As Burnley approach Loftus Road on Saturday, LFW looks back at a clash between the two sides from 1979 when the visiting team’s young goalkeeper had a debut to forget.

Memorable Match

QPR 7 Burnley 0, Saturday October 27, 1979, Second Division

While it’s amazing to think that Queens Park Rangers were almost the champions of England in 1976 — pipped by Liverpool winning their game in hand over Wolves after the final day of the season, denied by a 3-2 Easter defeat at Norwich which was the R’s only defeat in the final 15 games that season — it’s even more remarkable just how quickly things disintegrated at Loftus Road thereafter.

Influential manager Dave Sexton left for Manchester United in 1977 and a farcical situation ensued where former Loftus Road favourite Alec Stock was brought in to replace him only to leave within days. When chairman Jim Gregory eventually settled on Steve Burtenshaw it didn’t go well, and by the end of the 1978/79 campaign QPR had actually been relegated from the top flight into the Second Division.

But Rangers would rebuild. As the old guard of Dave Thomas, Gerry Francis, Stan Bowles, Frank McLintock and others aged and moved on, so a new band of exciting QPR players emerged from the club’s youth team — led by dynamic striking pair Clive Allen and Paul Goddard.

Eventually, under the management of Terry venables, QPR would contest an FA Cup final against Tottenham as a Second Division side and take it to a replay before winning promotion in fine style the following season. But even prior to that the signs were good, with Tommy Docherty returning for a second spell in charge and leading the R’s to fifth in their first season back at the lower level.

The highlight of the 1979/80 campaign was a freak 7-0 home win against Saturday’s visitors to Loftus Road Burnley — a game which has gone down in folklore at both clubs, not only for the scoreline but also the situation surrounding Burnley goalkeeper Billy O’Rourke.

Rangers had been in decent form prior to the October meeting with five wins and two draws from seven matches, but they’d been well beaten 3-0 at Sunderland the weekend before so there was little indication that a massacre was imminent. Burnley however were in dreadful form — without a single win to their name from the first 12 games of the season and on course to be relegated second bottom of the table.

QPR showed little mercy to the Clarets, or O’Rourke who, aged just 19, was making his debut for the visitors between the sticks that day.

The R’s were gifted the first goal — O’Rourke shafted by his own centre half who knocked a heavy pass back wide of his keeper as he advanced to collect the ball leaving Goddard with the simple task of rolling the loose ball into an empty net. The second goal wasn’t that much more aesthetically pleasing either as Clive Allen’s meandering run across the edge of the penalty area ended with a scuffed shot that fell to Don Shanks at the far post and his attempt to cut the ball back was inadvertently diverted over O’Rourke’s head and into the net by defender Ian Brennan.

So far, so calamitous and when centre back Glenn Roeder — signed the previous season from Leyton Orient — showed typically brilliant anticipation to intercept a Burnley attack before escaping into space with his trademark shuffle it created a chance for Shanks to cross for Goddard to head home a third before half time.

And so the farce grew. Bowles crossed from a corner late in the half and with centre back Steve Wicks causing havoc at the back post an untidy scramble ensued in the goal mouth that was eventually finished by Dave McCreery — diving full length to guide a smooth header over O’Rourke, and two hapless defenders on the line, into the back of the net.

Burnley survived to half time without suffering further damage but when Barry Wallace, making a rare start, burst forward from midfield at the start of the second half and laid a sweet pass into Clive Allen’s path the deadly young striker produced a vintage opportunistic finish with his toe from 15 yards out. Five nil now, and all of O’Rourke’s worst nightmares were becoming reality.

Wallace, making a first start of the season, was involved in the sixth as well — chipping a fine ball into the right channel for Bowles to chase and win a penalty that Allen calmly rolled home with embarrassing ease. Allen should have had a hat trick as well when a swift counter attack saw Mickey Walsh cross for Bowles to take the goalkeeper out of play with a chip to the back post. Allen, inexplicably, hit the post from a yard out with the goal gaping but, true to Burnley’s luck on the day, the ball fell plum for Roeder, up from the back, to head home number seven.

