Kevin Gallen Makes 400th QPR Appearance & Views on QPR's League Position & Recent Performances

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The Times December 04, 2006 Kuqi has Palace's fortunes on turn Alyson Rudd Crystal Palace 3 Queens Park Rangers 0
It probably would not be much of an exaggeration to say the Crystal Palace fans could hardly believe their eyes. The player they had written off as an expensive mistake played almost as if a delightful bargain. They hurriedly voted Shefki Kuqi man of the match and celebrated a resounding victory that makes talk of reaching the play-offs sound less ludicrous.....
Queens Park Rangers had squandered several decent chances but in the second half they were insipid. Clinton Morrison scored Palace’s third in the 86th minute after Kuqi had more or less stolen the show with powerful runs that should have produced more...
It is partly Palace’s fault that no matter where a team are placed in the Coca-Cola Championship table, promotion never looks too far away. Iain Dowie took Palace from the relegation zone at Christmas 2003 to a play-offs final five months later.
However, Kevin Gallen believes QPR have to be less fanciful. “I’m a bit of a realist,” he said. “I know you don’t go from bottom of the league to getting in the play-offs. People get excited but we should be in the top ten or top 12 trying to push for the play-off place.
We’ve turned into a bit of a soft touch. We are still in a relegation dogfight and need to pick up points quick.”
It was Gallen’s 400th appearance for the club he supported as a boy. The 31-year-old worked hard in the centre of midfield but in the end he must have felt he was running in treacle. “It felt like my 600th appearance in the last ten minutes. I said to the ref ‘how long?’ and he said ‘Six minutes’ and I said ‘any chance of calling it a day now?’ We weren’t looking good.” Gallen was right, QPR did not look good but it is far too early to conclude that they cannot make the play-offs...
The Times