QPR-Blackpool Match Reports & Comments - Compilation

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- Earlier Match Reports and Managerial Comments

BRIAN GLANVILLE/SUNDAY TIMES - QPR 1 Blackpool 1
Second half goal from Peter Ramage saves game for QPR
- Goals, as we know too well, determine the shape of a game. But in this case, it was a curious shape indeed. Queen’s Park Rangers, well on top for the first half hour, were frequently frustrated by the agile goalkeeping of Blackpool’s Paul Rachubka and once by the bar.
- Yet we also know that when dominant teams fail to take their chances, they run the risk of conceding goals themselves. So it will transpire. Blackpool had done little or nothing of consequence in attack for almost the whole of the first half. Suddenly with a few minutes to go to half time, slack defence on the QPR right enabled Ben Burgess, the solitary Blackpool striker, to send a left-foot shot from the left whistling not far wide of the far post. That encouraged, Blackpool and Burgess proceeded to score in the very next minute.
- Charlie Adam, a useful recruit from Rangers, crossed from the left, Gary Taylor-Fletcher neatly moved the ball on to Burgess and into the net it duly went. One-nil to Blackpool was the travesty of what has happened, though football as we know is full of such travesties.
- QPR in that first half hour were full of life and menace. In the sixth minute, when Angelo Balanta shrewdly put Adel Taaravt through, Rachubka flung himself at the ball to block it. At his near left-hand post, a quarter of an hour later, Rachbubka thwarted Taaravt again. Perhaps the QPR manager, Jim Magilton was a little harsh on the striker when he called him: “Indifferent at times. Again, the boy has to learn when to release a ball. But the boy is certainly a match-winner. He just needs someone to believe in him.”
- And in the second half, Taaravt duly faded away. QPR will certainly benefit when he gets fully fit from the many skills of their Hungarian player Akos Buzsaky whom Magilton brought on only at half time. “I just felt he hadn’t had enough games. We’re trying to get the pain out of his legs.”
- Irony of ironies, Rachubka who had done so much so well in the first half, gave away a comical equaliser. When time was almost up, completely misjudging a long ball from the right by Peter Ramage, surely intended as a centre, but one which zoomed over the keeper’s head and ended in the net. “I’m surprised they didn’t defend well enough to stop us scoring,” said Ian Holloway, Blackpool’s manager, back at the club he managed for 10 years and disgusted with the flooded state of the away dressing-room. “At the end of the day, a cross is a cross. We made a bad start, but got a goal that settled us down a bit.”
- In the first half Wayne Routledge played havoc with the left flank of Blackpool’s defence. Less was seen of him in the second, but almost at the death, he delightfully beat his man on the right and put over a left-wing cross which Gavin Mahon headed somewhat wastefully wide." Sunday Times


QPR 1 Blackpool 1: Holloway puts one over 'ex'
By IAN RIDLEY/Daily Mail
- Ian Holloway reckoned that coming back to Loftus Road would be like seeing an ex-wife again. Queen's Park Rangers may have the financial clout these days but it could be that the new Blackpool manager got out while the going was good.
- Holloway had 10 years at Rangers in total, first as a player in the Premier League, then leading them to promotion as manager before an acrimonious parting when the club accused him of talking to Leicester City without permission, which he has always denied. His side almost escaped with a win yesterday. They were fortunate to survive early pressure before pinching a goal through Ben Burgess.
- Charlie Adam, Blackpool's £500,000 summer signing from Glasgow Rangers, fed Gary Taylor-Fletcher, who laid the ball off for Burgess to drill home from 10 yards.
Luck was then with the hosts as a cross from Peter Ramage sailed over Paul Rachubka for the full-back's first ever goal.
- 'You can't get rid of 10 years of emotion,' said Holloway. 'She's looking well, though they could do something about the away dressing room. It's not been decorated since I was here and it was under water.'
- Jim Magilton, Rangers' fifth manager in two years, said: 'There were a lot of nerves. It was important to get something on opening day.' Mail


SPORTING LIFE - MANAGERIAL COMMENTS
- MAGILTON ADMITS RELIEF
Jim Magilton was relieved after Peter Ramage's late equaliser rescued him from a nightmare start as QPR manager.
- Former Rs boss Ian Holloway was heading for a victory over his old club in his first game as Blackpool manager before Ramage netted a fortuitous goal with four minutes remaining.
- Blackpool went ahead seven minutes before half-time when Charlie Adam's ball into the box was laid off by Gary Taylor-Fletcher to Ben Burgess who fired into the bottom corner.
- The points looked safe for Holloway's side after substitute Rowan Vine missed a great chance for QPR, but Ramage found the net from the right flank with what seemed to be an attempted cross.
- Magilton admitted: "It's a mixture of feeling relieved and also disappointed that we didn't win the game.
- "We created chances in the first half and then shot ourselves in the foot with the goal we conceded.
- "It was tough, because when you come up against Ian Holloway's team you expect them to keep going and be dogged and determined.
- "In the end, it was a good point for us. It was important that we got something from the game and I think we deserved to.
- "We played some good football at times. There is pressure on us but that comes from within the dressing room and tandards the players want to set for themselves."
- Magilton's starting line-up included on-loan Tottenham forward Adel Taarabt, who missed two first-half chances and almost netted a late winner.
- The Rangers boss gave a mixed review of Taarabt's display, saying: "He was indifferent at times. The boy has to learn when to release the ball.
- "But he is certainly a match-winner. I'm sure he will improve as a player and you can already see signs of him doing that."

