QPRnet.com :: The Pre-Match Warm Up

The Big Double Pre-Easter Warm Up
Friday 14th April 2006
by Ron Norris & Simon Skinner

It's Easter weekend, a time when scores are settled, promotions sealed, championships celebrated, relegations confirmed and pre-season expectations realised. Or in Rangers' case, a time for two more meaningless games that we'll be lucky to get anything out of.

On Saturday we welcome Derby to Loftus Road then it's off to Norwich on Easter Monday, can we finally start putting some points on the board?

TEAM NEWS

As seems to have been the case all season and as you would usually expect at this stage of the season, injuries are biting the squad hard. The list of players out for the season now includes Rowlands, Doherty, Rose and Youssouf amongst its ranks. On top of those there are some doubts for the Easter weekend games.

Shabazz Baidoo picked up a knock in training and seems almost certain to miss the Derby game. Santos and Bircham are also both struggling but were unlikely to be involved in the starting XI anyway. There is some hope that Gallen may be fit enough to play some part in at least one of the games. Expect Nygaard and Furlong to play if he doesn’t make it. We may see some youngsters thrown in for this one and I expect Donnelly to start in the middle of the park.

Derby County seem to be struggling also with on loan left back Alan Wright tearing his hamstring last week. Centre back Michael Johnson looks set to deputise for him. They also have problems up front with loan players Kevin Lisbie and Mounir El Hamdaoui set to miss out. Rams boss Terry Westley may have to look to the youth team for a partner for Paul Peschisolido as he is not exactly built to play the lone striking role.

The Norwich news is a bit more difficult as you never know what might crop up in their game against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. Safri and Louis-Jean and definitely both out and McKenzie and McVeigh are both rated doubtful for the bank holiday fixtures. Ryan Jarvis may get the nod but his more exotically named brother Rossi won’t be involved as he is away with the England U18’s side. One player that will be in is Robert Earnshaw, bought for £3m with the proceeds of the Ashton sale.

POSSIBLE TEAM
		Furlong	Nygaard


	Cook	Lomas	Donnelly	Ainsworth


	Milanese	Evatt	Shittu	Kus



		Jones

A QUICK GUIDE TO OUR OPPONENTS ... DERBY COUNTY

DERBY IN BRIEF

Having done so well last season Derby jettisoned both their manager and star striker before August was out. They employed the perma-tanned Phil Brown and he proved to be far from successful. They were struggling at the wrong end of the table when he got the tin tack and caretaker manager Terry Westley has struggled to turn their fortunes around. They have only a point less than we do and like us they have struggled for goals, Inigo Idiakez is their top scorer with eleven.

LAST FIVE GAMES
Date	Versus	Venue	F	A
08/04/06	Millwall	Home	1	0
01/04/06	Reading	Away	0	5
25/03/06	Palace	Home	2	1
18/03/06	Luton	Away	0	1
11/03/06	Burnley	Home	3	0


TOP SCORERS
Name	FLC	FAC	LC	Total
Inigo Idiakez	11	0	0	11
Tommy Smith	6	1	0	7
Paul Peschisolido	5	2	0	7

RUBBISH FACT

Derby's original club colours were amber, chocolate and pale blue, the same as the cricket club from which they were formed. They changed to the much more sensible sounding white and navy blue later on and then to white and black in the 1980's.

A QUICK GUIDE TO OUR OPPONENTS ... NORWICH CITY

NORWICH IN BRIEF

The Canaries suffered a real hangover when the dropped out of the Premiership. They had shown they were able to play some good football at a higher level and had they signed Ashton earlier they may well have stayed up. They didn’t win a league game until they beat Plymouth in September and this slow start did for them. They have picked up since the turn of the year and have won their last five games at Carrow Road.

LAST FIVE GAMES
Date	Versus	Venue	F	A
08/04/06	Preston	Away	0	2
01/04/06	Leicester	Home	2	1
24/03/06	Barnsley	Away	0	2
18/03/06	Sheff Utd	Home	2	1
11/03/06	Leeds	Away	2	2


TOP SCORERS
Name	FLC	FAC	LC	Total
Paul McVeigh	7	1	0	8
Darren Huckerby	7	0	1	8
Robert Earnshaw	4	0	0	4

RUBBISH FACT

To protect the local area against German bombers during the war two gun platforms were built around the club car park and manned by a guard.

RANGERS VERSUS .....

LAST TIME OUT ... DERBY

Derby County 2 - 1 Queens Park Rangers
Saturday 29th October 2005

“Idiakez struck the ball goalward and was almost celebrating when Royce suddenly appeared from nowhere to fling out his right hand and deny him. It was staggering and the Derby fans must think Royce is like a modern day Lev Yashin given his performances at Pride Park last season and this.”

