Team: Crowther, Coyne, Brown, O’Brien, Ford, Harris, Morgan-Cummings, Maguire, German, Arthur, Lawrence
Sub Used: Smart (the only available substitute)
A very strong wind blew across the pitch which didn’t help to make it a good game and not very pleasant for watching either. Gillingham opened the scoring within the first few minutes. There were times when the R’s upped the pace and pressed well but couldn’t make it count. In fact, at one time, QPR kept possession with ten or eleven consecutive passes, but to no avail. The visitors scored their second just before half time and a third came soon after the re-start. Lee Brown did score soon after but although Rangers had a few chances, the game finished 3-1 to Gillingham.
The positive points were firstly, seeing Harry Smart come on in the second half and secondly, the fact that Danny Maguire played the whole match. It was fortunate that QPR didn’t suffer any injuries as Harry was the only substitute ! Terry Smith was due to be on the bench but unfortunately was unavailable due to illness. Michael Wright got injured in training during the week and Danny Davenport has his foot operation on Wednesday. Danny should be back in time for the pre-Season tour in Germany at the beginning of August. It was good to see Joe English (better late than never)
The bad news was that we couldn’t get a sausage sandwich !
The R’s are still top of the league though with 33 points and with a game in hand over Gillingham, who have 29 points. But to stay there, they need to get back to their winning ways again. Leyton Orient, were second with 27 points and were playing Peterborough so it will be interesting to see how that one went.
The remaining games are: Leyton Orient at home on 5th April, Southend away the following week, followed by Brentford away on 19th April and then home to Brighton on 26th April.
Pat Harrison