Despite it all, the Burnley Express named O’Rourke their man of the match, and the young keeper fled from the field at full time in tears. He would spend the majority of his career — nearly 100 appearances between 1984 and 1987 — at Lancashire rivals Blackpool before finishing with a couple of years at Tranmere Rovers. Sadly he suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2002, aged just 41, and passed away.

QPR: Woods, Shanks, Roeder, Wicks, Gillard, Bowles, Wallace, McCreery, Busby (Walsh), Allen, Goddard

Scorers: Allen 2, Goddard 2, Roeder, Shanks, McCreery

Attendance: 11,261

Classic encounters

LFW regular and AKUTR’s columnist Dave Barton has set up a QPR Memories YouTube channel, with a mixture of clips, classic games, and old highlights packages. His three recent meetings with Burnley are embedded below, give him a subscribe on YouTube or follow @QPR_Memories on Twitter.

Recent Meetings

Burnley 0 QPR 0, Saturday October 26, 2024, Championship

Steve Cook was pretty good.

Burnley: Trafford 6; Roberts 7, Egan-Riley 6, Esteve 6, Humphreys 6 (Pires 73, 6); Cullen 6 (Rodriguez 73, 6) , Brownhill 6; Koleosho 7, Laurent 6 (Hountondji 87, -), Anthony 7 (Agyei 81, -); Flemming 5

Subs not used: Dodgson, Hladky, Massengo, Mejbri

QPR: Nardi 7; Dunne 7, Cook 8, Clarke-Salter 7, Ashby 5; Varane 6, Field 6; Smyth 6 (Morgan 81, -), Chair 6 (Andersen 81, -), Saito 6 (Lloyd 87, -); Celar 4 (Bennie 61, 6)

Subs not used: Santos, Dixon-Bonner, Madsen, Shepperd, Walsh

Yellow Cards: Bennie 81 (foul)

Burnley 1 QPR 2, Saturday April 22, 2023, Championship

Gareth Ainsworth’s QPR saved their Championship status by producing the most unlikely of 2-1 wins at champions-elect Burnley. On a run of seven without a win, and with two of the final three games away, League One looked odds on for a team that had won only one of its previous 21 games. Burnley were unbeaten at home all season as they paraded to the Championship title under Vincent Kompany. Sam Field, however, stunned Turf Moor by hooking in the opening goal just after half time. Benson’s spectacular equaliser a quarter of an hour from time looked to have killed the dream, but Chris Martin entered himself into Rangers’ folklore with a headed winner in the 87th minute.

Burnley: Muric 6; Roberts 6, Harwood-Bellis 5, Beyer 5, Maatsen 6 (Obafemi 76, 5); Brownhill 6, Cullen 7; Benson 7, Gudmundsson 6 (Twine 57, 6), Zaroury 7; Barnes 5 (Rodriguez 57, 5)

Subs not used: Taylor, Clark, Peacock-Farrell, da Silva

Goals: Benson 76 (assisted Roberts)

Bookings: Harwood Bellis 63 (foul), Twine 90+2 (foul)

QPR: Dieng 6; Drewe 5 (Laird 45, 6), Dickie 8, Dunne 7, Paal 6; Adomah 5 (Armstrong 59, 7), Iroegbunam 5 (Amos 68, 6), Field 7, Chair 6; Lowe 6, Dykes 7 (Martin 85, -)

Subs not used: Willock, Archer, Richards

Goals (actual goals): Field 58 (unassisted), Martin 87 (assisted Lowe)

Bookings: Armstrong 80 (Brick killed a guy), Laird 89 (time wasting)

QPR 0 Burnley 3, Sunday December 11, 2022, Championship

With Paul Hall in caretaker charge, QPR suffered the first of their collection of 3-0 home defeats, against Burnley live on Sky in December. Rangers should have had a penalty in the opening minute when visiting keeper Muric slid underneath George Thomas without touching the ball, but after that it was one way traffic. Gudmundsson’s whipped free kick into the far corner got the scoring underway and Ian Maatsen converted calmly off a Seny Dieng save to make it two before half time. A collection of shambolic pieces of defending culminating in Jimmy Dunne not getting enough on a chest back to Seny Dieng let Nathan Tella in for a fairly pathetic third late in the day.

