Queens Park Rangers Story: May

The last month of this season, and boy was I excited! One game to go against Cardiff, we are definately in the playoffs even if we lose, and we have a slim chance to go 2nd in the table and get promoted to the Premier League! In this post, I shall not be posting my fixtures all at the same time to add some suspense, although that sentence obviously gave away some of what happened!

Cardiff 1-4 Queens Park Rangers (Championship)

Our last game of the season was very nerve wracking, with me constantly checking Wolves and Southampton's scores to see if we had a promotion chance or not. Wolves were against Ipswich while Southampton were up against Crystal Palace. Cardiff took the lead on 20 minutes, but in an extraordinary show of character, we hit back with 2 goals just before half time, Kevin Doyle getting both. Then in the 60th minute, a contraversial decision was given; the referee awarded us a penalty, with Martin Taylor confidently sending the keeper the wrong way. 3-1. Finally, on 90 minutes, Daniel Parejo hit one from 40 yards which whistled in the back of the net. What a finish! Now after the game ended, I immediately checked the other scores. Southampton had drawn 1-1 with Crystal Palace, Brian Harrison getting his 34th Championship goal! But when I saw Wolves's result, I was to be disappointed. They had drawn 0-0 with Ipswich but that result put them 2nd on goal difference. This crushed me as I really wanted to avoid the play-off battle, but never mind! We got Birmingham in the play-off semi final, and boy was I looking forward to it!

Birmingham City 1-1 Queens Park Rangers (Play-Off 1/2 Final)
Queens Park Rangers 1-0 Birmingham City (Play-Off 1/2 Final)

After a rollercoaster first leg, with former Birmingham man Martin Taylor getting us a 88th minute equaliser, we were well up for the second leg. I really wanted to come away with a positive result, as Southampton had crushed Watford 7-1 on aggregate to put them in the Play-Off Final. I set our team up as very attacking, which surprised Birmingham, as we got our goal, the eventual winner, in the first 5 minutes, young winger Hobbit Bermudez grabbing the goal. We held out for 60 minutes, until the referee gave Birmingham a penalty, which James McFadden crashed against the post. They hit the woodwork 2 times more before the match was over, but the damage was done. QPR had reached the play off final! We were due to play Southampton on the 25th of May at Wembley, in what promised to be a mouth-watering game. I would have one last chance to see Brian Harrison in action personally, as either us or Southampton would be promoted after this match. I figured that if I wanted to sign him, we had to get promoted and them not to, so I again chose a very attacking formation. Will it work?

Queens Park Rangers 3-1 Southampton (Play-Off Final)

Yes it worked, as you can see! 3 first half goals, aided by a red card to Adam Lallana, effectively ended the game as a contest. Daniel Parejo, Glauber Berti and Sebastian Abreu all getting great goals, Glauber's being most spectacular. After this, I put in a few younger, more defensive minded players in to ride it out until the final whistle. I did not want to compromise getting promoted, so this was an unusual turn for me, usually a very attacking minded manager. It obviously worked, with Southampton's consolation coming in the 76th minute; a brilliant solo goal by Brian Harrison. He took on 5 of our players, beat them, got round the keeper and slotted home with his weaker left foot. A magnificent goal, and one which made up my mind about signing him!

Now the first season is over, the board is happy, the fans are happy, I myself am happy, and I hope you are happy! In season 2, I will not do a month to month posting, as in game months pass quickly, but I will do a 2 month posting, and trim some of the unneccessary things I put in. Hope you enjoyed the first season of my QPR story, and thank you very much for reading!