QPR vs Norwich - Still Further Reports

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Independent/Jonathan Wilson - October 16, 2006
Queen's Park Rangers 3 Norwich City 3: Grant faces sizeable task

When Peter Grant was a midfielder at Celtic, ostentatious gesticulation was such a part of his game that he acquired the nickname "Peter the Pointer". As he watched the Norwich side he takes formal charge of today collapse as they defended a 3-2 lead in the final minutes, it must have occurred to him that a lot more pointing will be in order in the weeks to come.

Not that Queen's Park Rangers were much better at the back. Purists would have despaired of a game liberally sprinkled with goals long before the fourth official raised his board to announce five minutes of injury time, but it was then that panic gripped Norwich. John Gregory spoke of resilience, but the truth is that QPR preserved their unbeaten record under him largely because Norwich seemed paralysed by the prospect of a first away win of the season.

A long ball, a half-blocked shot, was followed by Martin Rowlands, picking up the rebound and squeezing in his shot at the near post from a narrow angle. It was all very messy, very avoidable and very predictable. It is that lack of confidence Grant will have to address. Craig Fleming, who played with Grant at Carrow Road in the late 1990s, believes he can. "He was definitely management material. He was an organiser," he said.

Organisation was almost entirely lacking on Saturday. First, Darren Huckerby was untended to give Norwich the lead, then Jimmy Smith was left in space to equalise. Rowlands thumped in a free-kick to give the home side a half-time advantage, but Dion Dublin tipped things back Norwich's way as he exploited a static defence.

Only six minutes were left when Rob Earnshaw converted a penalty awarded for Zesh Rehmann's needless tug on Huckerby, but that was still enough time for QPR to find an equaliser.

Goals: Huckerby (4) 0-1; Smith (24) 1-1; Rowlands (45) 2-1; Dublin (72) 2-2: Earnshaw (pen 84) 2-3; Rowlands (90) 3-3.
Queen's Park Rangers (4-4-2): P Jones; Lomas (Rose, 90), Rehman, Stewart, Bignot; Rowlands, Bircham, Smith, Cook; R Jones (Gallen, 77), Blackstock. Substitutes not used: Royce (gk), Ward, Bailey.
Norwich City (4-3-3): Gallacher; Colin, Fleming, Shackell, Drury; Etuhu, Robinson (Dublin, 67), Hughes (Safri, 75); Croft (McVeigh, 87), Earnshaw, Huckerby. Substitutes not used: Camp (gk), R Jarvis
Referee: Andre Mariner (W Midlands).
Booked: QPR Rehman, Smith, Lomas; Norwich Shackell.
Man of the match: Rowlands.
Attendance: 14,793.
Independent

TELEGRAPH - Stewart Jackson
Queens Park Rangers (2) 3 Norwich City (1) 3

Only Craig Fleming knows whether he was planning to invite former Norwich team-mate Peter Grant to play in his testimonial at the end of the season, but the defender will certainly feel obliged to find room for him now.

Fleming joined Norwich in August 1997, the same month as Grant. While Fleming has stayed, the Scot moved on after two seasons and has now returned to succeed Nigel Worthington as manager. What Grant made of Saturday's goal-fest from his seat in the directors' box is anyone's guess, but Fleming is confident the new manager has what it takes to turn things around for Norwich.

"He was definitely management material," Fleming said. "You have people in the dressing room who you think might go on to do something and Peter was one. He's hard-working, with great enthusiasm for the game."

With Norwich having conceded 10 goals in the past three games, defence will be the priority for Grant, who was most recently assistant manager at West Ham, when he takes up his post this morning.

Caretaker manager Martin Hunter had a perfect start to his sole game in charge when Darren Huckerby gave Norwich an early lead, but by the break they were behind. First Jimmy Smith, on loan from Chelsea, capped his first start for QPR with a drive from 25 yards, then Martin Rowlands scored from even further out.

Substitute Dion Dublin levelled and Norwich looked to have secured their first away win when Robert Earnshaw converted a penalty. A roar went up around Loftus Road with the announcement of five minutes' added time, during which Rowlands' goal finished off a thrilling game.
Telegraph

THE TIMES - Norwich give Grant food for thought
By Alyson Rudd - Queens Park Rangers 3 Norwich City 3

JOHN GREGORY CALLED HIS NEW club’s schedule “mental” and if they are involved in many more matches such as this, they may implode. But then, as he pointed out, if everything was perfect at Queens Park Rangers, he would not have been asked to take over as manager.

And that must have been what Peter Grant was thinking as he watched from the directors’ box, having just been appointed Norwich City’s new manager. Grant was not in charge and his role was reduced to that of smiling a good deal, having his back slapped and being shielded from the media.

But Grant, who has left West Ham United, where he was Alan Pardew’s assistant, was presented with a neat summary of what he has inherited from Nigel Worthington. Norwich were, by turns, mature, naive, experienced, exciting and laughable.

According to Craig Fleming, Norwich’s long-serving centre half, Grant will be able to toughen up Norwich. Grant played in the same Norwich team as Fleming eight years ago, when Grant may have impressed Norwich fans with his uncompromising style, but did not gain the status befitting a legend.

“A lot of the time big names are not the answer,” Fleming said. “It does not always guarantee success. I was speaking to a big mate of mine, ‘Aidy’ (Adrian) Boothroyd at Watford, who goes to show exactly what can be done if you get the right man with the right ambition. Peter’s got a better pedigree than Aidy. Aidy hadn’t really worked at first-team level. They (Norwich) want somebody with a bit of pizzazz, a bit of drive, and that is Peter.

“He’ll be pushing us on, trying to get us into those play-off positions. He had a great working partnership with Pardew and in many ways had more to do with it (West Ham’s rise) because first-team coaches have more to do with the day-to-day running of the team.”

Norwich managed to resemble a team who should be in the Premiership and one who could be relegated. They took the lead through Darren Huckerby, who used his sprightly style to sneak through the QPR defence to beat Paul Jones after four minutes. Jones, who had returned from international duty with Wales with the chip on his shoulder of having let in five goals against Slovakia, must have felt a terrible sense of déjà vu.

But although he was beaten twice more on Saturday, he ended the match winning plaudits from his manager for a couple of superb one-handed saves that kept the home team in the hunt for victory.

QPR equalised through Jimmy Smith’s lovely strike. Smith is on loan from Chelsea and will probably stay at Loftus Road beyond his one-month deal, not least because, as Gregory pointed out, he is unlikely to oust, in the short term, Frank Lampard or Michael Ballack. Shortly before the half-time whistle, Martin Rowlands put QPR ahead, but no one in the stadium believed that could be a decisive goal.

Sure enough, the second half was even more open. Robert Earnshaw tormented the home team, while the Norwich defence were troubled by Gregory’s youthful forwards. Martin Hunter, the Norwich caretaker manager, responded by adding a dash of experience with the introduction of Dion Dublin.

Five minutes later, Dublin, who signed from Celtic this summer, scored the goal of the game as a swift, neat build-up left Andy Hughes free to cross into the path of Dublin’s run. Earnshaw scored from the penalty spot to give Norwich the lead again after Zesh Rehman had brought down Huckerby.

A matter of seconds after a huge roar greeted the announcement that there would be five minutes of added time, Rowlands grabbed the final equaliser. “Anybody in this league can beat anybody,” Hunt said, but that never looked likely during this confrontation. The draw was a fair result.

Fleming said: “All the teams that win this league have to be gritty, hard to be beat.” So it is fair to conclude that Gregory and Grant have their work cut out.
Times