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RANGERS TRAVEL TO SHEFFIELD
Friday 7th March 2008
by Ron Norris & Simon Skinner

Rangers travel to the site of one of our finest afternoons on Saturday as we face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. After two successive drab nil nil draws on the road will The R's finally turn on the style away from HQ?
 

Sheffield Wednesday v Queens Park Rangers
The Championship
 Saturday 8th March 2008
Kick Off 15:00

 
TEAM NEWS

Gigi De Canio will likely select from the same squad of players that were available to him midweek for this one. Gavin Mahon still hasn't shaken off his medial ligament problem so there are unlikely to be any changes in central midfield. The defence is also likely to be unchanged after keeping three consecutive clean sheets but Luigi may tinker with things up front after the poor showing at Coventry in that department.

Things aren't so cut and dried for Owls boss Brian Laws, he is already without long term absentees Francis Jeffers, Frankie Simek (both ankle) and Steve Watson (hamstring) and has doubts over Wade Small, who missed the midweek game with a hip injury and defender Peter Gilbert, who has a groin problem. Jermaine Johnson begins a four game ban on Saturday so is also missing as is Adam Bolder who is suspended but couldn't have played anyway due to the terms of his loan deal. Laws moved quickly today to spice up his attacking options with the signing of Portsmouth winger Franck Songo'o, he joins for a month and will go straight into the side.

RON & SIMON'S
SELECT XI		            
Vine
Buzsaky
Balanta Leigertwood Rowlands Ephraim
  Delaney   Connolly   Hall   Mancienne  
        Camp        
A QUICK GUIDE TO OUR OPPONENTS
 
WEDNESDAY IN BRIEF: It's been a rotten season for the long suffering Wednesday fans, after following Rangers out of the English footballs third tier a year after we managed it they consolidated in The Championship before an encouraging ninth placed finish last year raised hopes. However this campaign has proved to be a rare struggle and one of the country's most famous old clubs could find themselves back in League One in August if things don't pick up soon.
 

LAST FIVE GAMES
Date Versus Venue F A
04/03/08 West Brom Home 0 1
01/03/08 Barnsley Away 0 0
23/02/08 Cardiff Home 1 0
12/02/08 Charlton Home 0 0
09/02/08 Bristol City Away 1 2

TOP SCORERS
Name League Cups Total
M. Tudgay 7 1 8
A. Sodje 7 0 7
D. Burton 3 2 5
B. O'Brien 3 0 3
W. Small 2 1 3
 

CLASH OF THE DAY: Mark Beevers v Rowan Vine. Beevers is one of the shining lights of the current Wednesday set up having recently been named the Young Apprentice of the year at the recent Football League awards. Just eighteen, he has twenty one appearances under his belt at centre half. Vine is likely to be facing up against him and if he can produce the pace and movement that he displayed against Stoke City then the youngster could be in for a torrid afternoon.
 
RANGERS VERSUS .....
 

LAST TIME OUT: “The game ended in a draw but as has been the case in the past at Rangers, there was no dissent from the terraces. The paying punters knew they had seen an excellent game played between two sides that really wanted to get things done properly.” Queens Park Rangers 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday, Saturday 24th November 2007.
 
HEAD TO HEAD
Overall
Played QPR Sheff Wed Draws
55 17 25 13
At Hillsborough
Played QPR Sheff Wed Draws
27 6 18 3
 

OTHER MEETINGS: Wednesday are well in front in the head to head with twenty five victories to our seventeen. We've only won six times at Hillsborough in our history however half of those wins have come in the last six trips up the M1.

 

LEAGUE STANDINGS
Pos Team P GD Pts
15th QPR 36 -4 45
22nd Sheffield Wednesday 34 -7 36
 
GENERAL INFORMATION

THE REFEREE

Neil Swarbrick takes charge of his third QPR match in his short career and second this season. Last year he was the man in the middle for our 3-1 victory at Leicester City whilst in October he officiated our 1-1 home draw with Ipswich. He's averaging around two yellow cards which isn't too bad in the scheme of things but he doesn't mind flashing the red, it's seen the sun seven times already this campaign.

THE REF RECORD
Season Games Yellows Reds
2007-08 31 63 7
2006-07 34 96 9
2005-06 29 57 2
2004-05 - - -
2003-04 - - -
 

 
   

OPPONENTS LINKS
Official Website SWFC.co.uk
Fans Website ANZ Owls
Message Board Owls Talk
Travel Info Football Ground Guide

MATCH DAY ODDS
Bookie S. Weds Draw QPR
6/4 21/10 6/4
11/8 11/5 8/5
11/8 11/5 13/8
   
 

SIX DEGREES OF SEP-R-ATION: Wade Small to Patrick Agyemang. Small started his football career with Wimbledon making his debut for them in the first season after moving to Milton Keynes. He scored his first Dons goal in a 3-0 away win at Reading that saw Jobi McAnuff get the third. McAnuff is now at Watford but he originally left Wimbledon for a short lived spell at West Ham in 2004. His Hammers debut came in February that year at Bradford but he was replaced at half time by Adam Nowland. He is currently a contracted Preston player but has had two loan spells away this season. His last Deepdale appearance came in March 2007 during a 2-0 home win over Burnley which saw David Nugent score the opener. Nugent is at Portsmouth having been signed by Harry Redknapp for six million pounds last summer. Despite only making a handful of Pompey appearances so far he has managed to score three goals, the last of which he put past Ipswich 'keeper Neil Alexander. He is now at Glasgow Rangers having played his last Ipswich game against Plymouth Argyle in January this year. Also in the Ipswich team that day was Tommy Miller. He joined The Tractor Boys after a loan spell ended at Preston in January, his Preston debut had come in a home game against Coventry when he lined up alongside Patrick Agyemang in PNE starting eleven.

 
RON AND SIMON'S PREDICT-OFF
SIMON: The game against Coventry City during the week was a shocker and the fans that pitch up at Hillsborough will certainly be expecting better. There is nothing wrong with setting up not to be beaten away but the passing and application of the players simply must improve. Hopefully we will see an upturn in our attacking intentions although I still don’t expect us to win the game. 1-1.

RON: If we're going to take positives out of the last few games it has to be the fact we've kept three clean sheets on the bounce. Granted two of them have come in dire away day nil nils but a clean sheet is a clean sheet and that must boost the confidence. We are incredibly inconsistent at the moment but when we turn it on there are few who can live with us. Wednesday are in a right old state and if we can play in the way we are capable of we should win, the trouble is no one can tell what sort of Rangers will turn up on the day. I will gladly take a draw out of this one but I'll stick my neck out and take us for an overdue away victory. 2-1 to Rangers.

Current score: Ron 17 Simon 16