Charlton 0-0 QPR

Match Report

Charlie quoted Godfather 3 after our 2-1 victory over Coventry: "Every time I try to get out, they pull me back in." That meant he -- and me, to be honest -- came to the Valley with high expectations, particularly of Richard Kone after what must rank as his best game in a QPR shirt. I had £5 on him to score the first goal, £5 to score any time and £5 to get three shots on target. I also had a fiver on Madsen to get an assist. So basically, I was betting that both players would repeat exactly what they did last time.

We met up with Giles Coren and his son Sam just before the game and Sam revealed he had yet to see an away win. We thought this would be his day and over three thousand QPR fans apparently felt the same way, fanning out across one entire side of the stadium.

Julien Stephan made just one change to the team he put out against Coventry, replacing the injured Karamoko Dembele with Koki Saito. That meant we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as follows: Joe Walsh in goal; Ronnie Edwards, Jimmy Dunne, Steve Cook and Rhys Norrington-Davies in defence; Nicolas Madsen and Isaac Hayden in defensive midfield; Paul Smyth and Saito out on the wings, with Harvey Vale as the number 10; and Kone up front.

We had the better of the first 10 minutes, but the ball fell kindly in the 12th minute for Lyndon Dykes -- now an Addicks player -- and he got a decent shot off that was just wide of the far post.

They had a good spell between 20 and 30 minutes, where they had the lion's share of possession and controlled the game. But they struggled to fashion many good chances, with Dykes and Sonny Carey putting shots over the bar. The hosts had a couple of free kicks from just outside the box, the second of which needed saving. Walsh didn’t have much to do in this game, but when he was called upon he acquitted himself well -- and Sky named him player of the match.

Dykes, who was proving to be their most dangerous player, got in behind in the 34th minute and was in on goal, having outrun Edwards. But Cook put in a fantastic challenge to save the day, one of several tackles that saw him named player of the match by FotMob.

All told, it was a pretty dull first half, with none of our attackers firing on all cylinders. Saito was muscled off the ball too easily, Vale failed to put in any good crosses and Kone did nothing whenever he got the ball, often giving it away with his next touch. Fair to say, the hosts looked the more likely team to score, although they only had two shots on target. We had 57% of the possession -- never good -- and an xG of 0.14 to their 0.49. They had two shots on target, we had none.

They had the first shot of the second half a minute after the restart which was on target, forcing Walsh to tip it over the bar.

We then had a good spell -- finally! -- culminating in a shot from Cook from outside the box. We were playing with a bit more intensity, although still not going full tilt.

Just when it looked like we were getting on top, Kone went down, seemingly without any contact, and slapped the ground in frustration. Had he torn his hamstring? A medic came on, but the Ivorian was soon on his feet again and walking to the touch line, ready to come back on. Phew.

Saito started to flag about 15 minutes in to the second period and Stephan replaced him with Daniel Bennie, who did well when he came on for the injured Dembele in the Coventry game. He was less impressive here.

We dominated for the first 30 minutes of the second half, pressing high, counter-attacking, winning corners and getting shots off, but none on target. Nevertheless, it felt like a goal was coming. Rayan Kolli replaced Smyth in the 77th minute and, after that, everything started to click. Would we get a goal? It was clearly one of those games that was either going to finish one-nil or nil-nil.

Kone got our first shot on target in the 80th minute, one of four in the remainder of the game. Unfortunately, it was straight at the keeper. Madsen had our second shot on target a couple of minutes later, but that too lacked any power and was straight at Thomas Kaminski.

There were eight minutes of added time -- enough for us to steal the points -- and we won a corner in 90+1 that Steve Cook got his head on it. But he put the ball just over the bar. That was the closest we’d come up until that point.

Our best chance of the game came in the 93rd minute when Kolli looked for all the world as if he was going to score. A great pass from Madsen found the Algerian in on goal. But Kaminski came out to intercept and managed to block the shot, putting the ball out for a corner.

Our final chance came in 90+8, when Kone almost flicked in a cross from Kolli, but his header was just wide of the far post. Agonisingly close.

It ended 0-0, which was fairly predictable. Indeed, it was our third away game in a row that ended nil-nil, the first time that’s happened since 1910. We didn’t really turn up until the game went in to added time, and you can't expect to win playing like that. Admittedly, we were better in the second half -- a lot better -- with 15 shots in total. But none of them troubled the Charlton keeper, save for Kolli's chance, which Kamonski dealt with well. Poor Sam is going to have to wait for his first away win.

We've got struggling Blackburn Rovers at Loftus Road on Valentine's Day up next. Surely, we can pick up three points then?