[IAN HOLLOWAY]
- Holloway, back at the club that fired him in 2006, admitted Rangers deserved at least a point from the game.
- He said: "My boys are disappointed we didn't win but I have to say I'd have felt like a complete robber if we had won. A draw was a fair result.
- "We did okay. We did some good things are there are also some things we need to work on. I'm just looking forward to getting on with it.
- "Football's all about swings, ebbs and flows - and I expect after that QPR will be more pleased with the outcome than we are.
- "Our goal settled us down and we did some good things, but in the end Rangers kept going and got the goal - which was definitely meant to be a cross.
- "I wasn't surprised we scored, although I was a bit surprised QPR didn't defend the situation better.
- "My team just need to change their mindset. We're not a small club in this division and we are not punching above our weight." Sporting Life


SUNDAY PEOPLE/Dave McIntyre - Ram raid relief for Rangers
- Ian Holloway cursed his luck after being denied a dream victory over the 'ex' that ditched him.
- Former QPR manager Holloway was heading for a winning start to his reign as Blackpool boss before Peter Ramage netted a lucky equaliser with four minutes left.
- It was tough on the Tangerines, who took a first-half lead when Ben Burgess fired into the bottom corner after collecting Gary Taylor-Fletcher's lay-off.
- Victory would have been so sweet for Holloway, who spent 10 years at Rangers as a player and boss before leaving under a cloud.
- He compared going back to Loftus Road to seeing an ex-wife, saying: "You don't spend 10 years with someone and not still have feelings.
- "It's good to see 'her' doing well. She looks good - although the away dressing room is a bit of a state.
- "My lads did okay though. We just need a change of mindset, because we're not a small club and not punching above our weight. We want to get on that gravy train to the Premier League."
- Tricks
A defeat in front of watching supremo Flavio Briatore would have been disastrous for Jim Magilton in his first match as QPR's latest manager.
- And no-one knows more about the pressure facing Magilton than Holloway, who was booted out in 2006 after a string of rows with chairman Gianni Paladini.
- Briatore later led a takeover, handing Paladini the role of sporting director, and Rangers have since had FIVE more managers.
- The axed bosses include Paulo Sousa and Magilton's pal Iain Dowie, who were both quickly replaced after taking a stand against the club's top brass.
- Paladini, a former football agent, still has a major involvement and the signings he negotiated this summer include the capture of Tottenham's Adel Taarabt on a season-long loan.- Tarrabt is full of tricks but missed three good chances, and Magilton said: "He was indifferent at times. The boy has to learn when to release the ball - but he is certainly a matchwinner."
- Ramage sliced an attempted cross over Paul Rachubka and into the net.
- "My boys are disappointed we didn't win. It was definitely meant to be a cross by Ramage," moaned Holloway.
- Qpr: Cerny 6 - Ramage 5, Hall 6, Gorkss 6, Borrowdale 6 - Routledge 6, Mahon 5, Rowlands 7 (Agyemang, 60mins, 6), Balanta 6 (Buzsaky, 54mins, 6) - Helguson 5 (Vine, 54mins, 6), *TAARABT 7.
- BLACKPOOL: Rachubka 7 - Baptiste 7, Evatt 7, Edwards 7, Crainey 6 - Taylor-Fletcher 7 (Ormerod, 67mins, 6), Southern 7, Euell 7, Adam 7, Vaughan 7 (Clarke, 72mins, 6) - *BURGESS 8. REFEREE: A. D'Urso 6. People


NEWS OF THE WORLD - QPR 1, BLACKPOOL1 - IAN HOLLOWAY was up to his neck in it again on his return to Loftus Road.
- The controversial new Blackpool boss, 10 years at QPR as player and manager, complained: "The toilet in the away dressing room was absolutely under water.
- "Something was pumping out and it was absolutely disgusting. Is that mind games?"
- The result was also a damp squib for Holloway after Blackpool had looked set to go home with all three points. They rode their luck in the first half for Ben Burgess to put them ahead from close range eight minutes before the break.
- And they held on until just four minutes from the end when defender Peter Ramage notched his first goal in professional football when a hopeful cross from the right looped over the head of keeper Paul Rachubka. News of The World