QPR: Dieng 4; Laird 5, Dunne 5, Clarke-Salter 4, Paal 6; Field 6, Dozzell 5 (Armstrong 76, 6), Iroegbunam 5; Thomas 4 (Shodipo 46, 6), Dykes 6, Willock 4 (Adomah 46, 5)

Subs not used: Kakay, Dickie, Archer, Richards

Bookings: Iroegbunam 56 (foul)

Burnley: Muric 6; Vitinho 7, Harwood-Bellis 7, Beyer 7, Maatsen 8 (Taylor 89, -); Cork 7 (Churlinov 89, -), Cullen 8; Gudmundsson 7 (Manuel 74, 6), Brownhill 8, Tella 8 (Twine 89, -); Rodriguez 7 (Barnes 81, -)

Subs not used: Peacock-Farrell, Bastien

Goals: Gudmundsson 17 (free kick, won Cork), Maatsen 45+2 (assisted Vitinho), Tella 71 (unassisted)

Bookings: Cork 52 (foul), Cullen 90+2 (foul)

Burnley 1 QPR 0, Monday May 2, 2016, Championship

Burnley needed a win from their final home match of 2015/16 to clinch the Championship crown and promotion back to the Premier League. QPR are usually terrific party guests in such circumstances but put up unusually strong resistance for the best part of an hour to increase nerves in the home ranks. The game played out mostly through a series of goalmouth scrambles in front of Matt Ingram’s goal until Sam Vokes glanced in Jones’ free kick at the near post to break the deadlock. Ale Faurlin came close to breaking Burnley hearts late on with a 25 yarder that struck the outside of the post with the keeper beaten.

Burnley: Heaton 7; Lowton 6, Keane 6, Mee 7, Ward 6; Boyd 6, Barton 5, Jones 6, Arfield 7; Vokes 7, Gray 5 (Barnes 76, 6)

Subs not used: Taylor, Dyer, Robinson, Hennings, Tarkowski, Darikwa

Goals: Vokes 61 (assisted Jones)

QPR: Ingram 6; Onuoha 6, Hall 6, Hill 6, Kpekawa 7; Henry 6; Petrasso 6 (El Khayati 70, 5), Phillips 5, Faurlin 7, Hoilett 5 (Washington 63, 5); Polter 6 (Gladwin 71, 5)

Subs not used: Lumley, Perch, Prohouly, Grego-Cox

Bookings: Polter 3 (living the dream), Kpekawa 45 (foul)

QPR 0 Burnley 0, Saturday December 12, 2015, Championship

The first meeting between the sides that season was Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s first match in charge of QPR and saw the scoreline finish level. A tight first half saw Robert Green get away with an amateurish fumble of a long-range Joey Barton free kick, while Tom Heaton saved well from Junior Hoilett and Matt Phillips at the other end. QPR introduced Charlie Austin in the second half and he teed up Karl Henry for a decent chance which he took too long over while at the School End Sam Vokes headed over with the keeper beaten.

QPR: Green 6; Perch 6, Onuoha 7, Hall 8, Konchesky 7; Henry 6 (Emmanuel-Thomas 74, 5), Faurlin 6, Sandro 7, Hoilett 6 (Austin 60, 6), Phillips 5

Subs not used: Chery, Luongo, Smithies, Angella, Tozser

Burnley: Heaton 6; Darikwa 7, Duff 6, Keane 6, Mee 8; Boyd 6, Jones 6, Barton 6, Arfield 6; Vokes 5, Gray 7

Subs not used: Lowton, Marney, Taylor, Kightly, Ward, Gilks, Hennings

Previous Results

Head to Head >>> QPR wins 12 >>> Draws 9 >>> Burnley wins 23

2024/25 Burnley 0 QPR 0

2022/23 Burnley 1 QPR 2 (Field, Martin)

2022/23 QPR 0 Burnley 3

2015/16 Burnley 1 QPR 0

2015/16 QPR 0 Burnley 0

2014/15 Burnley 2 QPR 1 (Austin)

2014/15 QPR 2 Burnley 0 (Fer, Austin)

2013/14 QPR 3 Burnley 3 (Doyle, Dunne, Maiga!!!)

