Match Day Thread Preston North End v Queens Park Rangers Deepdale 24/2/2021

QPR arrive at Deepdale just shy of a year since they last played at Deepdale, in that game North End 1 up at half time against 10 men collapswd in a heap in the second losing 3-1 to the team from West London, little did we knpw when Eze bent in the third to seal the victory that it would be the last time we would see a league game.
As with then our form can ony be described as iffy, the fan base is becoming quickly disillusioned with the style of play and with the manager.
Saturday's spineless collapse at Cardiff following on from pitiful displays against Luton and Blackburn are starting to be a regular occurence

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We have lost four out of the last five and now face a QPR side in very decent nick.
Our home record is abysmal, teams arrive defend in numbers wait for a mistake by us and suddenly it's game over
One slight positive this appears to be the main match on Sky on Wednesday and we have actually won the last two times we have been on.
Think this is a pivotal week for the club, two wins against Rangers and Huddersfield culd ease the pressure two defeats and this could be one long struggle to stay up

OPPOSITION

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LAST TIME OUT

QPR 2 BOURNEMOUTH 1

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FORM RATING

PNE 5 QPR 14

Four wins on the bounce two games in hand and Warbie talking about the play offs we have the same number of points and we are looking downwards rather than upwards

Three wins at home in the last four games the last against Bournemouth have boosted expectations at Loftus Road, the loan signing of Austin could be pivotal, given they have lost both main players from last season, they probably are doing better than expected.
Played a 3412 formation against the Cherries with the useful chair playing behind the front two, omninously for us they have won their last three away games tthe last being at Watford

HEAD TO HEAD

We have the most wins although they may be oone closer by 10pm on Wednesday, first meeting at Deepdale in September 1949 we won 3-2, until last season we always beat these lads, last season's win was their first atg Deepdale since February 1980 when they won 3-0 and before then in 1967..
Not usually a happy hunting ground for Rangers.

MACS VIEW

Big week ahead look forward in hope rather than expectation needs two big results does Alex can almost hear the clock ticking

 

There is so talk of Bristol City ranking AN highly to fill in their vacancy, but his contract is until the end of 21/22 and would cost BC loads of dosh.

 

Pearson got that job

 

Preston North End’s last game in front of supporters at Deepdale was last March’s home game against Queens Park Rangers.
So, on the week the government laid out the roadmap which will hopefully see everyone back in PR1 for the 2021/22 season, it is perhaps fitting that Mark Warburton’s men are the visitors for this game, which is being televised on Sky Sports.

The London club have been in excellent form since the new year, winning six of their last seven games, to move one place above the Lilywhites in the Championship table.

The reverse clash, down at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium back in October, saw penalties from Daniel Johnson and Scott Sinclair give PNE the win, with a positive performance they will look to repeat on home soil.

Match Information

Team News
Manager Alex Neil will again wait to see how midfielder Ryan Ledson and forward Sean Maguire are, the duo having missed the last couple of games, along with Welsh winger Billy Bodin.

Declan Rudd and Patrick Bauer have already been ruled out for the season, whilst Louis Moult is still a few weeks away from a return, after a long spell out with a knee injury

Mark Warburton, speaking to club website qpr.co.uk before the game, said that he was less likely to make changes from his side’s win over AFC Bournemouth last weekend due to the game being on a Wednesday and not a Sunday.

Defender Jordy de Wijs midfielders George Thomas and Faysal Battache are all expecting to play for the R’s U23s in the midweek, meaning they would return against Birmingham City, but not in time to face the Lilywhites.

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Match Officials
Taking charge of Wednesday’s game is now Premier League official Darren England, who last officiated at Deepdale on the opening day of the 2018/19 campaign, when we faced… Queens Park Rangers! Alan Browne proving to be the match-winner that afternoon.

He has officiated PNE since, but on our travels, in the latter half of last season, refereeing our last ever trip to Griffin Park and the excellent 2-1 win over Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium in February.

Darren also refereed PNE in the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough back at the beginning of October 2019. The previous year, as well as our win over Queens Park Rangers, he took charge of the thrilling 3-3 draw with Aston Villa at Villa Park in what proved to be Steve Bruce’s last game in charge of our opponents.

In 2017/18 Darren officiated three North End games, another draw at Middlesbrough in August, the 2-2 clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage and the 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in February.

In total so far this season, he officiated in 31 games, issuing 119 cautions and five red cards, his last game being the goalless draw between Brighton & Hove Albion and Villa on 13th February.

This Wednesday night he will be assisted by Ian Hussin and James Mainwaring, whilst the fourth official will be experienced Australian Championship referee Jarred Gillett.

 

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0-0 HT

 

0-0 FT

 

Preston North End 0 Queens Park Rangers 0

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Preston North End and Queens Park Rangers couldn’t be separated as they played out a highly-entertaining goalless draw at Deepdale.
Both sides created plenty of chances in an open game, that was anything but as cagey as the final score suggested.

