QPR v Reading, Match Report
Aug 5, 2017 20:20:01 GMT
Post by simoncheshire on Aug 5, 2017 20:20:01 GMT
QPR 2-0 Reading:
It was opening day jubilation for Ian Holloway’s men who started their 2017/18 campaign with a 2-0 win over their blue and white hooped rivals Reading.
Rangers lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Alex Smithies in goal, a back four of James Perch, Captain Nedum Onouha, Joel Lynch and Jake Bidwell. The midfield consisted of Pavel Wszolek, Scowen, Luongo and Luke Freeman, with Jamie Mackie playing just off of Conor Washington upfront. Meaning it Rangers lined up in a very similar shape to last season with only Scowen making his debut for the club.
In contrast Reading lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation with Mannone in goal, a defence of Gunter, Moore and Ilori, a midfield of Popa, Kelly, Evans and Blackett, Clement and Swift playing in a attacking midfield role and Bodvarsson leading the line. In what was a much changed team from the one which narrowly lost out on promotion back in May.
Rangers started the much better side and dominated the early exchanges, within minutes Jamie Mackie pounced on a Reading defensive error before setting up Conor Washington who saw his shot saved by Mannone and parried for a corner. QPR continued to dominate the first few minutes of the game and won a consecutive amount of corners, however these didn’t amount too much and the early pressure was gone.
Reading managed to get a foothold into the game and the Icelandic striker Bodvarsson troubled Onouha and was able to get past him and have a shot on goal, however Smithies prevented any danger and when Bodvarsson tried this trick again Onouha was wiser to it and defended it well.
In the 22nd minute Rangers counter attacked from a Reading corner and after some good work from Luke Freeman down the right hand side, Wszolek was able to pick out a unmarked Conor Washington at the far post, who calmly headed the ball into the near post making it 1-0 and scoring his and Rangers first goal of the season.
After the goal Rangers continued to dominate and Mackie and Washington terrorised Reading’s shaky defence, however it was Freeman who should have made it 2-0 as Mackie again pounced on some poor defending from Reading and then he found Wszoleck who slid the ball into Freeman however he could only send his first time shot wide.
As Rangers continued to dominate the game, the chances to make it 2-0 kept on coming, this time it was Washington’s turn, after chasing down Liam Moore and forcing an error he was in on goal with only the keeper to beat, whoever at the vital moment he lost his composure and sent the ball ballooning into the School End.
The next major chance of the game was through Massimo Luongo, as Jamie Mackie again chased down a loose ball and slid it through to Luongo who shot from the right hand side of the box, only to see the ball hit the post and the oncoming Luke Freeman to be an inch away from the rebound, however the game still remained 1-0.
After the 3 minutes of injury time the first half finished with the game at 1-0, however Rangers already felt that they were going to regret those missed chances.
The second half kicked off with Reading kicking towards the two tiers of away fans and Rangers kicking towards the notorious Loftus road end. However on the 52nd minute Reading decided to make an early change with Modou Barrow replacing Pelle Clement. Barrow is someone who Rangers narrowly missed out on the chance of signing this time last year and as the game went on felt like it was going to come back to haunt us.
However as the game reached the 54th minute Swift for Reading had a shot which Smithies was able to produce a world class save from, Smithies then acted fast and cleared the ball up field to Washington who then charged into the box and slipped the ball into Wszoleck who was then tripped and the referee awarded a penalty and sent Ilori off. However Reading contested this decision as Bodvarsson was lying on the half way line with an injury, however due to the fact it wasn’t a head injury the referee didn’t need to stop play and QPR carried on the game. After a long wait everything was clear and Washington coolly converted the penalty sending Mannone the wrong way and putting Rangers 2-0 up.
As the game developed Rangers continued to have a lot of the ball and through the hard work and concentration were able to keep constantly forcing Reading into errors. The only negative was Rangers were unable to finish that last chance off and kill the game.
Barrow then started to cause trouble for the Rangers defence through his strength and pace. He then had a penalty claim which was waved away by the referee.
Rangers were then able to hold on to their first win and points of the season, which put them 2nd in the table and started the season off in a very positive way. For Reading this will be a wakeup call and they will need to up their game if they want to achieve more than they did last year.