2013/14 Burnley 2 QPR 0

2010/11 Burnley 0 QPR 0

2010/11 QPR 1 Burnley 1 (Taraabt)

2008/09 Burnley 1 QPR 0

2008/09 Burnley 2 QPR 1* (Di Carmine)

2008/09 QPR 0 Burnley 0*

2008/09 QPR 1 Burnley 2 (Blackstock)

2007/08 QPR 2 Burnley 4 (Mahon, Agyemang)

2007/08 Burnley 0 QPR 2 (Stewart, Vine)

2006/07 QPR 3 Burnley 1 (Cook, Blackstock, Lomas)

2006/07 Burnley 2 QPR 0

2005/06 Burnley 1 QPR 0

2005/06 QPR 1 Burnley 1 (Ainsworth)

2004/05 Burnley 2 QPR 0

2004/05 QPR 3 Burnley 0 (Gallen, Santos, Furlong)

2000/01 Burnley 2 QPR 1 (Bignot)

2000/01 QPR 0 Burnley 1

1982/83 Burnley 2 QPR 1 (Sealy)

1982/83 QPR 3 Burnley 2 (Neill, Allen, Micklewhite)

1979/80 Burnley 0 QPR 3 (Gillard, Allen, Shanks)

1979/80 QPR 7 Burnley 0 (Goddard 2, Allen 2, Roeder, Shanks, McCreery)

1975/76 Burnley 1 QPR 0

1975/76 QPR 1 Burnley 0 (Bowles)

1974/75 QPR 0 Burnley 1

1974/75 Burnley 3 QPR 0

1973/74 Burnley 2 QPR 1 (Thomas)

1973/74 QPR 2 Burnley 1 (Thomas, Bowles)

1972/73 QPR 2 Burnley 0 (Leach, Givens)

1972/73 Burnley 1 QPR 1 (Busby)

1971/72 QPR 3 Burnley 1 (Leach 2, Marsh)

1971/72 Burnley 1 QPR 0

1968/69 Burnley 2 QPR 2 (Marsh, Leach)

1968/69 QPR 0 Burnley 2

1967/68 QPR 1 Burnley 2** (Sibley)

1961/62 Burnley 6 QPR 1* (Evans)

1920/21 Burnley 4 QPR 2* (Smith, Birch)

* - FA Cup

** - League Cup

Connections

Dave Thomas >>> QPR 1972-1977 >>> Burnley 1966-1972

England international winger Dave Thomas, socks rolled down to his ankles, is one of QPR’s greatest ever players.

Born in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, he came through the ranks at Burnley and made his debut there aged 16 years and 220 days against Everton in the 1967/68 season. It was not an auspicious start — the Clarets were beaten 8-1 at The Hawthorns by West Bromwich Albion in one of his early games. He was Burnley’s youngest ever top flight player and won the FA Youth Cup with the club. Thomas’ father had been a miner, and later worked on the railways, but his grandfather had a football background - David Rhys Thomas, played for the victorious West Auckland team in the 1909 Sir Thomas Lipton World Football Trophy, the competition which spawned the inaugural World Cup 21 years later. He would refuse to play football in his garden with young Dave unless he kicked the ball with his weaker foot.

Burnley were relegated from that league in 1970/71 and they then bumped into QPR in the old Second Division for the 71/72 campaign. In 72/73 the pair would fight it out for the league title, and with Thomas excelling down the wing at Turf Moor QPR boss Gordan Jago made an audacious move in the October of that season to sign Thomas for £165k — then a record fee for a club in the Second Division. The two teams would go on to finish first and second in the table, meaning Thomas effectively won two promotions in a single season.

