QPRnet.com :: The Pre-Match Warm Up

The Pre-Match Warm Up
Monday 12th March February 2007
by Ron Norris & Simon Skinner

Rangers travel to DERBY

After the disappointment of the weekend's result John Gregory now faces the daunting prospect of bringing some points back home from high flying Derby. Do we stand a chance of upsetting one of the promotion favourites?

Match Preview

TEAM NEWS

Rangers will be up against it from the off as they will definitely be without the services of Lee Camp and Adam Bolder. Camp’s loan means he can’t play against his parent club and a clause in the Bolder transfer means he is also ruled out. Lomas is likely to come into midfield with Royce coming in between the sticks. Blackstock will hope to recover from a tight hammy to take his place up front.

Billy Davies doesn’t have any such worries and he will only be without Michael Johnson after he did his hamstring against the home romp against Colchester and Paul Boertien is out with a long term knee problem. The only thing the fiery little Scot has to worry about it which of his talented array of attacking players he will set on the relegation threatened visitors.

RON & SIMON'S SELECT XI
		Furlong	Blackstock


	Cook	Bailey	Idiakez	Rowlands


	Timoska	Mancienne	Cullip	Bignot


		Royce

A QUICK GUIDE TO OUR OPPONENTS

DERBY IN BRIEF

Derby have had a sensational season and the board have backed them with cash when it became apparent that promotion was a very real possibility. They currently sit in second place following their defeat at Birmingham last Friday but they will still have a hell of a fight to get up in a division that is as tight as a gnats chuff at both ends!

TOP SCORERS

Name	FLC	FAC	LC	Total
Steve Howard	14	0	1	15
Arturo Lupoli	7	3	1	11
David Jones	5	0	0	5
Giles Barnes	7	0	0	7
Paul Peschisolido	3	1	0	4


LAST FIVE GAMES
Date	Versus	Venue	F	A
09/03/07	Birmingham	Away	0	1
06/03/07	Norwich	Away	2	1
02/03/07	Colchester	Home	5	1
24/02/07	Sunderland	Away	1	2
21/02/07	Stoke	Home	0	2

CLASH OF THE DAY

Clash of the Day – Giles Barnes v Marcus Bignot. If teenage sensation Giles Barnes is picked on the right of the Derby midfield then Biggy could be in for one of the longest nights of his career. The precocious midfielder has been in sensational form this season and in the last few weeks has taken the mickey out of every player he has faced. He has also found the net seven times this season so he is a goal threat. If we can put the shackles on him then Bignot will have done better than most this season.

RANGERS VERSUS .....

LAST TIME OUT

Queens Park Rangers 1 - 2 Derby County
Tuesday 17th October 2006

“The equaliser wasn’t long in coming though and it was an absolute belter. The ball went into the box and as it bounced out Jimmy Smith walked onto it and sent a left footed volley screaming past Grant into the top corner. That made it two in two for the Chelsea starlet.”

HEAD TO HEAD
Overall
Played	QPR	Derby	Draws
39	10	15	14
At Derby
Played	QPR	Derby	Draws
19	5	10	4


LEAGUE STANDINGS
Pos	Team	P	GD	Pts
2nd	Derby	37	+13	69
21st	QPR	36	-16	36

OTHER MEETINGS

Derby have amassed thirteen wins to Rangers nine but they haven’t managed to beat Rangers at home since February 1990. The two trips the R’s have made to Pride Park have yielded four points, last season goals from Ainsworth and Gallen gave Rangers a 2-1 win. The Derby goal was scored by a certain Dexter Blackstock.

GENERAL INFORMATION

THE REFEREE

Steve Tanner is in charge for this one and it is his second Rangers game of the season. He was on the whistle for the defeat at Colchester back in September. He has also reffed Derby once this season, a 1-0 win at Leeds United. He has booked sixty two and sent off two in his twenty six games this season. Last season he took charge of the game at Plymouth and basically booked anything in a Rangers shirt.

THE REF RECORD
Season	Games	Yellows	Reds
2006-07	26	62	2
2005-06	37	129	9
2004-05	33	91	9
2003-04	28	107	10


OPPONENTS LINKS
Official Website	DCFC.co.uk
Fans Website	Ram Zone
Travel Info	Football Ground Guide


MATCH DAY ODDS
Bookie	Derby	Draw	QPR
	1/2	12/5	5/1
	4/9	11/4	5/1
	4/9	11/4	11/2

QPR CONNECTIONS

Gary Micklewhite was a curious looking fella (to put it kindly) who played for both clubs through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

He played in the ’82 FA Cup Final and had a goal chalked off in the replay.

Micklewhite made over 100 appearances for Rangers before leaving for Derby where he played in excess of 250 games.

RON AND SIMON'S PREDICT-OFF

SIMON: This is about as tough a game as you could ask for and without a couple of important players it has got tougher! Bolder and Camp will be big misses as the players that will replace them are simply not as good. Every season there is a game that turns up a shock result and I wish in my heart of hearts that this is it. Sadly I don’t see anything other than the most routine of home wins. 2-0 Derby.

RON: Well this is just the game you need after a frustrating home performance isn't it! Derby's form over the last six or seven games has been a little shaky but to use that as a reason for taking anything out of the game would be clutching at straws. We'll miss Camp, but I think Royce will prove to be an able deputy, we'll miss Bolder too but I wish I could say the same about his likely replacement! If we are going to take anything out of this we need to be deadly with our finishing as our chances will likely be limited. Unfortunately we've been nothing like deadly for ages now and I don't think we'll be causing Billy Davies too many sleepless nights. 3-0 home win.

Current score: Ron 25 Simon 24

QPRNET EXTRAS

DISCUSS

EMAIL US

MOBILE

SEARCH


	Derby County v Queens Park Rangers The Championship Tuesday 13th March 2007 Kick Off 19:45