Telegraph/Nick Collins- QPR 1 Blackpool 1:
- A freak goal at the death by Peter Ramage denied Ian Holloway a dream return to Loftus Road and gave the QPR fullback the first goal of his career.
- Former Rangers player and manager Holloway had seen his Blackpool side resist relentless pressure for the first half-hour before Ben Burgess converted sharply to give the visitors a scarcely deserved lead.
- But just as Holloway thought he had guided his new club to an unlikely victory, which would have been their first here since 1972, Ramage spared QPR’s blushes in fortunate fashion.
- His 86th-minute cross from the right flank drifted off the side of his boot and carried over the entire Blackpool defence, dropping into the far corner of the net over a sprawling Paul Rachubka.
- Although something of a fluke, it was the least QPR deserved in a match they dominated, while The Seasiders’ miserable opening-day record continued - they have now won just one of their last 10 first-day outings.
- Jim Magilton, making his debut on the home bench, saw his side make an electric start to the match and dominate the early exchanges with Wayne Routledge and Adel Taarabt, on loan from Tottenham, looking dangerous.
- But with goalkeeper Rachubka on good form for Blackpool, the home side could not convert their dominance into goals, and they were punished when the visitors took the lead in the 36th minute with only their second chance of the match.
- The powerful Burgess, who had shot wide just a minute earlier, buried the ball low to the goalkeeper’s left following good counter-attacking play from Charlie Adam and Gary Taylor-Fletcher.
- Rangers fought back in the second half, adding Patrick Agyemang and Rowan Vine to the attack in search of a goal, but for all their efforts the home side’s final ball was too often wayward.
- A frustrating match for the home faithful reached its zenith on 84 minutes when Vine missed his side’s best chance of the game, volleying wide from 10 yards following an exquisite cross by Agyemang.
- But just a minute later their blushes were spared with Ramage’s unexpected equaliser.
- Magilton said: “We shot ourselves in the foot with the opening goal and in the end it was a good point. I think when Rowan Vine missed his chance we thought it might not be our day but our attitude was first class, we kept going.” Holloway, who previously compared his imminent return to Loftus Road to visiting an ex-wife, said: “You can’t get rid of 10 years’ emotion all in one afternoon. I’m one of those people with a tattoo of the old badge — I’ve had to change it!
- “It was a fair result. My boys are disappointed but we would have gone away absolute robbers if we had have left with three points.” Telegraph


Guardian/Mike Stafford - Blackpool pay the price for Ramage goods
- This fixture offered the prospect of a glorious return to pastures old for Blackpool's new manager Ian Holloway or a successful start for Jim Magilton, the latest manager to risk a premature P45 by taking over the QPR boss's chair, which has more resembled a bucking bronco in the last 12 months. In the end we got neither as the utterly dominant home side earned a more than deserved draw with only three minutes remaining.
- Ignoring the fact he intended it as a cross, Peter Ramage's lob from the right-hand edge of the area was his first senior goal and a sight to behold – unless you were Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone. The retreat of the QPR chairman and his friend and fellow investor to the executive box minutes earlier did not go unnoticed by the Rangers faithful. "Choose another club, Flavio," suggested one fan.
- That is unlikely and not advisable – while not embarking on an Abramovich-style splurge, the Italian has invested, though there was no debut for the 3.5 million midfielder, Alejandro Faurlin, who sustained a thigh injury during preseason. QPR fans insteadgot a first glimpse of Adel Taarabt who joined from Tottenham Hotspur on a one-year loan. Playing behind Heidar Helguson, the Moroccan exuded languid class sporadically and was close to opening the scoring after five minutes when he bore down on Paul Rachubka in the Blackpool goal, only for Ian Evatt to make a last-ditch tackle.
- Wayne Routledge on the right was giving Stephen Crainey a torrid time. The winger supplied Helguson, who struck the underside of the bar from close range and then the winger himself forced a full length save from Rachubka.
- The wheel came off one of Briatore's cars at the Hungarian Grand Prix recently and one suspects a familiar emotion swept over him as he watched Blackpool unexpectedlytake the lead seven minutes before the break. Jason Euell's cross from the left was played first time by Gary Taylor-Fletcher to Ben Burgess. Unmarked, the striker swivelled and placed his shot beyond Radek Cerny to give Holloway's side an implausible half-time lead.
- However, the Tangerines failed to take the initiative in the second half and the QPR goal went unmolested as the home side again dominated possession. Desperation was setting in by the end before Ramage's intervention, which. allowed a relieved Magilton to take positives from his first game. "If we continue to play like that we'll win more than we lose," he said. "In the end it was a good result for us." "I'd have felt a complete robber if we had taken all three points today," agreed Holloway. Guardian


Observer/Jacob Steinberg - Roundup
"...Peter Ramage's 86th minute equaliser for Queens Park Rangers, helped them avoid embarrassment against Blackpool at Loftus Road. Ben Burgess's first-half goal had threatened to make it a bad day for Jim Magilton in his first competitive match as manager, a position not held for too long by any of his numerous predecessors..." Observer


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