed in 1897 and they entered the Football League in 1901 where they were the only non-London side south of Birmingham until 1920. Unfortunately for Robins fans, you have to be pretty long in the tooth to have witnessed the club’s best years.

In 1905, the club were searching for a manager and turned to one of their own players, Harry Thickett (third from the left on the back row of the distinguished gentleman pictured here). This is a man who supposedly played on the winning side in the 1899 FA Cup Final wearing 50 yards of bandages to account for two broken ribs so the challenge of taking Bristol City into the First Division must have seemed trivial in comparison. He duly achieved that in his first season and the club then reached the heady heights of second the following season – the highest Bristol City will ever finish unless they win the Premiership anytime soon. Thickett also led the club to their one and only FA Cup final appearance in 1909, which the club lost 1-0 to Manchester United.

Jump forward 100 years and the club were close to achieving lightening-quick progression through the football leagues again thanks to a manager with good form when it comes to promotion. The current Robins manager didn’t have as successful playing career as Thickett, but once behind the dug-out, he has brought success to every club he has been at. Notable achievements include taking Cambridge United from the Conference to within two matches of the First Division in successive seasons as John Beck’s right-hand man; doing much the same for Yeovil Town who he lifted from the Conference to League One and setting in motion the development of the Latvian national team which led to their qualification for Euro 2004.

At Bristol City, in his first season (2005/6) he guided the club out of the relegation places to the comfort of ninth in League One and the following year led them into the Championship. Consolidation doesn’t feature heavily in Johnson’s thinking and true to form, Bristol City reached the play-off final at the first attempt where they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Hull City.

Last season the club finished on identical points to QPR and just pipped them to 10th place in the league due to a marginally superior goal difference. Their recent history shows though that this is a team with the capability to challenge for the play-off spots and coming just days after the hard-fought draw at Plymouth, this is a real early test for Magilton’s men.

The biggest piece of news for the Bristol team tonight is the arrival of Andrius Velicka, a Lithuanian striker brought in on loan from Glasgow Rangers who comes straight into the squad. He struggled for games at Ibrox but could be a useful addition at this level and adds to Johnson’s options up front.

They have shown already this season how hard it is to beat them, though to say they were fortunate to win at the weekend against Crystal Palace is an understatement. I don’t want to go over the controversy over Palace’s clear goal which wasn’t awarded by the referee or the debate over sportsmanship. It wasn’t particularly surprising to see how willing Bristol City were to play on but had the situation been switched, I’m certain Neil Warnock’s team would have done the same. Lightning is unlikely to strike twice tonight. Prior to that game, City were denied a win at Preston North End where a late equaliser made it 2-2 but a win tonight would see them on 7 points and close to the top-end of the table.

This fixture last season ended in a 1-1 draw at almost exactly the same point of the season, Dele Adebola cancelling out a Dexter Blackstock opener for the Hoops. I’ve been predicting QPR to win every game so far this season and they’ve only managed one out of three and I think that previous game is a good marker to how it could go tonight. The Hoops need a win badly to get their season started but I think they’re going to have to wait until the comfort of Loftus Road on Saturday to get it.

PREDICTION

Bristol City 1 QPR 1