QPR v Preston North End

Team: Cerny, Ramage, Stewart, Gorkss, Borrowdale, Routledge (Ainsworth), Mahon, Faurlin, Buzsaky (Agyemang), Taarabt,Simpson (Vine)
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Hall, Harris, Alberti.
Attendance: 12,810

One word: PERFECT. Not a bad player wearing the hoops today. Some of the football was sublime and the third goal summed us up, with about eight passes of one-touch (or two at the most), ended up with Simpson slotting home via the far post. The last 30 minutes was spent with R’s players’ nutmegging the opposition, back heeling and putting some lovely moves together. Preston weren’t a bad outfit in the 1st half but after the interval they weren’t at the races as we stepped up a gear. The score flattered them at the end as we hit the bar twice and their keeper pulled off an amazing save from a fierce Borrowdale 25 yarder which was heading for the top corner. And a word about the referee: shocking ! The incident where their no.25 pushed Buzsaky into the advert hoardings over at the Ellerslie Road Stand was amazing. He must of thought the challenge was okay as he never even bothered to speak to him. Thirty seconds later, Buzsaky said something to the culprit and the ref runs over as if his life depended on it, to have words with Akos !!! Then a minute or so later, Buzsaky goes in really hard and their no.25 appeared to stamp on him or he certainly lashed out and again the referee did nothing about it ? Let’s hope for more of the same against the fake hoops on Tuesday night.
ChrisPTenner

Yes, great result and performance. It was my first game of the season and it was the best that I’ve seen them play for years. Preston are a good side and there won’t be many teams that will tonk them 4-0 ! As for the ref, I didn’t think he was that bad, at least he gave us that penalty.
Chriscarrsrightfoot

Adel Taarabt has turned to Eric Cantona for inspiration in a bid to win over his QPR critics. And the on-loan Spurs man has pleaded with the Rangers boo-boys to carry on giving him stick – because, just like his boyhood hero Cantona, he reckons it brings out the best in him. The striker has a love-hate relationship with the crowd, and was jeered during the 5-2 win against Barnsley. Then Rangers fans were furious Taarabt attempted an extravagant shot instead of a simple pass and the forward made it clear what he thought of their response. But it was a different story against Preston when the Moroccan international struck a stunning individual goal to set Jim Magilton’s side on their way to an emphatic win.

And Taarabt reckons it is his Marseilles roots that give him the ability to respond to criticism in style. He said: “I don’t know why fans booed me last time because we were winning 5-2 and I came on as a substitute and wanted to score. I understand they wanted more goals and for me to pass, but I have now showed them when they want me to pass, I’m not going to. I am a player who plays better when the crowd is against me. I am from Marseilles and Eric Cantona is from there, so maybe we are just like this. Zinedine Zidane was also from Marseilles – we are the type of players who love skills and to entertain the fans.”

Magilton dubbed Taarabt a “genius” and his display lifted the gloom at Rangers after skipper Martin Rowlands picked up another serious knee injury on international duty this week. Taarabt tricked Preston’s Neil Mellor into conceding the penalty that allowed Akos Buzsaky to make it two. On-loan Arsenal striker Jay Simpson added a third when he kept his head to finish comfortably past Preston keeper Andrew Lonergan in the 75th minute. And Wayne Routledge completed the scoring to seal a comfortable win with another long-range effort into the bottom right corner.
Daily Mirror

It was top class today, not one single player had a bad game. I thought that our centre backs were brilliant. It was a shame that Gareth Ainsworth didn’t get on until near the end.
Bigdave

It was great to see Ainsworth back wearing the hoops. I’m not quite sure if he is the same player though, he looked shattered just running from one side of the pitch to the other, shame. Fantastic performance though, Taarabt got a blinding goal and Routledge’s was very good too. Their keeper was going ballistic, the trouble was their defence couldn’t cope. I couldn’t believe that Buzsaky incident though. He was clearly pushed into the sidewall, then stamped on right in front of me, but the ref chose to speak to Akos but not their player !!! ‘The R’s are going up’ was sung – we seemed to have forgotten that we are still in 9th/10th position. But if they keep playing like this….. ?
samp99

It was amazing stuff, and a pleasure to have been there. It was purist football. The movement, touch plus some superb goals had me purring like a Cheshire cat. I wouldn’t want to pick a MOM, as each and every one of the players contributed to a memorable game. Well done to Jim Magilton who took note of a crowd desperate to see Gareth Ainsworth grace Loftus Road once again. On the down side, it would not have hurt some more of the players coming over and applauding the fans who had applauded them throughout the 90 odd minutes. These are the same fans that help pay their wages, travel up and down the country week in, week out. Shame that.
JJcoles

Whatever Jim and John have done over the last few weeks has paid off big time. Yesterday we played like a team that is twenty points clear with still a game to go. The pass and move was class rather than humping the ball up-front. Preston seemed like a rabbit in the headlights at times and that was down to us playing them off the park. That is what QPR is about and I think this team came of age. I hope they are all able to hold their places as no one should be dropped after that match. I am proud of them all.
Finney

I can’t remember when I enjoyed a QPR performance more than that one – it was superb all over the pitch.
jbee

That performance also says something about the squad with some major players missing. So many amazing ingredients yesterday – usually a team will have good spells or perhaps even longer periods of domination but we were relentless. With Rowlands and Leigertwood out, Mahon took the captain’s armband and had a very good game, as did just about everyone else. It was good to see Ed Harris at least make the bench. What an amazing first goal when Taarabt ran through from his own half, past a couple of defenders and then curled the ball into the net from 25 yards. Just after that, Buzsaky, wide right, hit the ball on the outside of his foot which then clipped the bar. We were playing a top five side and they couldn’t cope with us. Simpson’s burst of speed enabled him to nip past the defender as if he wasn’t there, to score, which he made to look very easy. Routledge’s run through the middle, twisting and turning to score another wonderful goal. Vine also hit the crossbar. Apart from all this there was some amazing showboating and even Borrowdale brought out a superb save after belting one from 25 yards. We were entering into the realms of total football and it was the best I had seen for some years. I bet Rodney also enjoyed it. “I Never Felt More Like Singing The Blues.” Well done everyone.
Steve Russell