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Lloydy om derbyt och varför vi inte vann...
A fairly typical London derby that brought a result that didn't really benefit either side. Before the match we had a quick guess at the score, 1-1 was the choice, though I felt that if McLeod played we would probably win. As it was McLeod, who limped off last week, did not play and the draw beckoned.
The team lined up with a few changes from last week, Day was restored in goal, the back four was as last week and McLeod was replaced by Sabin in midfield. A strange choice perhaps but he has been playing well and scoring for the reserves so deserved a chance to impress. Up front Furlong replaced Thorpe, who I assume was also carrying an injury. On the bench, among the usual subs was Marien Ifura, a good defensive prospect who has been picking up experience on loan in the conference and has yet to make a first team start.
The crowd seemed a little muted throughout, though last year many of you guys were there flying the Swedish Hoops flag. Of course the ground is very open so, unlike Loftus Road, the sound is not so obvious. Also, though QPR had no trouble selling their tickets, there were large gaps in the Brentford and we could quite comfortably had half the stadium each.
The match was pretty lively throughout but there weren't a large number off good chances at either end. The Rs went into the break one goal up through Paul Furlong, he has been relatively quiet since he came back from injury but is a player that seems to take a few games to get going. He was certainly up for it on Saturday and scored a good goal after his first effort was well saved he turned well and hooked the rebound into the net from 6 yards. There was some question about him being offside but having seen it again on TV the Brentford left back was playing him on.
The only other incident of note in the first half was a brilliant one handed save by Chris Day, Hutchinson met a corner from about 8 yards out and Day threw himself to his right and punched the ball away to safety. The defence was looking tighter than it has, especially away recently, Matty Rose had one of his best games of the season, winning almost everything in the air and though his lack of size counts against him at times in the tackle he put in an excellent performance.
We were however still struggling at times in midfield, which was where most of the match was being played. Rowlands was having a good match and if the Brentford fans had been spending less time booing Rowly and more time getting behind their team they may have pushed their team to better things. Sabin wasn't causing Brentford too much trouble and whilst he certainly has the pace he didn't really show anything else.
Their goal was a fairly scrambled affair, somewhat reminiscent of the first Notts County goal last week, Brentford had a free kick a little outside the area, the ball got caught up in the wall and was hammered in by the Brentford player, it took a bad deflection off Furlong, completely wrong footing Day and going in the corner.
As the game wore on it was almost all Rangers, unfortunately we couldn't find the winner. Cureton came on and showed some nice touches and with a bit of luck could easily have set up a goal from some nice approach play and had a couple of shots himself. Gallen, unfortunately, had what for him was an off day and with Thorpe out we lacked a bit upfront, Cureton, when fit, could well make a difference on such a day. My Man of the Match would have to go to Furlong, he had a very good game.
