Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

The less said about my prediction for this game the better. It looks like QPR's poor form at Doncaster counted for more than their recent rise up the table and they suffered a reality check yesterday to demonstrate just how hard it is to get out of the Championship.

Jim Magilton commendably added to his squad during the international break and two of his additions came straight into the team, Tommy Williams starting at left-back and Steven Reid drafted into the midfield. Matt Connolly also got the nod at centre-back and Adel Taarabt was rested with Alejandro Faurlin joining Reid and Ben Watson in the middle. Whether that was too many changes for the team to cope with is hard to say. The manager is clearly aiming for a degree of competition in the squad which though it didn't come through yesterday, could pay dividends later in the season.

Both teams, for any weaknesses, will always attempt to play attacking and passing football and so it proved in this game, though they both struggled to forge genuine goal-scoring opportunities at the same time. It took some less than focussed defending from Rangers to provide Doncaster with three points.

Rangers often suffer from a lack of concentration at set-pieces (the early goal for Derby County on an otherwise profitable day being a recent example) and so it proved here. From a corner, Doncaster quickly moved the ball to Billy Sharp in the six-yard box and as a mass of Rangers players belatedly tried to catch up to him, he turned the ball into the net.

It boosted Rovers for the final quarter of the game and they soon doubled their lead. Kaspars Gorkss is usually entirely reliable for QPR but his attempt to pass to new teammate Williams near the edge of his own area was woefully casual and it played in Dean Shiels who curled a smart effort past Radek Cerny.

QPR's away record doesn't look quite so rosy now though it still bears healthy comparison with last season's dismal form on the road. This was their third defeat away from Loftus Road and though that's not enough to set alarm bells ringing, it is a statistic the team will be keen not to add to lest it should derail their promotion push. After a two-week break, results can often become a lottery as certain players react badly to the break from their working schedule. There were certainly a few QPR players out there who weren't at the peak of their physical but more importantly mental powers yesterday. Jim Magilton will be very eager to use this result as a rallying call against complacency as the run of fixtures steps up towards Christmas.

HIGHS: Smart, passing football at least in the first half; an opportunity to draft in two new players who far from disgraced themselves.

LOWS: More lapses in concentration at the back; only one shot on target in the whole game; three points dropped at a side fighting against relegation.

Doncaster - Sullivan, O'Connor, Roberts, Chambers, Hird, Oster (Spicer 87), Fortune (Shackell 72), Shiels (Wilson 85), Coppinger, Gillett, Sharp.

Subs not used - Smith, Guy, Hayter, Heffernan.


Scorers - Sharp (53), Shiels (63).


QPR - Cerny, Gorkss, Connolly, Williams, Reid, Leigertwoodyellow card, Routledge, Buzsaky (Agyemang 63), Watson, Faurlin (Taarabt 46), Simpson (Pellicori 63).

Subs not used - McWeeney, Ramage, Stewart, Ephraim.


Bookings - Leigertwood.


Attendance - 10,821.