QPR 1 Brighton 1 - Reports & Comments

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QPR took the lead....Gallen sent off...Brighton equalize through a Bignot og....Baidoo misses a sitter ...Just Under 14,000 saw the game

OFFICIAL SITE
Red Cards :Gallen 50
Goals :Ainsworth 13 Bignot 80 (og)
Match Report
Rangers had to share the points after a Gareth Ainsworth header, thanks to a late own goal.
The Rangers winger had given Rangers the lead in the first half when his 13th minute header got the better of Wayne Henderson.
For the remainder of the half, it was all Rangers as Brighton failed to trouble the home side.
But in the second half, the sending off of Kevin Gallen fuelled Brighton's game.
But still the visitors failed to pose any real threat and considering this, it was no surprise that their equaliser came from Marcus Bignot.
The header fell past Paul Jones, who was unable to claw the ball from behind him.
All in all, a disappointing result given the performance.
Gary Waddock made two changes to the team which drew with Sheffield Wednesday.
A slight hamstring tweak to Paul Furlong saw the striker rested, but there was good news in the form of Marc Nygaard who returned to action.
Ian Evatt also came in for Matthew Rose in the centre of defence.
Rangers started brightly, dominating in possession and looking lively in front of goal.
Nygaard looked a certainty to put Rangers ahead with just 8 minutes on the clock after Marcus Bignot crossed for the Dane.
Nygaard stuck a boot out, but the ball cannoned over the bar when just a little bit of direction was required.
Judging by Rangers' build up play, you could tell it wouldn't be long before the deadlock was broken and it was a surprise that it took as long as 13 minutes.
The 'pass and move' work from the training ground paid dividends when Lee Cook crossed for Gareth Ainsworth, who headed clean through the legs of Wayne Henderson who was rooted to his line.
Brighton threatened Paul Jones for the first time 20 minutes in when Sebastien Carole drove low at the Rangers stopper, but Jones held his effort easily.
The same man bore down on goal seven minutes later and struck from outside the box.
Despite the fact that his shot was struck with venom down the middle of the goal, Jones was well position and held his strike.
Lee Cook could have doubled the scoreline on a number of occasions, but each time the final ball eluded him.
At the other end, a weak Colin Kazim-Richards failed to trouble Jones as the ball skewed wide of the post.
Rangers finished the half on top, but suffered a blow early on after the break when Kevin Gallen was dismissed for an off the ball incident involving Paul McShane.
Faced with the loss of his skipper, Gary Waddock mixed things up by replacing Nygaard and Cook with Sammy Youssouf and Shabazz Baidoo.
The advantage in numbers seemed to help Brighton's plight and the visitors started to see more of the ball.
A well taken corner from Doug Loft flew past the face of goal, but luckily for Jones who had made a mad dash, none of the Brighton men could connect.
Some good work from Baidoo almost saw the youngster net his first goal at Loftus Road.
Weaving between two defenders, Baidoo swerved to the left, pushed the ball past his man and unleashed a fierce effort which sadly flew just over the bar.
The scores were then levelled by the most unfortunate of circumstances.
Marcus Bignot headed back to Jones, but the keeper just couldn't seem to reach the ball as he was left wrong-footed.
As he looked behind him, the ball bobbled into the back of the net.Rangers went straight back on the offensive in a bid to retake the lead.
Ainsworth went close to bagging his second of the day when his free kick blazed over the bar as time ran out for Rangers.It looked as though Baidoo was going to win the game for Rangers in injury time when Nygaard headed down for him in front of goal, but a tangle of his legs meant the youngster lacked the finish.Sadly there was to be no winner for the Superhoops, despite the fact this was a game that could and indeed should have been won.Rangers: Jones, Bignot, Milanese, Evatt, Shittu, Bircham, Gallen, Ainsworth, Cook (Baidoo 61), Nygaard (Youssouf 61), Lomas
Subs: Royce, Santos, LangleyScorers: Ainsworth 13,Bookings: BaidooSent off: Gallen 50
Brighton: Henderson, Hinshelwood, Hart, Hammond, Carpenter, Butters, Carole (Gatting 57), Frutos (Loft 65), El-Abd, Kazim-Richards, McShane
Scorers: Bignot (og) 79
Subs: Martin, Reid, Dodd
Bookings: El-AbdRef: A Leake
Att: 13,907 http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/MatchReport/0,,10373~31044,00.html


