FIRST TEAM

 
QPRnet.com
 

Have your say on our message board
 

Upload your QPR pictures to our photo gallery
 

Read a range of opinions on our regular blogs
 

Check your team's progress in Fantasy Rangers
 

Stay in touch on the move with QPRnet Mobile
 
 
 

RANGERS TRAVEL TO WOLVES
Friday 21st March 2008
by Ron Norris & Simon Skinner

Having seen off Blackpool and Scunthorpe at Loftus Road in the last two games a much tougher prospect now awaits Rangers with the visit to Molineux to face Mick McCarthy’s Wolverhampton Wanderers. There probably isn’t a side that blows more hot and cold than Wolves in this league, let’s hope they are having a chilly afternoon on Saturday!

 

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Queens Park Rangers
The Championship
 Saturday 22nd March 2008
Kick Off 15:00

 
TEAM NEWS

The bulk of the side will remain largely unchanged as Rangers go looking for a third consecutive win but a first on the road since Southampton in February. They have been working slowly with Mahon on his rehab and he may well be fit enough to play from the start in this one, if he does then Leigertwood is likely to make way. Jake Cole is out due to having an elbow operation, but he wouldn’t have been in the match day squad anyway. Other than that it should be as you were.

Mick McCarthy has doubts over five players going into this one. Jody Craddock and Rob Edwards are both nursing hamstring pings and are struggling to be fit for kick off whilst Stephen Elliot (ankle) and David Edwards (groin) have both missed recent games. Gary Breen has a dose of flu and if his poor throat doesn't recover enough for him to whinge his way through the game he is unlikely to be selected.

RON & SIMON'S
SELECT XI		          
Blackstock Agyemang
Vine Mahon Rowlands Buzsaky
  Delaney   Hall   Connolly   Mancienne  
        Camp        
A QUICK GUIDE TO OUR OPPONENTS
 
WOLVES IN BRIEF: As usual, Wolves started the season as one of the favourites for promotion and as usual they have been a model of inconsistency and find themselves hovering just outside the top six. It seems to be a perennial problem that no manager, Dave Jones aside, has quite managed to solve. A great stadium and a passionate crowd sometimes seems to weigh heavily on the players shoulders, five home defeats this season pay testament to that. A squad with Eastwood, Keogh, Elliott and Ebanks-Blake in should be scoring for fun but their total of 41 is 12 worse than Rangers’ and therein lays the problem.
 

LAST FIVE GAMES
Date Versus Venue F A
18/03/08 Scunthorpe Home 2 1
15/03/08 Burnley Away 3 1
11/03/08 Preston Away 1 2
04/03/08 Southampton Home 2 2
01/03/08 Colchester Away 1 0

TOP SCORERS
Name League Cups Total
A. Keogh 5 3 8
S. Ebanks-Blake 6 0 6
S. Elliot 4 1 5
M. Kightly 3 1 4
N. Collins 3 1 4
 

CLASH OF THE DAY: Sylvain Ebanks-Blake v Matthew Connolly. Last time Rangers came up against Ebanks-Blake he was still at Plymouth and he scored twice to wrap up a Boxing Day win. He is a handful and generally plays well against Rangers. Connolly has been a revelation since he arrived from Arsenal and seems to be getting better with every game, he will need to be at his best against a player that must have a huge weight advantage on him.
 
RANGERS VERSUS .....
 

LAST TIME OUT: “A ball was played into the feet of Nygaard and as he got it under control former Luton full back Kevin Foley got a grip of the big man. Nygaard turned and still Foley hung on, Nygaard tried to move off and still Foley hung on before the Dane eventually went down. Everyone in the ground expected the whistle but amazingly the ref waived the appeals away.” Queens Park Rangers 0-0 Wolves, Saturday 15th December 2007.
 
HEAD TO HEAD
Overall
Played QPR Wolves Draws
40 11 15 14
At Wolves
Played QPR Wolves Draws
19 6 10 3
 

OTHER MEETINGS: Wolves have a distinct advantage in the head to head between the sides with thirteen league wins to Rangers’ eight. There have been a further twelve draws. You have to go back to September 1998 for Rangers’ last win at Molineux, when a double in the first ten minutes from Mike Sheron (no that it not a typo) secured a 2-1 win.

 

LEAGUE STANDINGS
Pos Team P GD Pts
11th Burnley 39 0 55
12th QPR 39 -2 51
 
GENERAL INFORMATION

THE REFEREE

Clive Oliver is in charge for this one and it is the second time this season he has taken a Rangers game. He was in charge of the awful game against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road this season when all he seemed to do was infuriate the home fans. It’s also his second Wolves game having overseen their defeat at Sheffield United. He has booked seventy two in twenty eight games which isn’t that bad but he has only sent one off, which, while excellent for players and fane, probably means he isn’t card happy enough for a seat at the top table on the ship of fools.
THE REF RECORD
Season Games Yellows Reds
2007-08 28 72 1
2006-07 37 82 3
2005-06 31 75 3
2004-05 32 86 4
2003-04 12 26 3
 

 
   

OPPONENTS LINKS
Official Website Wolves.co.uk
Fans Website The Wolves Site
Message Board The Wolf
Travel Info Football Ground Guide

MATCH DAY ODDS
Bookie Wolves Draw QPR
11/10 11/5 2/1
10/11 9/4 12/5
evens 9/4 9/4
   
 

SIX DEGREES OF SEP-R-ATION: Andy Keogh to Dexter Blackstock. Andy Keogh moved to Wolves from Scunthorpe in January 2007, his first goal in a yellow shirt came in a 3-2 win at Luton after Gary Breen had opened the scoring. Breen followed Mick McCarthy to the Midlands from Sunderland, his last game for the Black Cats was a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa which saw Liam Ridgewell score the winning goal. Ridgewell is now at Birmingham who he joined when Steve Bruce paid two million pounds for his services last summer. Bruce is now manager at Wigan and his first game in charge of The Latics was a 1-0 win over Newcastle with Ryan Taylor scoring the winning goal. Taylor started his career at Tranmere and his last game for them was a play off semi final against Hartlepool. Rovers won 2-0 but went out on penalties, also in the Tranmere side that day was Iain Hume. Hume is now at Leicester and scored their only goal in the recent 3-1 defeat at Loftus Road, a game in which Dexter Blackstock scored the third.  
 
RON AND SIMON'S PREDICT-OFF
SIMON: Wolves is generally my favourite away trip of the season. A classic ground, noisy intimidating fans and pork and stuffing rolls outside! What more could you want? Well the occasional decent result wouldn’t go amiss to be honest! I am sure De Canio will adopt the usual away credo of making us difficult to beat first and then trying to win the game second. I am of the opinion though that a quick start here could easily get the home crowd on the players’ backs and make this a far easier game. As it is I fancy that we will manage to get a share of the spoils from this one. 1-1.

RON: Wolves moved to within a point of the play offs with a win over Scunthorpe in the week and will be hoping to edge back into the top six this weekend. Visits to Wolverhampton are not usually too productive for Rangers, we have only won one league game at The Molineux in the last forty years, our last few away performances haven't been good and we'll have to really step up a gear to make it two.  2-1 to Wolves.

Current score: Ron 18 Simon 17