The Dukinfield Dazzler playoff preview - QPR

Team: Queens Park Rangers (QPR for the lazy!)
Nickname: The Hoops or The Rangers
Lge Pos: 4th
Ground: Loftus Road

The Gaffer: Ian Holloway

Ian Holloway must be commended for his managerial skills. He seems to drift from bad situation to bad situation in his career, but this time in the face of adversity, Holloway has comes up smelling of roses.

Previously manager of Bristol Rovers, Holloway has turned out decent sides only to see them taken apart infront of his eyes. Most notoriously, it was he that almost led Bristol Rovers into Division 1 a few years ago, but events on the final day meant a cruel twist of events would occur. Rovers lost in the play-offs, sold stars Jason Roberts and Jamie Cureton and ended up on a downhill spiral to the bottom of Division 3 with Holloway being sacked on the way. Rovers loss became QPR's gain.

Ironically though, Holloway took over the club in administration and was forced to decide who should stay and who should go. Being faced with that, you have to admit he's done remarkably well considering also that he's had little to bring in any players. His best additions this season appear to be Paul Furlong from Birmingham (scored his 13th goal for QPR on Saturday) and Stephen Kelly from Tottenham.

Star Goalkeeper: Chris Day

Day has been prolific in goal for the Hoops when he has played. Keeping an impressive 7 clean sheets in QPR's last 12 games of the season, Day was always destined to be a goalkeeper having been born at Whipps Cross, near Walthamstow. How ironic!

His memories of playing for QPR against the Latics will always be tarnished though, after he suffered a horrific broken leg at Boundary Park in October 2001. Out for 12 months, Day was loaned out to Aylesbury Utd to gain fitness and match practice before returning to QPR for the season run in. Coming into fine form at the right time, Day has kept 4 clean sheets in the last 5 games and he pulled off 2 wonderful saves last week at Colchester in their 1-0 win. I'm sure the stopper will now have his sights set on repaying the Latics with a little bit of pain of their own.

Star Defender: Stephen Kelly

Another bold move from Holloway was to draft in 19-year-old Kelly from Spurs. The youngster had been on-loan at Southend, but with transfer deadline-day looming his performances there prompted Holloway to take him and throw him straight into the side. Like a duck to water, Kelly settled straight in and has achieved 4 clean sheets in his 7 games for the club.

Kelly is a pacey centre-back that unnerves attackers, but his over-enthusiasm for the game has already found himself in trouble in his short time at Loftus Road. After receiving a 2nd yellow card against Crewe on April 26th, Kelly will miss the 2nd leg of the play-off Semi-Final. That will be a blow for QPR who have found Kelly to be a big piece in their defensive jigsaw.

Star Midfielder: Richard Langley

Langley is a former QPR trainee who came through the ranks. Having become a regular in the side, Langley won Young Player of the Year in 1999/2000 but received a serious knee injury in 2001 which put him out for 12 months.

Since returning, the midfielder has returned to his best. As a roving midfielder, Langley is the engine under QPR's hardworking bonnet. Appearing 39 times this season, only once as a substitute, Langley has netted a useful 9 goals from midfield and will be one-to-watch for exploiting any space given to him.

Star Attacker: Paul Furlong

From 27 starts, Furlong has been an excellent addition to Holloway's side this season, scoring 13 goals. Acquired originally on loan from Birmingham, the QPR striker eventually signed in September only to be hit by injury a month or so later.

This co-incided with QPR's run of 10 games without a win during October and November and it wasn't until Christmas that Furlong found himself fully available and starting regularly. Indeed, the turn of the year was a blessing for him, scoring a goal in 4 consecutive games and then bagging a double 2 weeks later, to make it 6 in 6 games. Having now settled in partnership with Kevin Gallen upfront, Furlong will be a dangerous man to tackle.

What they say:

To be honest, I'm not too sure what QPR think of themselves. From reading around the internet, I get the feeling that they're quietly confident. The side has names throughout, but the rest of the 2nd division won't be as familiar with them as they are with some of the big names at Bristol City and Cardiff. Let's face it, QPR don't have a Murray or an Earnshaw. However, Rangers fans will know what their side is about and having quietly gone about their business in division 2, they will feel that with 5 wins out of the last 6 league games behind them, they might just be the dark horses going into the play-offs.

What we say:

Looking at QPR's end of season performance, QPR are the type of side you don't want to get at the wrong time. Unfortunately, the Latics are getting them at the wrong time.

To be honest though, you can't run or hide in the play-offs. You get what you're given and if you're not good - very rarely do you "get" through, or deserve to for that matter. With Tranmere hot on their heels, QPR have produced some formidable form to keep their noses in the play-off pack and now enter the end-of-season lottery as the form side.

However, as ex-QPR midfielder Paul Murray says, looking at QPR they really don't appear to have the backbone of a top side. The worry is though that they do have grafters and a spirit about them which breeds confidence, and they never rely on being feared as a way of intimidating the opposition (like Bristol City and Cardiff do).

All in all, Latics fans know that despite having the edge with the results against them this season, that counts for nothing now. Let's face it, QPR have really only missed out on the top 2 places due to a run of 10 games without a win during mid-season - otherwise, they've been the model of consistency. As the Latics have found this season, it's ok to produce the marvellous win/result here and there and also, it's ok to not lose 2 on the bounce as we haven't all season, but to be thoroughly consistent for a large portion of the 46 games is the key to success. We may just have the toughest opponents of the play-offs.

-----------

The run in: (final 6 league games)

Cardiff          (a) Won 2-1
Luton            (h) Won 2-0
Brentford      (a) Won 2-1
Notts Co       (h) Won 2-0
Crewe          (h) Drew 0-0
Colchester U (a) Won 1-0

Home:  W2 D1 L0 - F4 A0 - 7pts
Away:  W3 D0 L0 - F5 A2 - 9pts

-----------

Head-to-head: (vs 3 playoff contenders)

Vs LATICS  (h) Lost 2-1
Vs LATICS  (a) Drew 0-0
vs Cardiff (h) Lost 4-0
vs Cardiff (a) Won 2-1
Vs B.City  (h) Won 1-0
vs B.City  (a) Won 3-1

P6 - W3 D1 L2 - F7 A8 - 10pts