Austin’s penalty miss proves crucial in Hammers stalemate – report Sunday, 26th Apr 2015 23:15 by Clive Whittingham Charlie Austin missed a penalty for the second time this season as QPR drew their must-win home match against West Ham 0-0 on Saturday. A season of what-ifs, bookended by two Charlie Austin penalty misses in crucial games. Ultimately though, QPR simply haven’t been good enough. Manager Chris Ramsey promised a “blood and thunder” London derby with West Ham at Loftus Road on Saturday as the R’s sought a victory to potentially lift them out of the bottom three for the first time since he took over. In the end there wasn’t enough of either. A key game, a wonderful chance for points against an out-of-form side with nothing to play for, was allowed to slip quietly by. Positive results for Leicester and Hull elsewhere only added to the feeling that time is about to be called on QPR’s Premier League status. Austin’s miss from the spot in the first half proved crucial. A flowing move, easily QPR’s best of the game, worked Matt Phillips into space down the right and when he found Bobby Zamora in the area the hapless James Collins thrust up an arm and diverted the ball away from the danger zone. Even Mike Jones, a referee who carries himself with all the gravitas of the hand towel in the gents toilets of a particularly down-at-heel East End pub, couldn’t miss it and the penalty was duly awarded. Austin has been magnificent for QPR since arriving from Burnley nearly two years ago, barely missing a beat or a chance in his time with the club and often carrying his team far beyond what their collective ability and efforts should allow with his goals. He’s scored 17 times already this season and without those goals Rangers would have been knocking on the door of Derby County’s lousy single-win Premier League record from a decade ago. But his reaction – hands to face, turning away towards the Ellerslie Road side of the ground in wide-eyed fear – did little to inspire confidence before he took the penalty down at the School End and his shot was so poorly struck and placed that visiting keeper Adrian, who’s saved three of these already this season, actually almost dived past the ball and ended up saving it with his shins. But, he saved it all the same. Read the rest here.. http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/38516/?
This is why we are where we are now: Phillips may have almost won the game spectacularly at the end, but he was mostly played out of the game by the wonderful Aaron Cresswell, who had been sitting at Ipswich Town and available for a couple of million quid for several years while Rangers were busy giving £65,000 a week to Jose Bosingwa and loaning in kids from Manchester United.
Nice write as per usual from Clive.....so much of what Clive writes is just perfect.... It was the sort of game that drained your will to live as you watched it. It was like being at work. " So true. And I suspect, Swordsy that the reason that 999s is in a bad mood, (like the rest of us) is because our team is going down, and after last saturday with barely a whimper Keep up with the flow Swords
Read this at work earlier, pretty much spot on I'd say. So much so that the highlight of my day was the burger in the C&S!
