ITFC 1 QPR 3
On Saturday 12/01/14 Town lost at home to QPR which was a very disappointing result.
It was 0-0 at half time and Town were matching QPR and had chances and were generally playing well.
Again though the second half was not good overall for Town. All three goals for QPR were avoidable and were the result of Town’s mistakes.
Niko Kranjcar for QPR scored their first and he got the ball from a throw in opposite the Town penalty area and was allowed to go into the box by 3 Town players! His shot was good, low and right in the far corner to beat Gurken. No doubt it was a great finish by Krancaer but why did the 3 Town players (Chambers,Taylor and Higham I think) allow him into the box and past them with no challenge? It was both poor defending and a great finish! After the game manager Mick praised the finish but it was only made possible by 3 Town players being beaten easily by Kranjcar. No doubt about it that was poor defending and Town were punished!
The next goal was a mistake by Town goal keeper Dean Gurken who fumbled a QPR shot from Charlie Austin and Gary O’Neil was on hand to score from 2 yards out, an easy goal but the QPR player was in the right place at the right time to score from the rebound with no Town defenders reacting and blocking or clearing the fumbled rebound!
As if that wasn’t enough the third goal was a backpass error from a long QPR punted clearance upfield. Unfortunately Tommy Smith miscontrolled his backpass to Dean Gurken and Traore came flying in to get the ball and easily score past Gurken!
The three goals were all made by errors from the Town but the QPR scorers were clinical and ruthless!
Unfortunately Town were neither clinical or ruthless and some good chances they made were squandered through lack of a clinical finish EXCEPT for the consolation Town goal at the end of the game scored by Tommy Smith!
Smith’s goal was a great finish on the volley from a corner! Well played Town and Tommy for getting that goal back which showed some fighting spirit and was a fantastic finish!
So overall Town were well beaten by quality from QPR but all 3 opportunities were handed on a plate to QPR by three bad defending mistakes from Town.
The Town side was much changed again from the last game against Preston with much more of a first team feel and there are some positives to be had from the game as Town played well for some periods.
Unfortunately Murphy and EbanksBlake were injured and not in the squad.
Featured game on the BBC Football League Show
This was the featured game on BBC Football league TV show and what a shame Town couldn’t take that opportunity to showcase themselves better. It was good to see more of a Town game on the show but unfortunate Town didn’t impress more!
The other games were very interesting to watch with Leicester winning easily and looking good and Burnley too! This Championship is a tough one though as seen by Sheffield Wedneday 6 Leeds 0.
Next for Town…
Town have their FA Cup replay away at Preston on Tuesday before another away game at Millwall next Saturday. Both these games should be winnable for Town. Preston are a good side but the Town first team should be good enough to win the replay. In the first game many first team players were rested to allow other squad members to play and it didn’t work well.
Millwall will be tough to beat because although they are in poor form and lost on Saturday they have new manager Ian Holloway in charge and he is good and they were unlucky to lose that last game! Town though should win if they put in effort and are ruthless!
There is no doubt the games in this new year 2014 will not be easy for Town in the Championship, but Town do have good players and they will need to work hard and be ruthless to win against the other good teams in the Championship. Come on man up Town players and I will keep shouting for you to do well! COME ON YOU BLUES!!!!