I can’t quite believe we’ve achieved safety in such style. I expected us to lose this game and was then planning to watch tomorrow’s games while biting my nails, hoping both Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham would lose. But now, having beaten Leeds 4-0, we’re safe.
As I walked away from Loftus Road, I became superstitious, telling Charlie that we were now bound to lose our manager, Marti Cifuentes, to Sunderland and he’d take Willock, Chair and JCS with him. Maybe even Sam Field!
“This is the high point,” I told my son. “A new manager will take over next season — another Gareth Ainsworth — our best players will go and if we stay up it will be a fucking miracle. Enjoy this moment.”
But maybe — maybe — Cifuentes will stay. And maybe — maybe — Crystal Palace will sell Eze to Man City and maybe — maybe — we’ll sell JCS to West Ham.
Which will mean MC — praise be upon him — has £20 million to play with in the summer. Which, given the input of data genius Christian Nouri (QPR CEO), could mean we bring in enough firepower to make the play-offs next season. (Striker, Striker, Striker.)
That’s a lot of maybes.
For this game, Marti fielded the same team he did against Preston, which meant we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as follows: Asmir Begovic in goal; Jimmy Dune, Steve Cook, Jake Clarke-Salter and Kenneth Paal in defence; Jack Colback and Sam Field in front of them; Chris Willock, Lucas Andersen and Ilias Chair as the attacking trio; and Lyndon Dykes up front.
I was nervous going into this game, but we dominated from the get go, playing with confidence and attacking intent.
In the eighth minute, Chair did what he’s been doing all season and cut in from the left, then curled a shot into the top right hand corner of the net. Seeing him do it, I thought, “Oh no! Here we go again. Another wasted opportunity.” But, in fact, it got a deflection and ended up in the back of the net. 1-0 to the R’s. Well done Chair.
The visitors didn’t look like giving up and retaliated swiftly, getting off a shot on target in the 13th minute. But Bego got down and stopped it and I dared to think that perhaps this was one of those matches in which Bego would come good. And so it proved to be.
After that, we looked fairly dominant, with Paal — who had his best game in some time — putting in a cross for Dykes in the 19th minute that he couldn’t quite reach in time.
Then, in the 23rd minute, Andersen finally made good on the promise he’s shown since he joined us in January and, from a difficult angle, buried the ball in the bottom left. It was quite something, as if he saw an opportunity no one else did, getting off what looked like a wildly optimistic shot.
2-0 to the hosts.
We were in dreamland at this point. Two goals to the good and only 30 minutes played — and against one of the best teams in the league!
They came back into it after that and tested our defence, but JCS, Cook and Dunne were immense. The closest the visitors came to scoring was in the 32nd minute, but Bego made a good save. Well done, Asmir. All is forgiven.
We went in at half time 2-0 up. Could we possibly sustain that lead? I assumed the Leeds team would get a bollocking in the dressing room and come back out full of vim and vinegar. But after an initial burst of energy at the beginning of the second half, the visitors began to fade.
Cifuentes gave Andersen the hook — best game he’s had in a QPR shirt — and brought on Paul Smyth in the 59th minute. Smyth did what he usually does, which was to cause the opponents trouble on the right, getting beyond the defenders and then winning corners. Nothing came of them, but Chair won a free kick just by the corner flag in the 72nd minute and Dykes managed to get a toe to it and scored his second goal in so many matches.
Should I be cynical about Dykes not scoring more than five goals all season and then scoring two in the last two games? Is he trying harder, now he’s hoping another club will come for him? Or has he been doing his best all season and just got the rub of the green in the last two games? I lean towards the latter.
Ciduentes made two subs in 78th minute, bringing on Morgan Fox for JCS and Isaac Hayden for Colback. Defensive, but sensible.
I thought victory was ours at this point, but just in case Field scored in the 85th minute. Field! That’s his fourth for the season. What a player he is. I’m delighted he’s added scoring goals to his other skills.
After that, it was a question of hanging on, although not that difficult given that we were 4-0 up. The match finished without the visitors troubling our goal
So, we’re safe. The relegation battle is now between Huddersfield, Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham, Plymouth and Blackburn. How good it feels to be out of it. But kind of unreal too.
Will Marti stay with us next season? I imagine he’ll be deluged with offers from other clubs — and not just in the Championship. One reason to think he’ll stay is that the owners want to attract new investors for the expansion of the stadium and it will be harder to do that if Marti goes. So, let’s hope they throw money at him to persuade him to stay.
There's also the fact that Nouri urged the club to hire him — hats off, Nouri— so presumably they have a good relationship and see eye to eye about which players to recruit this summer.
It could be fantastic, with QPR finally having the smartest people at Loftus Road making the key decisions about who to let go, who to recruit, etc. Or it could go the other way.
Let’s enjoy this moment. At the end of a trying season, we've survived. Can we not do that again please? I’m not sure I can take another season like this.
I fancied us tonight , and couldn’t believe we were 5/1 to win. £20 to win, then 1/0,2/0, 3/0 , then covered my bet with any other win, then cashed out at 3 nil 👍🏻 keep the faith , season tickets paid for next year already 😁
Enjoy tonight! Or try! Great evening full stop.