Ash is back with his look ahead to the action at Loftus Road on Saturday. QPR and Nottingham Forest were tipped as play off contenders but are both yet to win in the league and the pressure is on.

Jim Magilton
It’s ridiculous to say but so Saturday could really be a must win game for big Jim. Two draws and a defeat in the opening three games is not the end of the world, but unfortunately for Magilton and the club our owner doesn’t live in the real world. Seven managers in two years, suggests that patience runs as thin as the silver mane on Flavio’s head and he won’t be happy with anything else than a win on Saturday. In fairness to our overlord, we as fans probably expected a little more from games against Blackpool and Plymouth, two of the worst sides in this league but the performances have been good enough to suggest that the results will come eventually – although things would be helped along if some money was made available for a striker please. This time last year Burnley were in the bottom three of this league and look where they are now, beating the country’s champions, so it really isn’t time to panic. But if the worse does indeed happen on Saturday and we leave HQ with anything less then three points, then lets hope Flav has learned something in the two seasons he’s been here and Magilton wont be the firing line before he’s even had a chance to get his feet under the table. Otherwise what would we do then?
QPR even money to win with Sky Bet, 11/10 with most others

Ex R’s
Saturday of course sees the return to Loftus Road of Dexter Blackstock and Lee Camp, who were both sold to Nottingham Forest over the summer. I have no doubt that both will get a decent reception from the home crowd as over the past five seasons these two have been among the popular players at QPR and most were sad to see them exit. No one will forget the goals of Dexter that helped keep us in this league under John Gregory or Lee Camp’s heroics in goal in both his loan spells here and his eventual permanent move, but as always in football its time to move on. I was disappointed to see both men leave and felt both would have contributed to this current squad but due to a number of matters both on and off the pitch their time as Rangers players has ended and we must be wary of the backlash this weekend. We know what to expect from Blackstock, a lot of effort, a lot of guile but we have good enough defenders to deal with him, however the old footballing cliché of footballers coming back to haunt their old clubs just feels inevitable and I can just see him nabbing a goal. While Camp will probably have a stormer at the other end and keep our mis-firing strikers out for another week. Only at QPR eh?!
Blackstock best priced 8/1 for first goal with Bet365 and Bet Fred

Converting Chances:
As Clive said on his ‘Just back’ thread on Tuesday night after Bristol City, it really is getting silly now. We’ve been banging on for 18 months now about needing a striker but no one at the club seems to be listening. We are playing some really good football at the moment and with the likes of Routledge, Buzsaky and Taarabt carving defences open we just need someone to finish them off and we’ll be a very dangerous team in this division. However the closer we get to the September 1 deadline the more likely it seems we will have to make to we’ve what we’ve got, which means we really have to start taking our chances. We certainly create enough but we’ve already seen this season and last year so many games that we’ve dominated without getting a reward because we haven’t found the back of the net. Our frontline just needs to step-up and convert these chances when given, whether it’s Rowan Vine, Hider Helguson or Patrick Agyemang. Saturday, against one the few teams who are currently below us in the league, would be a good start.
Heidar Helguson is favourite to score first on Saturday, best price 6/1 with Sky Bet

The Pelican
The one silver lining we’re clinging on to in our meagre striking department is that Alessandro Pellicori is the answer we’re looking for. The Italian’s already become a favourite on the LFW message board, and has been giving the nickname ‘the Pelican’- with one poster apparently getting a t-shirt bearing his new motif ready for Saturday’s game. Pellicori is yet to start a game for the R’s but in both appearances he’s looked more than useful and is our only front-man who likes to stay in penalty area as our ‘fox in the box’ hence the goal at Exeter City. So why not start him on Saturday? What has Magilton got to lose? He won’t be any worse then Agyemang at the moment who is looking every bit like the Preston reserve striker he was when we signed him, and for me is a better impact sub anyway. If we are not going to add another striker to our squad and we are as Jim has said to work wit what we got, then we need to give what we’ve got the best opportunity to show what he can do. Who knows ‘feed the pelican and he will score’ may just catch on.
Alessandro Pellicori is 7/1 to score last with Victor Chandler

Loftus Road
The atmosphere on opening day was excellent, despite drawing with Blackpool and was no hint of the bad feeling the surrounded the fans last season. It needs to stay that way, even if we don’t get a result on Saturday and Blackstock does make us all eat humble pie. We don’t want to give Flavio and co anymore ammunition to do something silly so early in what we all hope is a more successful season.
Nottingham Forest are 11/4 to win with Sky Bet, they have a 0-0 draw at 10/1

Photo: Action Images

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