His pace, crossing, and ability to play on either wing made Thomas one of the hottest prospects in the country. He was an integral part of Dave Sexton’s brilliant QPR side of the 1970s, which came so close to winning the championship in 1976 only to be pipped by Liverpool in their final game in hand. A modern footballer before his time, Thomas was teetotal in an era of excess — “I owed it to my profession to look after myself”.

“We had Terry Venables, Gerry Francis and Stan Bowles, streetwise people,” said Thomas. “Terry was great with me. He was knowledgeable and charismatic, there was an aura about him. He took an interest in you personally and would do anything to help you improve. I had the best five years of my career at QPR.”

Don Revie gave him an England debut in October 1974 during a 3-0 win against Czechoslovakia and he went on to win eight caps for his country. Revie had earlier tried to break the bank to take the teenage Thomas from Burnley to Leeds prior to him making his debut for the Clarets, £30 a week with a £2k signing bonus for a 15-year-old, but was shooed out of the Thomas family home by Dave’s father.

He returned to the North West in August 1977 when Everton paid £200k to sign him from Rangers. In 1977/78 he helped Bob Latchford reach 30 goals for the season for the Goodison Park outfit, with more assists than any other player.

Later he had briefer spells with Wolves, which was never going to last long once manager John Barnwell had demanded he ditch his rubber studs and pull his socks up. The dispute came to a head at Norwich where he slipped and cost his side a goal, and during a half time sort out tore off his shirt and through it at assistant manager Richie Barker. He later played for Boro and Portsmouth. He also had a stint in the original MLS with Vancouver Whitecaps.

Now registered blind owing to an optic nerve glaucoma condition inherited from his father, Thomas has made several emotional returns to Loftus Road as part of the Forever R’s club, speaking emotionally on the pitch about the fundraising Rangers fans had done for the Guide Dogs charity — his four-year wait ended when he was paired with Hannah who stands faithfully by his side today. He had been a PE teacher in Chichester post retirement, but had to give that job up as his sight failed.

Others >>> Jimmy Dunne, QPR 2021-present, Burnley 2017-2021 >>> Charlie Austin, QPR 2021-2022, 2013-2016, Burnley 2011-2013 >>> Andre Gray, QPR (loan) 2021-2022, Burnley 2015-2017 >>> Jeff Hendrick, QPR (loan) 2022, Burnley 2016-2020 >>> Marc Pugh, QPR 2019-2020, Burnley 2004-2006 >>> Nahki Wells, QPR (loan) 2018-2020, Burnley 2017-2020 >>> Peter Crouch, Burnley 2019, QPR 2000-2001 >>> Lloyd Dyer, Burnley 2016, QPR (loan) 2005 >>> Tom Heaton, Burnley 2013-2019, QPR (loan) 2009 >>> Dean Marney, Burnley 2010-2019, QPR (loan) 2004 >>> Joey Barton, Burnley 2015-2016, QPR 2011-2015 >>> Steven Reid, Burnley 2014-2015, QPR 2009 >>> Bradley Orr, QPR 2010-2012, Burnley (loan) 2004 >>> Clarke Carlisle, Burnley 2007-2012, QPR 2000-2004 >>> Keith Lowe, QPR (loan) 2006, Burnley (loan) 2005 >>> Fingers Gnohere, QPR 2003-2005, Burnley 2001-2004 >>> Gareth Taylor, Burnley 2001-2003, QPR (loan) 2000 >>> Chris Woods, Burnley 1997-1998, QPR 1979-1981 >>> Billy Hamilton, Burnley 1979-1984, QPR 1978-1979 >>> Ian Muir, QPR 1980-1983, Burnley (loan) 1982 >>> Paul McGee, Burnley 1981-1983, QPR 1977-1979 >>> Martyn Busby, Burnley (loan) 1980, QPR 1977-1981, 1970-1976 >>> Leighton James, QPR 1977-1978, Burnley 1970-1975

Pictures - Reuters Connect

hoops_legend added 09:30 - Apr 25 Great report and hadn’t read about the 7-0 before. The keeper certainly wasn’t to blame - the Burnley defenders were awful and gifted us the first two and then were all out at sea for rest!
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