 Sunday, 6th May 2007 21:55 QPR brought the curtain down on their season with a draw at home to Stoke City. I know we shouldn't have done it really, but a rousing chorus of "you're not going up" as 3000 Stoke fans trooped out of the away end disappointed was a very satisfying way to end the season. We shouldn't have done it because we were all very indignant when Sheff Wed sang something similar to us three seasons ago before we pulled ourselves together and did go up after all. There is no real history between us and Sheff Wed so their reaction didn't seem to make sense but there's plenty of recent history between QPR and Stoke, especially for the poor QPR fans that have been forced to suffer trips to the Britannia Stadium on the past three seasons. The mindless violence we've suffered up there recently recurred on Goldhawk Road before the match yesterday with a gang of their finest animals charging at The Prince apparently with nothing better to do with their time. It's a mindless minority of course - bare that in mind when they throw stuff at you in Stoke again next season. You'll forgive me, after sitting on the bus back to the station two years ago while some lobotomised gibbons tried to smash the window in and attack us, for raising a wry smile as hundreds of Stoke fans queued up for tickets next to a sign saying "no tickets on sale for today", and then went home very firmly still stuck in the Championship after all. The prime reason for that was because the three teams above them at the start of play all won comfortably against teams in similar positions to QPR who kindly rolled over and died. I mean honestly, seven nil? Barnsley should be thoroughly ashamed. That QPR stood strong, battled hard, dug in when reduced to ten men as part of a quite astonishing refereeing performance, and ended up settling for a point when for a long time it looked like they'd take all three is something we can be very proud of. Hope springs eternal for next season. At the start of play all Stoke could do was go for the win and hope one of the other teams would strap on a pair and get a result against their rivals. The team sheets looked favourable for the visitors with Ainsworth, Cook, Cullip, Kanyuka and Mancienne all missing for Rangers while Andy Griffin and Mamady Sidibe passed fitness tests and took their place in the Stoke line up. Rangers gave a first start of the season to Dom Shimmin at centre half alongside Stewart with Bignot and Timoska he full backs and Cole in goal. In midfield Bailey and Bolder played in the middle with Smith and Rowlands on the wings. Up front Blackstock and Nygaard started the game. Paul Furlong and Marc Bircham waited in the wings for their final appearances in QPR colours. The teams were welcomed to the field by a near capacity crowd but the home side soon quietened the raucous away fans with a very strong start. Stoke looked nervous and out of sorts, Rangers looked relaxed and ready to play and after knocking the ball around calmly for all but a few seconds of the first five minutes made the breakthrough thanks to Martin Rowlands. Salif Diao hacked down Adam Bolder on the corner of the penalty area but escaped without a card - fair enough I thought at the time but looking at some of the petty things Mr Kettle whipped a card out for later in the game he was lucky to escape punishment. Martin Rowlands sent a low free kick into the near post when Stoke were expecting a cross, Simonsen couldn't get across to it in time and the ball ended up in the back of the net with the keeper in front of the stunned travelling support. Stoke attempted to hit back immediately with Sidibe sending Fuller through on the goal and after rounding Cole the Jamaican seemed certain to score but Timoska scrambled back and produced a superb goal line clearance to preserve the lead. It was clear, as Barnsley and Leicester commenced their summer holidays, that QPR would be doing no such thing and tackles were flying in. The game was competitive but not dirty however the cards soon started to flow. Martin Rowlands fouled Lee Hendrie and was booked, quickly followed by a card for Bailey as well when a reasonably competent official may have ticked both players off for their first offences of the game. Hendrie was then on the end of a couple of firm bit fair tackles from Sam Timoska and by the 19th minute, when he blazed a half volley over the bar from the edge of the area, it was clear he couldn't continue and Lee Martin came on to replace him. Martin is one of five players in the City squad loaned from other clubs which doesn't bode too well for them next season. Tony Pulis has a big summer ahead trying to tie some of the talent that took them to the brink of the play offs down on permanent deals. Martin spent the first 20 minutes in Timoska's pocket but escaped in spectacular fashion five minutes before half time when he cut in from the left flank and unleashed an unstoppable shot from the corner of the penalty area that smacked into the top of the far post and rebounded away to safety. In between his introduction and that bolt from the blue Stoke had little to shout about. Gregory has said that when in a scrap at the bottom of the league pretty football isn't the answer but with a new found freedom that has come with safety Rangers were actually passing the ball around nicely. Martin Rowlands was particularly well involved with Bailey thumping into the tackles and Bolder controlling things in midfield. A neat move ten minutes before the break culminated with Blackstock sending Nygaard through in the area but the ball just carried through to Simonsen after he'd danced past Fortune. Within a minute