I always feel a bit hard pressed not winning a game at home in which we led in the second half, but coming back from their early goal, I’ll take the point.

Starting XI:

Kelly

Rangel-Masterson-Barbet-Manning

Ball-Cameron

BOS-Eze-Pugh

Hugill

Bench:

Lumley/Chair/Kane/Amos/Shodipo/Oteh/Clarke

Substitutes:

74′ – Chair replaces Pugh

My Take:



First, on the lineup, it’s exactly what I was expecting, and hoped to see, with the only exception being Pugh getting the start over Chair. At home I would’ve liked to see Chair in the starting XI simply due to the link up hes shown with Eze.

Let’s start with the good, bad, and the ugly, and that first Birming goal. Masterson has been great to watch over his last few appearances, but the 21 year old showed a bit of his inexperience getting caught between committing to the run of Hogan and holding his line. That moment of hesitation cost the Rs, as Hogan was able to go in at a helpless Liam Kelly and take the 1-0 lead. Besides that error, I thought Masterson played very well. Grant Hall was actually supposed to get the start, but picked up a knock in warm ups, and Masterson stepped in very well, completing 93% of his passes, creating two chances, winning a couple of aerials, and coming up with three clearances. I’ve been very high on him, and hopefully the mistake that led to the goal will be a learning point and help him develop into a great center back for us.

Although we found the back of the net once in the first half, the beautiful buildup from BOS to Rangel, and an excellent cross from Rangel to a marginally offside Hugill, took the goal off the board and we went into the half trailing 1-0. I thought we looked dangerous at times in the first half, especially when pinging crosses in. Eze didn’t look his normal self, as the ball stuck to his feet a bit, with him tripping over a combo of the ball and his feet on a clear cut chance inside the blues box. I thought a lot of his play in the first half had a lot to do with how physical Birmingham was with Eze. He was easily the most fouled player on the pitch, whether or not the whistle blew, and often times it did not as this was another case of the poor officiating of the Championship on display.

The tide quickly changed as the second half began, and the Rangers leveled the score at one in the 51st minute as Marc Pugh found the back of the net as Eze sent a set piece into the box which Hugill headed towards goal, and Pugh put it away. The foul by Kristian Pedersen resembled an American football tackle with Pedersen (on all fours) essentially spearing BOS to the ground, and no yellow card was given although the Dane made zero attempt to play the ball. But after all, Pughs second goal for us got the crowd back into and the game was back on!

Four minutes later, the Loft got even louder as we saw some great lead up play between Eze and BOS with some outstanding one touch passing leading to a BOS cross being flicked in first time by Jordan Hugill to put the Hoops ahead 2-1 in the 55th minute. What a finish! The silky fluid football the boys were playing during this stretch was a thrill to watch. QPR need to bring more of this rather than the often tiresome play out of the back, so that we take it to the opponent rather than have the tempo dictated to us.

Unfortunately in the 81st minute we saw Birmingham pull level after a flicked on header from a corner, once again finished by Scott Hogan. QPR had just finished defending a long throw from near the corner, which essential came in like a corner that Liam Kelly nudged out of bounds as it took a touch and looked to be goal bound. The throw itself looked like a foul throw as it seemed the back foot raised during the motion, but this was yet another omission by this officiating crew.

QPR saw a few more chances in the nine remaining minutes and then the additional eight added on from the Bela injury, but were not able to crack Birmingham before the final whistle and split the points with a 2-2 draw.

The Stateside Ranger MOTM:

I’ll give my pick for our MOTM in each post, whether we win lose or draw. With this being the innaguaral Stateside Ranger MOTM, it’s clearly a momentous occasion. So without further adieu, the first ever Stateside Ranger MOTM is…Bright Osayi-Samuel!

I thought BOS was a BOSS throughout this entire match. You can argue that a few others put up a bit better numbers on the stat line, but BOS put in a solid workmanlike shift. He battled on the wing all match, completing 93% of his passes, 4 completed dribbles (a match high), had an assist, took one shot (on target), and won 8 duals. The trophy is in the mail BOS!

Underappreciated Performance:

After each match I’ll also be writing about a player who goes a bit under the radar. They probably won’t be on anyone’s MOTM short lists, but without their shift, things may have gone a bit differently. For this week, I have chosen Yoann Barbet. Barbet completed more passes than anyone in the match (92) at an 85% success rate, including 23 long balls. He won 7 of 10 duels, and had 5 clearances. For a shaky backline like ours, he was a rock this match. Although only a 6.8 match rating according to FotMob, without his presence in the back, Birmingham may have been able to generate a few more chances.

Next Up:

Next up for the R’s is a trip to Deepdale on Saturday 3/7 to take on Preston. Preston has two wins and three losses in their last five, including a 2-0 loss to Fulham at Craven Cottage last time out.

They’re currently missing winger Billy Bodin with an Achilles injury suffered in early January. Also, CDM Tom Bayliss who suffered an ankle injury mid January and is out for the season.

Although having seen an overall recent dip in form, Preston only has one loss in their last four at home with wins over Hull and Charlton, a draw vs Swansea, and the lone lass a 1-0 defeat to Millwall.

In conclusion…

This was a match we could have won, and quite frankly should have won. It feels a bit more like we dropped two points rather than gaining one. We again need to be better at set piece defending, and not concede that late goal. There were a few good take aways with the way we played, and hopefully we can string them together and keep this unbeaten run going.

Thank you for reading my first ever Stateside Ranger Report post-match blog. If you liked it, please click like and subscribe. If theres anything you’d like to see changed, please let me know in the comments! Also, if you’re not already, please follow me on Twitter @StatesideRanger!

Until next time, you R’s!