Windy in Wycombe!
"The wind was gusting strongly towards the end where the travelling fans were housed and it was no surprise that all four goals came at that end"
Vår utsände, Rich Lloyd fanns på plats när Rangers spelade 2-2 mot Wycombe!
Ollie Holloway said after the match he felt that the game should have been postponed and on the evidence of the match I am inclined to agree. The wind destroyed the match as a contest though it certainly wasn't short of excitement. The wind was gusting strongly towards the end where the travelling fans were housed and it was no surprise that all four goals came at that end. Both keepers were struggling to reach even half way to the halfway line, it therefore made it very difficult to defend both in terms of judging headers or clearing their lines.
Wycombe is my nearest away match of the season though it was my first visit there. With their newish ground out on an industrial estate we all met up at a pub in town and got a taxi down to near the ground. QPR lined up with the same team as finished the match against Wrexham at midweek and were in their new green and white hooped shirts. I had been a bit unsure of the new kit but it looked much better live than in the pictures. We were therefore playing three central defenders though it was soon five across the back as the conditions forced us to play very deep and Rowlands and McLeod became more full backs than wing backs.
Wycombe's game plan was clear, to launch the ball at our back line and use the pace of Nathan Tyson to exploit our relatively slow back line. Terrell was having particular trouble judging headers as the ball was swirling around on the wind. Tyson was involved in both goals, the first escaping after Terrell missed a header and though he got back well Tyson managed to cross the ball for the Wycombe player to score. Not long afterwards Tyson beat Carlisle for pace down the line and again crossed for us to go 2-0 down.
We didn't have any particularly good chances in the first half with the wind against us. Half time came and went and Terrell was replaced by Richard Edgehill, who was making his return from injury. This proved a shrewd move over the course of the half (the team went back to 4-4-2 with Rowlands at RB and Edgehill at LB), Edgehill looked very assured and seems a class above, easily dealing with everything on the ground and in the air, added to which his passing was simple yet effective.
The second half was hardly a minute old before we were level, a ball into the area was passed by Thorpe to Gallen, who beat his man and poked the ball past the keeper into the corner of the net to send the 2000+ travelling fans into a frenzy. The Wycombe keeper Williams seemed to be struggling more with the wind than Camp had in the first half, nearly all of his 'clearances' going into the stand on the right about midway up the half. It was now all QPR, much as it had been all Wycombe in the first half.
The equaliser was when it came was a bit bizarre and Rowlands is unlikely to score another like it. He had the ball out on the right wing, the forwards were lined up across the middle and as you might expect he went for the cross, only the ball got caught in the wind and looped straight over Williams' head into the net. With still plenty of the half to go we pushed for the equaliser.
Gallen had two shots from about 20 yards pushed away, Furlong seemed unfairly penalised every time he either got or challenged for the ball. Thorpe then had a great chance, a beautiful diagonal through ball caught the defence out, Thorpe pounced on the ball and with only the keeper to beat put it under him as Williams fell only for Williams to sit on the ball stopping it putting us ahead.
Williams in the Wycombe goal had a good game (as Talia had done to frustrate us at the Loft) and then went and spoiled it all. Gallen challenged him on a 50/50 ball and collided with him, catching him at worst in the chest but Williams rolled around clutching his nose right in front of the R's fans. Added to this one of the Wycombe defenders had earlier raised his hands to Carlisle only for both of them to be given a yellow card.
Given the conditions and remembering Chesterfield 2-2 probably wasn't a bad result but I did still feel somewhat deflated that we hadn't beaten the bottom side especially with other results going our way. However, promotion is still very much in our hands.
MOTM - Richard Johnson, ran the midfield and a very good signing, Edgehill may well have got it had he played the full 90 minutes.
