Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

This was probably the game Mick Harford would have liked to kick off his QPR career with. Unfortunately for him, he was dealt two extremely tricky away games instead.

In the first, away at Blackpool, Rangers managed a commendable draw despite not playing particularly well. In the second though, on Tuesday, they were thoroughly outclassed by the league's form team, Nottingham Forest, losing 5-0.

So Scunthorpe United at home could be the game the new boss was waiting for to get his first three points. At the same time though, The Iron are far from push-overs and their midweek win over Sheffield Wednesday puts them just four points behind Rangers.

On top of that and even by the standards of a fairly chaotic club, QPR are all over the place at the moment.

Three players have left the club in the space of a week - Patrick Agyemang, Wayne Routledge and Fitz Hall - without any additions made in those positions. Two loan signings have come in, fullback Matt Hill and central midfielder Nigel Quashie, but both are probably wondering what they have let themselves in for. The club's hunt for a new striker has stalled as well, with Dave Kitson and Daniel Cousin both reportedly rejecting the club in the last week.

There is even talk of supporter protests today, though it may not extend further then the wearing of clown masks as a gesture to the Board. All said though, QPR are far from a happy club at the moment. 

QPR Team News

Lee Cook continues his rehabilitation from the serious knee injury which has kept him out for the duration of this season. He played in a reserve game midweek and will at least make the bench for today's game.

Hill and Quashie are both more than likely to make their home debuts and the manager should stick with Jay Simpson and Adel Taarabt up front, though Rowan Vine is fully fit and pushing for a starting place. The search for a new striker continues behind the scenes.

In the defence, the loan of Fitz Hall to Newcastle eases the manager's decisions over the centre-backs with two to pick from Matt Connolly, Kaspars Gorkss and Damion Stewart. Peter Ramage could start at right-back for his 100th career league appearance and Mikele Leigertwood will make his 250th career league appearance and 100th for QPR. 

Scunthorpe Team News

Centre-back Rob Jones, a summer signing from Hibs, is likely to start after being taken off during the win over Sheff Wed in midweek as a precaution.

Midfielder Michael O'Connor is also back in contention after serving a two-match ban. Josh Wright has suffered from a virus during the last couple of weeks and has been on the bench, but he is now fit to start.

Scunthorpe have also made two loan additions to their squad, Man City winger Donal McDermott and Forest fullback Brendan Moloney and both could feature.

Form 

Scunthorpe's form is marginally better than QPR's over the last six games, with two wins and two draws. Over the season though, a leaky defence has hampered their ambitions to stay in the league - only bottom side Peterborough United have conceded more and kept fewer clean sheets.

Few need reminding that QPR's form is pretty woeful, with just one win in ten league games and two wins in fifteen going back in all competitions. They also go into this game off the back of one of their worst performances of the season, the 5-0 mauling at Forest.

They do have the advantage in the head-to-head battle with Scunthorpe though, winning six of their last seven games against them and The Iron have only beaten QPR once in the league, back in 1964. 

Prediction

The 5-0 defeat in midweek put a lot of the talk around QPR into sharp perspective. In short, this team are really struggling at the moment and Mick Harford will have to be a miracle worker to pick them up from that defeat and usher in a convincing performance in time for this game.

The loss of Fitz Hall and Patrick Agyemang shouldn't harm the squad and probably makes sense in terms of the club's wage bill but the sale of Wayne Routledge is much more surprising and with Akos Buzsaky out of sorts and Adel Taarabt so unpredictable, it's hard to pinpoint where the creativity will come from in this side.

Against a stronger side, QPR would really be in trouble but they should have enough quality to not lose this game. Despite that, I don't believe they have enough players in good form or enough leaders on the pitch to lift them to a much-needed win. I'm plumping for a draw again.  

SCORE DRAW