WADDOCK /OFFICIAL SITE " UNLUCKY"
Gary Waddock was left ruing his side's missed chances after drawing with Brighton.
Marcus Bignot's own goal in the 79th minute cancelled out Gareth Ainsworth's opener, but Waddock refused to point the finger at his defender.
He said: "Biggy is sitting in the dressing room and is absolutely gutted. Up until that moment we had been playing well and taking the game to Brighton.
"They hadn't posed too much of a threat to us and to say that I'm disappointed is an understatement.
"I'm not going to blame Biggy because there were other turning points in the game.
"Shabazz had two great chances to win us the game at the end and it's fair to say that he is just as gutted as Biggy at the moment.
"I told him that he can miss one, but next time the second opportunity falls to him he's got to put a size nine boot through it and launch it."
The dismissal of Kevin Gallen five minutes in to the second half gave Brighton half a chance in a game they rarely took a hold of.
The skipper was adjudged to have swung an arm at Paul McShane and was duly given his marching orders.
"I think that was a turning point in the game. I haven't had a chance to see it yet but all in all, it wasn't our day having dominated the game."
http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Match/ManagersComments/0,,10373~804074,00.html


SPORTING LIFE
McGhee - hopeful of staying up. McGHEE BULLISH OVER SAFETY
By Andy Sims, PA Sport
Brighton boss Mark McGhee insisted his side can still beat the drop from the Coca-Cola Championship despite seeing them held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man QPR at Loftus Road.
A Marcus Bignot own goal 10 minutes from time earned the Seagulls a point after Gareth Ainsworth had given Rangers a deserved first-half lead.
Sheffield Wednesday's win over Preston leaves Brighton seven points adrift of safety, but McGhee is refusing to write his battling side off and insists they can survive.
"The important thing is we still have to play Sheffield Wednesday, and if we can get a win between now and then, and then beat them, it is game on," said McGhee.
"If we didn't have to play them, then it would probably be all over, but it isn't. But we have to beat Sheffield Wednesday."
McGhee was disappointed with his side's display, however, and admitted they barely deserved to take a point back to the south coast.
Rangers were rarely threatened by the visitors despite being a man short for most of the second half following Kevin Gallen's sending off.
"Week in, week out, we've been able to say we've deserved more from games, but not today," added McGhee.
"It took the sending off to get us into the game and that's disappointing.
"We've got to be grateful for a point because we didn't deserve to win. And if we stay up I'll send Marcus Bignot a bottle of champagne."
Rangers caretaker boss Gary Waddock revealed Gallen apologised to his team-mates following his 50th-minute dismissal.
The experienced striker was shown a straight red card by referee Tony Leake after aiming a punch at Brighton defender Paul McShane.
"I didn't see the incident but it was out of character," said Waddock. "He's devastated, he's never been sent off before.
"And we know if we'd had 11 men on the pitch we'd have gone on to win.
"We played well in the first half, and even with 10 men I thought we played some good football. I felt we deserved three points overall."
Waddock's future remains unresolved, with previous boss Ian Holloway still on gardening leave following a fall-out with chairman Gianni Paladini, and the former Rangers defender admitted he wants a concrete decision sooner rather than later.
"We've got a lot of good young players here, but I'm not in a position to make decisions on players' futures at the moment," he added.
"Ian Holloway is still the manager of this football club. If the situation with him is sorted out then hopefully the club will sit down with me."
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/06/03/18/SOCCER_QPR_2nd_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=nationwide1