Lloydy rapporterar om "miraklet i Cardiff"!
"Just as we thought that a point was really a good result and we could go away happy, Padula broke down the left and put in a low accurate cross...."
Vår hovreporter Lloydy lämnar härmed följande rapport från Rangers bragdartade triumf mot Cardiff!
I made a late decision to go to watch QPR in Cardiff. It is not known as being a friendly place to watch matches and I prefer to watch football not fighting between fans. As it was my fears were unfounded as a well and not too heavy handed policing policy meant that what I saw went off peacefully.
So after picking up fellow R Coley at the train station we set off from Aylesbury at 11 am and headed towards Wales. We had been informed of where we could get a drink in safety before the match and so we got to Wales after having to pay a rather pricey £4.50 to cross the bridge into Wales. The sun was shining and I was hopeful of keeping my 100% league record of watching QPR away at teams based in coastal towns.
We left the motorway at the junction before the turning for the football club and the directions to the pub were spot on and so we met up for a pre-match drink with a group of fellow travelling fans.
It was not far to the ground from there but having not got tickets before hand we left at about twenty past two and headed back onto the motorway. Unfortunately someone had decided it was a good idea to breakdown on the motorway exit so we were pushing time on getting to the ground in enough time. There was then a long queue to the car park and so we just pulled up onto the grass verge opposite the car park and hurried to the ground. Fortunately there was no queue and once we had paid we grabbed a hotdog and went onto the terrace behind one of the goals.
Cardiff has a fairly old ground and the away fans are housed in half of one of the stands behind the goal. The other half is home fans and there was netting up between the two to stop missiles being thrown. The players then ran out into the sunshine and QPR lined up as they did up in Blackpool. It was an exciting game from start to finish and we had much the better of the first half. Kevin Gallen got through clear on goal but the ball didn’t run for him and he only managed to shoot into the keeper as he dived at Gallen’s feet.
Not long afterwards we had a goal disallowed, a long highball forward was met by a combination of the Cardiff centre backs, Furlong and Gallen. After a tussle Gallen broke clear and chipped the approaching keeper. The linesman had however flagged early and the goal was ruled out, something many of the fans and players did not notice for some time.
Earnshaw was causing our defence some problems and is clearly a better player than division 2 but Carlisle and Shittu were clearly up to the task and restricted his shooting opportunities though Cardiff were getting rather too much space and time on the ball.
Therefore it went to half time and the 1300 or so QPR fans were in good voice both in support of the team and singing at the home fans. The second half was to prove one of my top times of following the Rs on the road.
I had been thinking that McLeod was being fairly ineffective but as it was to turn out, Cardiff’s policy of putting two players on him was to be their undoing as it gave Gino Padula much more time on the ball to run things down the left.
A free kick was won on the right and Gino whipped the ball to the far post from where Furlong slipped his marker and powered a header into the far corner of the net. YES!!! The QPR fans went wild as you might imagine whilst the Cardiff end went quiet. Taking the lead away from home always seems more satisfying.
Cardiff, however, decided that they were not going to let us take the points and for the next 20 minutes poured forward causing some nervous moments at the back. To be fair they deserved an equaliser and substitute Andy Legg whipped in a very good corner for Thorne to head home. Cardiff then clearly thought a winner was a possibility and Day pulled off a few great saves to deny the Cardiff forwards.
Just as we thought that a point was really a good result and we could go away happy Padula broke down the left and put in a low accurate cross for player of the month Langley, after his hatrick last week, to nip between the two defenders and slam a volley into the back of the net to win all three points for the mighty Superhoops.
The players and fans went crazy…frankly I can’t find the words for the joy we felt as the goal went in. Langley whipped his shirt off and did best part of a lap of honour, having scored at the far end. Not much time left before the end of the match and we were all singing so loudly I didn’t even hear the final whistle.
The players all came down to where we were stood and the joy on their faces, especially folk hero and my man of the match, Gino Padula was a sight to behold.
We were kept in the ground for safety reasons for 15 minutes but no-one minded too much as we were singing and then the players came back out to warm down and came to applaud the fans for their support. There is a great team spirit at the moment, all the players were encouraging us to sing, clapping, hugging each other and were clearly as happy as us to have come to a difficult ground and beat a team that had £7 million spent on it.
The trip home passed uneventfully and seemed to take no time at all. That was after the flurry of text messages I received from QPR fans who couldn’t make it and also from a number of my mates who are not Rs fans but have clearly got caught up in the promotion race and are watching out for our results too.
With Luton drawing with Tranmere it is now firmly in our own hands and whilst 2nd is probably unrealistic a play-off place is surely almost secured. I don’t want to get over confident but having seen the players’ reaction to this game they clearly believe they can win whenever they go on the pitch and for the remaining 8 games until division 1 I hope this continues.
See most of you at Easter.
U Rsss
