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BACK TO THE CUP
Monday 25th August 2008
by Ron Norris & Simon Skinner

Rangers are dipping their collective toes in to unfamiliar territory on Tuesday night as they play in the second round of a cup competition! Having seen off Swindon in round one; unbeaten Carlisle United of League One visit Loftus Road as Rangers look to progress to the third round of the Carling Cup for the first time since 2003.
 


Queens Park Rangers versus Carlisle United
Carling Cup Second Round
Tuesday 26th August 2008
Kick Off 19:45
 
 
TEAM NEWS

Dowie is likely to make changes both enforced and voluntary for this one. Hopefully he will stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation he deployed against Doncaster Rovers. Fitz Hall limped off on Saturday with an adductor injury (a groin strain to you and me) so even if the knock is minor he won’t be risked. Matthew Connolly played very well in his place on Saturday and will almost certainly get the nod ahead of Kaspars Gorkss. Martin Rowlands made a ten minute cameo on Saturday and the skipper is likely to start this one as he plays catch up in terms of match sharpness. Matteo Alberti, Hogan Ephraim and Patrick Agyemang will hope to force their way into the squad having missed out completely at the weekend. Blackstock and Di Carmine are likely to vie for a lone striking role. Camp may come in for Cerny if Dowie wants him to get another game under his belt.  

John Ward is bringing his men to that London for the second time in four days having seen them draw 0-0 at Leyton Orient at the weekend. He will be without the services of Scott Dobie after he was sent off for violent conduct in that game; his three game ban starts immediately. Michael Bridges may replace him having come off the bench at Brisbane Road. Defender Josh Gowling and midfielders Chris Lumsden and Grant Smith will miss out through injury.
 
RON & SIMON'S
SELECT XI		            
Blackstock
Cook Parejo Ledesma
Mahon Rowlands
  Delaney   Stewart   Connolly   Ramage  
        Camp        
A QUICK GUIDE TO OUR OPPONENTS
 
CARLISLE IN BRIEF: For a long time last season the very real prospect of Carlisle on a Tuesday night was on the cards as they looked certs for automatic promotion only to falter as the season came to a close. They won just three of their last ten league games and then having turned Leeds over at Elland Road in the first leg of the play off semi they were beaten at Brunton Park and went out on 3-2 on aggregate. This season they started brightly with wins at Bristol Rovers and Shrewsbury in league and cup respectively before beating Crewe at home. They dropped their first two points of the season at Orient at the weekend. This season hasn’t seen much in the way of strengthening and the loss of the currently injured Joel Garner to Forest could be vital as the season draws on.
 

LAST FIVE GAMES
Date Versus Venue F A
23/08/08 Leyton Orient Away 0 0
16/08/08 Crewe Home 4 2
12/08/08 Shrewsbury Away 1 0
09/08/08 Bristol Rovers Away 3 2
02/08/08 Morecombe Away 1 2
 
WHO'S THE BOSS?: John Ward spent the bulk of his playing career as a striker at Lincoln City in the old divisions three and four. He banged in just shy of one hundred goals for The Imps before less successful spells at Watford and Grimsby. Having spent a spell at Graham Taylor’s assistant at both Watford and Villa he moved on to manage York City, Bristol Rovers and Bristol City. He eventually ended up at Cheltenham Town and having guided them to promotion Carlisle snapped him up and he very nearly took them into The Championship at the first time of asking.
 

TOP SCORERS
Name League Cups Total
Danny Carlton 2 0 2
Danny Graham 2 0 2
Simon Hackney 1 0 1
Scott Dobie 1 0 1
Peter Murphy 0 1 1
 
UNITED LEGEND: Paul Murray started his career at Carlisle United in 1994 and impressed sufficiently in his fifty odd games to persuade QPR to punt £300k on the virtual unknown midfielder. In his five years in W12 he made over 150 appearances in the Hoops and it would have been a lot more had it not been for an almost endless catalogue of injuries. Following spells at Southampton, Oldham and Beira Mar he ended up back at Brunton Park for a brief spell before moving on to Gretna. He is now at Shrewsbury in League Two.
 
RANGERS VERSUS .....
 

LAST TIME OUT: Queens Park Rangers 2 - 0 Carlisle United, Wednesday 5th October 1994
 
HEAD TO HEAD
Overall
Played QPR Carlisle Draws
23 12 8 3
At Home
Played QPR Carlisle Draws
11 7 1 3
 

OTHER MEETINGS: The two sides have met three times in the League Cup and Rangers have won the lot. They first met in the quarter final of 1967 when a Rodney Marsh double saw them off, Rangers of course went on to lift the trophy that season. The other games came in a two legged second round encounter in 1994. Les Ferdinand won the game with a solitary goal in the first leg before Bradley Allen and Clive Wilson wrapped up a 2-0 victory at home.

 

CLASH OF THE DAY: Matthew Connolly v. Danny Graham. This is a battle between two youngsters from two of the Premierships most prolific academies, Arsenal and Middlesbrough. Graham had found himself loaned out across most of the north of England in his time at Boro but Carlisle took the plunge on a free after a successful loan. He is a quality finisher and strong in the air and Connolly will have to play every bit as well as he did at the weekend to shackle him.
 
GENERAL INFORMATION
   

OPPONENTS ONLINE
Official Website CarlisleUnited.co.uk
Fans Website 94th Minute
Fans Website CUFC Online
Message Board CUFC

MATCH DAY ODDS
Bookie QPR Draw Carlisle
4/7 5/2 4/1
8/13 5/2 7/2
8/11 12/5 10/3
 
RON AND SIMON'S PREDICT-OFF
SIMON: Rangers will need to build on the improved display from Saturday. They looked far more solid in defence and more potent in attack. Carlisle will fancy this one, a chance to bloody the nose of a team from a higher division is always relished and they are in good form themselves having yet to taste defeat this term. I think Rangers will have enough to beat them but I think it might be a closer game than many would hope. 2-1 to Rangers.

RON: Carlisle have had a bright start to their League One campaign and will have nothing lose going into Tuesday nights clash. Having been knocked out by Iain Dowie at this stage two years running, first with Charlton, then Coventry, United will be hoping this one will prove to be third time lucky. For our part this represents a fantastic opportunity to progress into the third round and I think we'll do just that. 2-0 to Rangers

Current score: Ron 5 Simon 5