Manager Alex Neil had made four changes to his starting line-up from the one that began against Cardiff City, with Scott Sinclair, Greg Cunningham and Brad Potts returning to the side, and Sepp van den Berg was given his first start – on the right-side of a back four, allowing skipper Alan Browne to be released into the midfield.

The game itself was open from the off, Ched Evans – who was again an excellent focal point for the attack – fed down a right-hand channel by Sinclair, getting a little bit of space to drill a low shot just into the side-netting.

At the other end Daniel Iversen was called upon as well; Charlie Austin playing a clever ball in behind for Scottish international Lyndon Dykes, who looked suspiciously offside, but the flag stayed down and he fired right-footed across goal, only for the on loan Leicester City ’keeper to make a smart save with his right boot.

A free kick 30 yards out ten minutes in allowed Anthony Gordon the chance to test Semy Dieng with a clever free kick that almost caught the R’s stopper off guard – expecting a cross – but he got down low to his left to push the ball behind for one of corner.

The on loan Everton forward was a bright spark for the Lilywhites and he was found by a cultured ball from Ben Whiteman, allowing him to drive in from the left. Two chops sent defenders scrambling, allowing him to shoot on target, but like his opposite number, Dieng saved well with his legs and Potts was unable to find the target with a difficult follow up.

Van den Berg almost marked his first start for the club with the opener on 20 minutes. One of many first half free kicks for the host was swung out from the right by Gordon, flicked on by Andrew Hughes, playing at left centre back, and the Dutch defender headed goalwards at the back post, with Dieng pushing it over the bar.

Yet another corner caused all sorted of problems just after the mid-point in the half, as the ball bounced around like a pinball in the box, before falling to Potts 15 yards out. He drilled a vicious effort, but it flew just past the left-hand upright.

Two wonderful opportunities came in the last minute of the opening period. The first went from one wing to the other, as a great ball from Evans was played out to van den Berg, who ran on and put a superb deep ball to the back post, which was met by Gordon; he got a powerful header on it, but it was just over the right-hand corner of post and bar from 20 yards.

Then moments last, more good play from Gordon down the left, as he dropped a shoulder past his full back, before finding Potts, who laid the ball off, in a centre forward style, for Evans, but he sliced his strike just wide of the post.

The visitors came out with more intent in the first 15 minutes of the second half and their first corner of the game from the right found Charlie Austin in space at the back post, but the experienced front man was unable to find the target.

But it was PNE again who started to create more of the opportunities. On the hour mark, Browne sent Cunningham away down the left and he looked up and pulled his cross back for Sinclair to meet with a first time shot, but his poweful whipped effort was just over Dieng’s cross bar.

A huge shout for a penalty was turned down on 65 minutes when Yoann Barbet flew through Alan Browne in the box. Replays on the Sky Sports cameras showed that the former Brentford man had initially got the ball, but his follow through was loose and dangerously high and there was no doubt that anywhere else on the pitch referee Darren England was blowing for a foul, however, that was not the case in the penalty area.

Austin again showed why he has been in good form of late with a quarter hour left, with a snap shot from 18 yards, but Iversen was equal to it and Jordan Storey, starting his fourth game in a row, mopped up any danger from the rebound.

The last really good opportunity was another Gordon-influenced one, with a corner he won himself, cleverly spotting the run to the front post by Evans, who got across his defender, but his glancing header was narrowly wide and both sides had to be content with a point and a clean sheet.

PNE line-up: Iversen, van den Berg, Cunningham, Whiteman, Storey, Hughes, Sinclair, Browne (c), Evans (Riis, 87), Potts (Johnson, 87), Gordon (Barkhuizen, 80). Subs not used: Ripley, Bayliss, Rafferty, Molumby, Huntington, Rodwell-Grant.

QPR line-up: Dieng, Kane, Wallace, Dickie, Barbet, Dykes (Willock, 66), Chair, Ball, Johansen (Field, 78), Cameron (c), Austin (Bonne, 78). Subs not used: Lumley, Kakay, Hamalainen, Kelman, Adomah.

Referee: Mr D England

Preston manager Alex Neil:

"I thought we definitely lifted the level of performance, so I'm pleased with that.

"We should have landed the first blow, but we didn't. We got into some great areas, and we looked a real threat at times.

"Over the piece, I think if any team had deserved to go on and win the game, it was us."

QPR boss Mark Warburton:

"The second-half performance was much better than the first, and I was delighted with the way our wing-backs got forward.

"I think it says a lot that the lads are really disappointed back there at only coming out of this game with a point.

"It's another clean sheet for us, and that belief is still growing in the camp."

 

So QPRare disappointed with 1 point. Why?

 

Thought they probably should have won but didn’t

 

The clips I have seen suggest that NE had more chances. Potts x 2, Riis, Evans x 2, Gordon. Whereas Rangers had 2 or 3. But counting near misses doesn't count!