Is it a requirement of every London team to play 'London Calling' before the game? Is it meant to intimidate the opposition, or is it just meant to prove how Cockney the home side is? We had it at Chelsea and QPR went one better by following it up with "I've been thinking about you" by Londonbeat at half time. Clever that, two references to London when you play in the capital. Maybe we should only play songs with the word 'heart' in them.
Also, were the pictures of Lee Cook in the programme meant to wind us up? The editor had adopted the porn mag practise of featuring Cook not only on the front cover but also in the centre pages as well, clothed fortunately. He told us how much he loved Rangers and that he likes playing against us. Yes okay mate, we know. Its getting boring now. In fact I think it would be fun next time he faces us if we all just completely ignored him. No boo's, no chants. Now I bet that would wind him up.
All this is a good way of not mentioning anything about the game because it was as predictable as all our recent away matches have been We didn't get going properly until the second half by which time we were already playing catch up, Marriappa having conceded a penalty towards the end of the first. I haven't seen it again so can't really say if it was as unfair as we all made out, but either way it's not the first time Adrian M has given one away and he must learn to be more careful with his challenges in the box.
Our first half performance was especially frustrating because when you only need three points to be safe you'd expect us to come flying out of the blocks and QPR didn't really look bothered. Maybe they'd read Warnock's programme notes in which he revealed that most of them are unlikely to be there come August. It was certainly the least 'Colin' like performance from one of his teams I can ever remember. The man himself even remained calm and serene when John Eustace's winding up came to fruition yet again towards the end of the game and potential fisticuffs seemed likely.
Dale Bennett was fantastic again, and I've no idea why he should have made way at half time, although it was good to see Lloyd back who I would've played up front given his goalscoring prowess against QPR.
Marvin Sordell, who came on for McGinn, was up front and looked good. He's certainly got pace which is more than you can say for Liam Henderson. Not so good was the introduction of Michael Bryan for the last ten minutes. Again he's fast and twice raced to the byline only to allow the ball to go out for a goal kick, which I don't think would've been the case if Hoskins had come on.
We were much better in the second half and did create chances but, yet again, the luck wasn't with us. It was a depressing evening all in all. I can't really see us going down with the games Palace and Wednesday have got this weekend. But it's very frustrating to see us failing to grasp the chances to save ourselves.
On the tube back R's fans were excitedly talking about next season and who Warnock would bring in over the summer. It was hard not to be envious. Whichever division we're in very little is likely to change given our current financial situation and its hard to see us doing a Norwich or Leicester even if we do end up in League 1 next season.
