The Pre-Match Warm Up
Friday 27th April 2007
by Ron Norris & Simon Skinner |
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RANGERS FACE WOLVES
With everything all done and dusted
for the season it's time to relax a little and just enjoy a game for
once! Which is lucky really as this weekend we face a trip to face
Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday. |
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Match Preview |
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Wolverhampton Wanderers v Queens
Park Rangers
The Championship
Saturday 28th April 2007
Kick Off 15:00 |
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TEAM NEWS |
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Following the departure of Lee Camp, the
big decision for John Gregory this weekend is whether to give Jake Cole his
first chance under his regime or to root round in the loft and dust off the
antique Paul Jones. Danny Cullip is still a doubt with his hamstring problem
whilst Michael Mancienne still has a sore head following his whack against
Preston. Marc Bircham in back in training and featured for the reserves
midweek but is unlikely to take part in this one whilst Gareth Ainsworth is
of course sidelined with his broken leg.
Gary Breen is set to return to the
starting XI after hopping off on one leg against Birmingham on Sunday, Jamie
Clapham might have to settle for a place on the bench as a result. Elsewhere
McCarthy has five other absentee's to deal with. Rob Edwards has medial knee
ligament damage, Lewis Gobern and Kevin O'Conner both have hamstring
injuries whilst Michael Oakes and Carl Ikeme have knee problems.
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A QUICK GUIDE TO OUR OPPONENTS |
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WOLVES IN
BRIEF |
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After struggling to make an
impact for a couple of years, Wolves are finally back to where
they should be in this division. In his first season in charge,
straight talking, ney nonsense boss Mick McCarthy has taken the
perennial underachievers to the verge of missing out on play off
glory once again. They are currently sitting in sixth spot, just
a point ahead of 8th in the stupidly tight Championship.
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TOP SCORERS |
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Name |
FLC |
FAC |
LC |
Total |
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Jay Bothroyd |
9 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
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Seyi Olofinjana |
7 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
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Michael Kightly |
6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
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Jody Craddock |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
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Karl Henry |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
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LAST FIVE
GAMES |
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Date |
Versus |
Venue |
F |
A |
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22/04/07 |
Birmingham |
Home |
2 |
3 |
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14/04/07 |
Palace |
Away |
2 |
2 |
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09/04/07 |
Hull |
Home |
3 |
1 |
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07/04/07 |
Sunderland |
Away |
1 |
2 |
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31/03/07 |
Southampton |
Home |
0 |
6 |
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CLASH OF THE
DAY |
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Michael Kightly v Marcus
Bignot. Since his arrival from Conference side Grays Athletic,
Kightly has shown that he can be a threat at this level. Marcus
Bignot will need to be at his dogged best to keep a lid on the
Wolves winger. |
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RANGERS VERSUS ..... |
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LAST TIME OUT |
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Queens Park Rangers 0 - 1 Wolves
Saturday 16th December 2006 |
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“After the break Jones
was denied again by Murray before Wolves managed to score with
their first shot in anger of the entire game. Wolves attacked
down the Rangers right and when a ball into the box was fed to
Kightly by Bothroyd the man on loan from Grays Athletic made no
mistake with a precise left footed volley into the bottom
corner.” |
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HEAD TO HEAD |
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Overall |
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Played |
QPR |
Wolves |
Draws |
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38 |
11 |
14 |
13 |
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At The Molineux * |
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Played |
QPR |
Wolves |
Draws |
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18 |
6 |
9 |
3 |
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LEAGUE
STANDINGS |
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Pos |
Team |
P |
GD |
Pts |
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6th |
Wolves |
44 |
-2 |
70 |
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18th |
QPR |
44 |
-12 |
52 |
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OTHER MEETINGS |
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Wolves edged the overall head
to head, having beaten us 14 times over the years. Things are
never great at The Molinuex * either with the last four trips
yielding just a point for the travelling R's. Our last victory
there came in September 1998 when goals from two goals inside
the first ten minutes from Mike Sheron were enough to take a 2-1
victory. |
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GENERAL INFORMATION |
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THE REFEREE |
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One of the less card happy
referee's in the division, Mike Pike take charge of his second
QPR game of the season having been the man in the middle at
Preston back in August, he toook charge of our trip to Deepdale
last year as well, with both of these games ending in 1-1 draws.
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THE REF RECORD |
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Season |
Games |
Yellows |
Reds |
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2006-07 |
31 |
62 |
2 |
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2005-06 |
26 |
35 |
3 |
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2004-05 |
33 |
57 |
3 |
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2003-04 |
35 |
64 |
6 |
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QPR CONNECTIONS |
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Boom boom boom, let me hear
you say Simon. Osborn. as the song didn't go. Osborn came to
Rangers as a replacement for Ray Wilkins only for Ray Wilkins to
replace Simon Osborn with Ray Wilkins!
His Rangers career simply
never got going and luckily the club managed to recoup most of
its wedge when he was knocked out to Wolves for a million pounds
five months after arriving for a hundred grand more than that.
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RON AND SIMON'S PREDICT-OFF |
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SIMON:
It remains to be seen what sort of side Gregory will send out as rumours
abound that he may take the chance to look at some of the younger lads.
Regardless of whether we are at full strength or not I don't see us
troubling a strong Wolves side. With them having all to play for and us the
exact opposite it looks like a home banker. 3-1 to Wolves.
RON:
After securing safety against Cardiff last week at least things won't be as
tense as they could have been up at The Molineux on Saturday. Wolves have
had a mixed bag of results of late but despite watching them lose to
Birmingham on Sunday they still looked pretty good from where I was sitting!
Our results up there are always shit and I don't think it'll be much better
this weekend to be honest. 2-1 to Wolves.
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Current score: Ron 30 Simon 28
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* "The Molineux"
copyright George Gavin.
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