Simon Cheshire
It was opening day jubilation for Ian Holloway’s men who started their 2017/18 campaign with a 2-0 win over their blue and white hooped rivals Reading.
Rangers lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Alex Smithies in goal, a back four of James Perch, Captain Nedum Onouha, Joel Lynch and Jake Bidwell. The midfield consisted of Pavel Wszolek, Scowen, Luongo and Luke Freeman, with Jamie Mackie playing just off of Conor Washington upfront. Meaning it Rangers lined up in a very similar shape to last season with only Scowen making his debut for the club.
In contrast Reading lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation with Mannone in goal, a defence of Gunter, Moore and Ilori, a midfield of Popa, Kelly, Evans and Blackett, Clement and Swift playing in a attacking midfield role and Bodvarsson leading the line. In what was a much changed team from the one which narrowly lost out on promotion back in May.
Rangers started the much better side and dominated the early exchanges, within minutes Jamie Mackie pounced on a Reading defensive error before setting up Conor Washington who saw his shot saved by Mannone and parried for a corner. QPR continued to dominate the first few minutes of the game and won a consecutive amount of corners, however these didn’t amount too much and the early pressure was gone.
Reading managed to get a foothold into the game and the Icelandic striker Bodvarsson troubled Onouha and was able to get past him and have a shot on goal, however Smithies prevented any danger and when Bodvarsson tried this trick again Onouha was wiser to it and defended it well.
In the 22nd minute Rangers counter attacked from a Reading corner and after some good work from Luke Freeman down the right hand side, Wszolek was able to pick out a unmarked Conor Washington at the far post, who calmly headed the ball into the near post making it 1-0 and scoring his and Rangers first goal of the season.
After the goal Rangers continued to dominate and Mackie and Washington terrorised Reading’s shaky defence, however it was Freeman who should have made it 2-0 as Mackie again pounced on some poor defending from Reading and then he found Wszoleck who slid the ball into Freeman however he could only send his first time shot wide.
As Rangers continued to dominate the game, the chances to make it 2-0 kept on coming, this time it was Washington’s turn, after chasing down Liam Moore and forcing an error he was in on goal with only the keeper to beat, whoever at the vital moment he lost his composure and sent the ball ballooning into the School End.
The next major chance of the game was through Massimo Luongo, as Jamie Mackie again chased down a loose ball and slid it through to Luongo who shot from the right hand side of the box, only to see the ball hit the post and the oncoming Luke Freeman to be an inch away from the rebound, however the game still remained 1-0.
After the 3 minutes of injury time the first half finished with the game at 1-0, however Rangers already felt that they were going to regret those missed chances.
The second half kicked off with Reading kicking towards the two tiers of away fans and Rangers kicking towards the notorious Loftus road end. However on the 52nd minute Reading decided to make an early change with Modou Barrow replacing Pelle Clement. Barrow is someone who Rangers narrowly missed out on the chance of signing this time last year and as the game went on felt like it was going to come back to haunt us.
However as the game reached the 54th minute Swift for Reading had a shot which Smithies was able to produce a world class save from, Smithies then acted fast and cleared the ball up field to Washington who then charged into the box and slipped the ball into Wszoleck who was then tripped and the referee awarded a penalty and sent Ilori off. However Reading contested this decision as Bodvarsson was lying on the half way line with an injury, however due to the fact it wasn’t a head injury the referee didn’t need to stop play and QPR carried on the game. After a long wait everything was clear and Washington coolly converted the penalty sending Mannone the wrong way and putting Rangers 2-0 up.
As the game developed Rangers continued to have a lot of the ball and through the hard work and concentration were able to keep constantly forcing Reading into errors. The only negative was Rangers were unable to finish that last chance off and kill the game.
Barrow then started to cause trouble for the Rangers defence through his strength and pace. He then had a penalty claim which was waved away by the referee.
Rangers were then able to hold on to their first win and points of the season, which put them 2nd in the table and started the season off in a very positive way. For Reading this will be a wakeup call and they will need to up their game if they want to achieve more than they did last year.
Simon Cheshire
