Nostalgia: August 10, 1968: Our First Division 'Debut' - QPR 1 Leicester 1

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Thirty-Eight Years ago...August 10, 1968, QPR 1 Leicester 1

21,000+ saw QPR play their first-ever game in the First Division. QPR drew 1-1 at Loftus Road, with the new stand not yet complete! Substitute Les Allen , soon to be our manager, scored our first goal while Leicester had English record transfer signing (Allan Clarke, 150,000 pounds from Fulham) making his debut.
QPRs team
Springett -Finch Hazell Watson Harris
Sibley Keen - Morgan Wilks Clarke Morgan
Sub: Allen


Meanwhile, a year ago, August 10, 2005 were reporting on QPR's 2-1 win over Ipswich - (QPR then under the guidance of Bill Power, Mark Devlin and Ian Holloway!)

QPR -
Simon Royce, Marcus Bignot, Matthew Rose, Georges Santos, Danny Shittu, Gareth Ainsworth (Stefan Moore), Marc Bircham, Tommy Doherty, Martin Rowlands, Paul Furlong (Marc Nygaard), Kevin Gallen

Ipswich
Lewis Price, Mark Fish (Matthew Richards), Richard Naylor, Luis Castro Rodríguez Sito, Fabian Wilnis, Darren Currie, Owen Garvan (Kevin Horlock), Jim Magilton, Ian Westlake (Jaime Peters), Nicky Forster, Sam Parkin

Floundering Fish leaves Ipswich gutted

Rob Smyth at Loftus Road
Wednesday August 10, 2005
The Guardian

Last season Ipswich were arguably the finest side in the Championship, a loose-limbed attacking force blessed with charm and style. But now they're down to the bare bones and the strain is already starting to show
Having lost Kelvin Davis, Tommy Miller, Shefki Kuqi and Darren Bent in the summer, and with their defensive linchpin Jason De Vos out injured, they were well beaten by a ravenous Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road last night. We're a bit lightweight," admitted their manager Joe Royle. "We've only got four recognised defenders. I had to play Mark Fish [on loan from Charlton] and I knew he wasn't fit. He volunteered to play and I can't thank him enough for that but he's obviously nowhere near at the moment."

Kevin Gallen got the first eight minutes before the break, rolling the lumbering Fish superbly before placing his shot in the corner. Then, on the stroke of half-time, with Fish on the floor after taking a whack in the face, Gareth Ainsworth's deep cross was slammed home gleefully on the volley by Martin Rowlands.

"I said at half-time, 'I'm not happy with that, you should be in front by more'," said the QPR manager Ian Holloway. "Two-nil is the worst score in the world, because it can quickly change the momentum."

So it proved. Eight minutes into the second half, Sam Parkin picked the dallying Georges Santos's pocket and curved his first goal for the club classily into the far top corner.

Ipswich, like recovering amnesiacs, suddenly began to pass and move with familiar, elastic elan but apart from Marcus Bignot clearing Parkin's shot off the line, there were few alarms for the home side.

"That's one of the best performances any team of mine has ever given," said Holloway, happily hyperbolic as ever. "But there's still 44 games to go. It doesn't mean anything."
http://football.guardian.co.uk/Match_Report/0,,-55445,00.html


And FOUR YEARS AGO TODAY....strong>

Saturday August 10, 2002 QPR 3 Chesterfield 1
- Furlong, Langley & Gallen
QPR
Terrell Forbes, Matthew Rose, Doudou Ebeu Mbombo, Richard Langley, Steve Palmer, Marc Bircham, Nicky Culkin, Kevin Gallen, Daniel Shittu, Karl Connolly, Andy Thomson

http://football.guardian.co.uk/Match_Report/0,,-39216,00.html