Nygaard hammered a volley over the bar after good work by Rowlands and after providing that chance Rowlands burst into the area again moments later, stayed on his feet when the likes of Hendrie, Martin and Fuller would definitely have hit the deck under pressure, but couldn't get the ball back into the danger area. Martin seized on a poor back pass from Shimmin but Cole rushed out to deny him with a fine save at his feet but other than that all their pressure came in the form of set pieces awarded by the increasingly one eyed and eccentric Mr Kettle. This was a good test for the new look centre half partnership and both Shimmin and Stewart stood up to it pretty well, Stewart was particularly impressive. Ricardo Fuller had become public enemy number one during the first half with a series of elaborate dives around the penalty area followed by some dramatic hissy fits. The barracking he got as a result really seemed to get to him and he spent the final five minutes of the half communicating his displeasure to people in the Lower Loft and the Paddocks. He's had a suspect temperament for a while and I think if the half had been five minutes longer he may have been added to Kettle's egotistical card charge which claimed the name of Dominic Shimmin before half time for a tackle from behind on Fuller which took the ball cleanly. As it turned out the half time whistle was blown with Rangers still in front and Fuller left the pitch chewing the referee's ear off every step of the way. Rangers had been the better team in the first half but that changed after the break. Stoke penned the home side back in their own half from the first minute. Again their best chances came from the copious amounts of set pieces they were being awarded. A Hoefkens' corner was fired over the top from a yard out by Matteo and then minutes later another delivery from the same side found Fuller but his bullet header flew straight into the arms of Cole. QPR just couldn't escape from their own half and were clearly tiring as Pulis sent on Pericard to add to their attack. Stewart and Shimmin had coped well to this point and the introduction of Pericard certainly didn't do much to unsettle them. With 25 minutes left for play Danny Higginbotham had a goal ruled out for offside. Sam Timoska was pulled up for a trip on Martin wide on the Rangers right and, surprise, surprise, booked for his troubles. Stoke had three men unmarked at the back post but swung the free kick way beyond them and out for a goal kick. Kettle decided that wasn't quite good enough though so after having a word with Fuller for shirt pulling (surely that should be a free kick the other way rather than a retake?) he let them have it again and Higingbotham, still unmarked at the far post, headed home. The Stoke fans rejoiced, but the flag had long since been raised and the goal was ruled out. It took Mr Kettle just three minutes to jump into the limelight again. Martin cut inside Timoska and hurled himself to the ground. Kettle didn't need asking twice - two fouls from Timoska in 68 minutes and that was it. The yellow card was in his hand before Martin had even completed his first dramatic role and off went the Fin. No talking to, no final warning, no common sense, straight off. Timoska looked devastated on his way off but he could maybe take solace in the fact that if it hadn't been him it would have been someone else - Kettle was just itching to get the red out to such an extent there was actually a sweep stake running in the F Block as to who would be first. I had Bolder who had been booked on the hour for the horrific crime of climbing over Diao to win a header and, as Timoska was trudging off to sympathetic applause, Bolder was given a stern lecture for expressing an opinion. After being very firmly told that any Stoke player caught acting like Bircham did at the Britannia a few seasons back, i.e. hitting the deck to get somebody sent off, he would be chased out of the club by his own supporters. Watch your back Mr Martin, Mr Diao, Mr Fuller… Gregory moved Rowlands into the middle of midfield with Bolder and stuck Bailey at right back with Blackstock filling in wide on the left and Smith went to the right wing. Stoke really started to push on looking to exploit the numerical advantage and with the reshuffle still in progress nobody closed Andy Griffin down on the edge of the area and he leathered a long range shot in on goal which Cole did very well to save. These were hardly the circumstances Paul Furlong would have had in mind for his final appearance in a QPR shirt but he got a fantastic reception as he entered the fray with fifteen minutes to play instead of Dexter Blackstock. Sadly he had to fill in on the left wing rather than leading the attack and he could only work hard for little reward until injury time. Adam Bolder was withdrawn for Marc Bircham soon after but to me Birch looked well off the pace and I get the impression he's rushed himself back to have one last appearance in a QPR shirt. His wild hack at Martin after he'd skipped past him unbelievably went unpunished by Mr Kettle - one thing that actually did deserve a booking and he let it go. Stoke did make the breakthrough at last with just six minutes left to play when Sidibe side footed home from close range after Fuller had pulled the ball back. News of meek surrenders elsewhere had obviously reached the away end by this point as the celebrations were more muted than they would have been an hour or so earlier. Stoke started to fling everybody forward, at times leaving just Griffin at the back, and with two minutes to go Gregory chucked Ray Jones on to replace Marc Nygaard. This allowed