QPRnet.com :: The Pre-Match Warm Up

TEAM NEWS

Waddock will have some interesting choices to make following the defeat from the jaws of victory job at Norwich on Easter Monday. The team played very well for seventy five minutes but then went to pot and the reason has to be identified.

It is looking increasingly unlikely that we will see Gallen again this season so it seems to be a choice between Nygaard, Furlong and Baidoo for the two striking roles, which is assuming that Baidoo is now fit. I would expect Kus to return along with Evatt if he has shaken off his mystery knock that kept him out on Monday. There may be a slot on the bench for one of the trio of returning youngsters; Shimmin, Hislop and Kanyuka have all stepped up their rehab in recent weeks.

Aidy Boothroyd is going to be without the services of the Championship’s leading scorer Marlon King after his red card at Wolves. Ashley Young has slotted into his place up top to partner Henderson with McNamee coming in on the left flank. The classless Clarke Carlisle is also likely to play.

POSSIBLE TEAM
		Furlong	Nygaard


	Cook	Bailey	Lomas	Ainsworth


	Milanese	Evatt	Shittu	Kus



		Jones

A QUICK GUIDE TO OUR OPPONENTS

WATFORD IN BRIEF

The Hornets have had a stunning season and many R’s fans will be looking to them as the club we want to emulate next year. After finishing two points outside the drop zone last time Boothroyd’s men are flying now and play attractive attacking football wherever they go. They are looking for a top four finish to get home advantage in the play offs. A mixture of youth and shrewd signings has proved pivotal and the sale of Helguson to Fulham bankrolled much of what has happened at Vicarage Road.

LAST FIVE GAMES
Date	Versus	Venue	F	A
17/04/06	Ipswich	Home	2	1
14/04/06	Wolves	Away	1	1
09/04/06	Luton	Home	1	1
31/03/06	C. Palace	Away	1	3
25/03/06	Millwall	Home	0	2


TOP SCORERS
Name	FLC	FAC	LC	Total
Marlon King	21	0	0	21
Darius Henderson	14	0	0	14
Ashley Young	12	0	1	13

RUBBISH FACT

When Luthor Blissett joined AC Milan his first words on seeing the San Siro for the first time were "where's the dog track?"

RANGERS VERSUS .....

LAST TIME OUT

Watford 3 - 1 Queens Park Rangers
Saturday 1st November 2005

“Watford launched a quick counter attack and managed to leave the R’s defence in disarray. They all seemed to be sucked across and this left McNamee in acres of space in the area to the right of Royce’s goal. King shifted the ball to him and he had a simple task to blast past Royce. And that was it, Rangers seemed to give up and the heads dropped badly.”

LEAGUE STANDINGS
Pos	Team	P	GD	Pts
3rd	Watford	44	-23	77
20th	QPR	44	-13	50


HEAD TO HEAD
Played	QPR	Watford	Draws
100	45	28	27

OTHER MEETINGS

The head to head between the two sides has Rangers almost twenty victories ahead of their opponents from Hertfordshire. There haven’t been too many recent meetings thanks to the differing fortunes of the two clubs. Last time at Loftus Road Rangers won easily with two goals from Gallen and one from Furlong. Before that you have to go back to August 1986 for our last win at home against them although to be fair, there were only three games in the meantime.

GENERAL INFORMATION

THE REFEREE

Oh deep joy it’s Andy D’Urso! The self confessed Rangers hater takes charge of his third Rangers game of the season having presided over the home tonking by Palace and the dull draw at Sheffield Wednesday. Times are hard for the one time elite list ref, he has only done one Premiership game this season and that was the glamour game of Fulham against Villa! He has booked 108 in 32 games and flashed the red card 8 times. Last season he sent Furs off for someone falling over in front of him against Brighton. He’s top…

THE REF RECORD
Season	Games	Yellows	Reds
2005-06	32	108	8
2004-05	29	86	6
2003-04	28	83	6


OPPONENTS LINKS
Official Website	WatfordFC.com
Fans Websites	Blind, Stupid and Desperate
	Glory Horns

QPR CONNECTIONS

The list of Watford connections is as long as your arm thanks to Kenny Jackett. Most of our team in the first season in League One seemed to have come via Vicarage Road and we are grateful for it! Day and Palmer were mainstays of our drive for promotion whilst Bonnot and Foley also made appearances. Currently Clarke Carlisle is plying his trade there. Does Watford count as oop t'north?

RON AND SIMON'S PREDICT-OFF

RON: If we can put in the kind of performance we did for the first seventy five minutes at Norwich then we're sure to give Watford a game, the question is will we do that? Watford are without Marlon King which you'd hope would leave them a little limp upfront and with the play offs secured you'd hope they might lift their foot off the gas a little bit. Trouble is I don't think Aidy Boothroyd will stand for any of that! Waddo looks likely to shuffle the pack once again as he searches for a winning combination, hopefully he'll roll the dice and throw a 1-1.

SIMON: After the collapse at Carrow Road Waddock will want a response. I am fed up with saying he will want a response as is he I am sure! Perhaps at some point he might actually get one and perhaps that point might come tomorrow afternoon. We will have to pull up trees if we want to turn Watford over but stranger things have happened. Nobody could have foreseen us turning Sheffield United over the way we did but I can’t see lightening striking twice. 1-2 Watford.

Current score: Ron 23 Simon 35