LAST TIME OUT ... NORWICH

Queens Park Rangers 3 - 0 Norwich City
Saturday 22nd October 2005

“Rangers set off on a flowing move up field and Cook was fed into space on the left wing by Dyer. He sent a high cross over the entire Norwich back four and Gallen was on hand to cushion a header perfectly into the path of Nygaard. The Beast twisted brilliantly in the air to send a powerful header past the hopelessly exposed Green.”

OTHER MEETINGS .... DERBY

Derby have a pretty good recent record at Loftus Road having won three of their last four games in W12. Mind you, there was a gap of nigh on fifteen years between the first and last of those! Last year we were undone by a quite brilliant performance from Inigo Idiakez and The Rams had the game wrapped up early with two goals in the first twenty minutes.

OTHER MEETINGS .... NORWICH

The two teams have faced off over 100 times over the years and Norwich boast just two more wins than Rangers. Things are not so hot at Carrow Road though, Rangers last won there in March 1994 when Devon White scored the winner in a seven goal thriller. Older R’s fans will of always associate Norwich with the defeat that cost Rangers the league title in the 1975/76 season.


HEAD TO HEAD ... DERBY
Played	QPR	Derby	Draws
37	10	14	13


HEAD TO HEAD ... NORWICH
Played	QPR	Norwich	Draws
105	36	38	31

GENERAL INFORMATION

THE REFEREE ... DERBY

The referee for Saturday is Trevor Kettle, a man widely regarded as a laughing stock amongst league managers. In 35 games this season he has shown 11 red cards and a staggering 133 yellows. In a Yorkshire derby between Bradford and Rotherham earlier this season he managed to book 8 and send 3 off! Tip of the day seems to be not to make him angry! He has only reffed Rangers once, a goalless draw against Peterborough at London Road in October 2003.

THE REF RECORD ... DERBY REF
Season	Games	Yellows	Reds
2005-06	35	133	11
2004-05	28	87	5
2003-04	28	131	13

THE REFEREE ... NORWICH

Brian Curson is the man in the middle for the Norwich clash and this is the fourth time he has taken a Rangers game. His previous three were a score draw at home to Wigan and two 3-2 wins against Notts County and Brighton respectively. He is one of the less card happy refs and has shown just 89 yellows in 39 games at an average of a little over 2 a game.


THE REF RECORD ... NORWICH REF
Season	Games	Yellows	Reds
2005-06	39	89	7
2004-05	39	105	8
2003-04	33	97	15

QPR CONNECTIONS ... DERBY

Lee Camp played a massive part in the promotion to The Championship and is held in high regard by all Rangers fans. He lost his place in the Derby side earlier this season when his old man slagged Phil Brown of on the radio so it is fair to say there weren’t many tears flowing in Camp Towers when he was told to pack up his sun bed and leave.

QPR CONNECTIONS ... NORWICH

Matt Jackson spent a short spell on loan at Rangers from Everton in September 1996 before moving onto The Canaries for £450k in December of that year. He wracked up over 150 appearances in the yellow and green before moving on to Wigan Athletic after a little under five years in Norfolk.

OPPONENTS LINKS
Official Websites	DCFC.co.uk
	Canaries.co.uk
Fans Websites	The Baseball Bat
	Citizens 2 Canaries

RON AND SIMON'S PREDICT-OFF
DERBY		NORWICH
RON: Derby come into this game on the back of an awful away record, they've not won away from Pride Park since a trip to Stoke in November, a run stretching back thirteen games. Again it's a game we should win and I really want Waddock to do well and get this job, if only because the alternatives are so unpalatable so I'll take us for a nervy win. 2-1 to Rangers. SIMON: This game is likely to be our only source of points for the remainder of the season. Derby can still be caught by Crewe although I wouldn’t think they will be exactly bricking it. I think this might be a pretty open game as both teams try and end their seasons on a high. I don’t think either team will have sufficient firepower to hurt the other though so I will take the draw. 1-1.		RON: This will be a tough one, Norwich have won their last five at home, scoring eleven and only letting in three. Hopefully the glorious 2-1 victory over Derby on Good Friday (!) will spur us on to a decent performance but I think the home side will be far too strong for us to win this one. If we can get a draw it'll be a fantastic result but I can't predict anything other than a Norwich win. 2-1 SIMON: Norwich are red hot at home at the moment. Their away form has put the brakes on any late play off hopes they may have been harbouring so it will be interesting to see how this affects the players. Hopefully they will all have the arse and sulk their way through ninety minutes but I can’t see it somehow. I think they will be to strong for whatever team Waddock picks. 2-0 Norwich.
Current score: Ron 23 Simon 31