Furlong to move up to the centre forward position and he wasted no time in making his presence felt. Rowlands played him through on goal and suddenly he was bearing down on the Loft End goal for a final time. Andy Griffin looked like he might be the villain of all time be chopping him down and taking the red card but Furlong stayed on his feet, made it into the area and let fly with a trademark low drive. The script seemed written, the crowd prepared to acclaim a hero, but Simonsen saved brilliantly one on one. Furlong had him beaten in injury time, but he'd long since been flagged offside and he was booked for kicking the ball away. By this time Mr Kettle was actually wondering around with the card in his hand, stopping every three seconds or so to point for a Stoke free kick and book somebody. Jimmy Smith was booked for failing to retreat at a set piece and then the most ridiculous card of all went to Jake Cole for time wasting over a free kick - when it had been left to him by Bailey and he was running out to take it. A minute later Simonsen did the same thing and wasn't carded. Kettle added on four minutes when really it should have been nearer six. He made up for this by actually playing six after only advertising four. Clearly he has problems with time as well as everything else. A fitting end to the day for him. This was a fitting end to the season for QPR as well. The Stoke players hit the deck in frustration and disappointment, the QPR players laid out with exhaustion. There was absolutely no need for QPR to work that hard yesterday, nobody would have said too much if we'd rolled over and lost two or three nil because at this time of the season it's invariably the team that needs to win that comes out well on top. Not when John Gregory's QPR side are involved they don't. Rangers fought for every ball, scrapped for possession, stood firm in defence and then when reduced to ten men they upped the work rate some more, and they got a point they deserved. If Furlong had scored at the end, not only would it have been brilliant for him and the fans, but it would have been a rich reward to the team who left it all out there on the pitch for no other reason than their own professional pride. That bodes very well for next season - while Barnsley and Leicester start again in August with the knowledge that they curled up and died quietly on the final day because they just couldn't be bothered we walk with heads held high. As we've seen so often in the last three months it was the spine of the team that typified the spirit and held the performance together. Cole was secure in goal and produced two excellent saves either side of half time. Stewart was magnificent in defence and Bolder tireless in midfield, up front Marc Nygaard had an excellent game and actually showed good awareness with some quality cross field passes as well. Let's hope he can stay fit and repeat that next season. Dom Shimmin looked a little off the pace at first, which was to be expected after so many injuries and such a small amount of football played over the past 18 months, and he nearly cost us a goal with a Matthew Rose like back pass in the first half, but overall he looked promising. Good to know there's a better centre half option than Rehman already at the club. The players finished, as usual, with a lap around the pitch with their children thanking the fans for their support. Furlong and Bircham both got excellent send offs and of course everybody here at LFW wishes both players every success in whatever they do next, they've both been great signings for Rangers and have provided some great memories down the years. So that's it, another season over. Thank you to those of you that regularly wade through these excessively long rambles, and for the nice e-mails and message board posts I get about them, makes it all worthwhile. See you in August. You Championship R's. QPR: Cole 7, Timoska 8, Shimmin 7, Stewart 8, Bignot 7, Rowlands 7,Bolder 8 (Bircham 83, -), Bailey 6, Smith 6, Nygaard 8 (Ray Jones 88, -),Blackstock 7 (Furlong 76, 7). Stoke: Simonsen 7, Zakuani 6 (Pericard 59, 5), Fortune 7, Higginbotham 8,Griffin 8, Hoefkens 7, Diao 6 (Russell 72, 6), Matteo 6,Hendrie 6 (Martin 20, 8), Sidibe 7, Fuller 7 QPR Star Man - Damion Stewart 8 - A tower of strength at the back, he's come so far since terrifying everybody at the start of the season. Got in some very brave blocks as well as a whole host of headers. I think after the Palace away game many of us were starting to wonder what other options we could use to replace him at centre half, now we're looking for people to play with him. Could be a superb player for us next season. On a par with Bolder for me yesterday but my brother was giving me stick the other week for never giving Stewart man of the match so I've gone his way this week. Look forward to seeing him again in August. Referee: T Kettle (Berkshire) 1 - A quite astonishing display of refereeing. Mr Kettle, people have not paid £28 to watch you handing out cards. Put your ego away and do try and let the game flow. Of the eleven cards shown I'd say six or seven of them could have been dealt with by having a quiet word on the run or just calming things down. Booked early for very little to put himself under pressure and then just spiralled out of control. QPR of course get fined now by the authorities - there should only be one party being punished after this shower and it certainly isn't our club. A staggering level of incompetence from him for the second time this season. Unbelievably bad. Attendance: 16,741 Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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