A first away win of the season for QPR at big-spending Wrexham, goals and eye-catching displays from both the club’s new strikers, and a first victory for LFW’s ‘angel of doom’ Jamie Perry to report on from The Racecourse Ground.

I enjoyed QPR’s decision to have Charlie Austin interview Richard Kone during the week. It’s great to see Austin doing bits of work for the club again after the circumstances surrounding his exit from his second spell and for me, with their shared non-league history, there was no-one better for the club to draft in to allow Kone to tell his story.

In the interview, however, Charlie says the club is known for having the “perfect centre- forward”. He’s half right, there has been some great strikers to grace Loftus Road over the years. Austin and Helguson for my generation, Gallen and Furlong just before. Children of the nineties had Les Ferdinand, Clive Allen and Gary Bannister in the late seventies/ eighties and Don Givens in that famous Rangers team that finished second in the top-flight 50 years ago.

As we all know though, QPR’s recent history with strikers has been, shall we say, sketchy at best. We’ve all sat through the comedy stylings of Patrick Agyemang and Mark Nygaard types, but in the past decade Macauley Bonne, Lyndon Dykes and Zan Celar have all added their names to that list. As Clive has stated before, famously the closest we got to replacing Austin was re-signing him again for a second time.

On Saturday, in a first trip to Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground since 2003, QPR started not one but two strikers together in a league fixture for the first time in over eighteen months. Two actual live ones, strikers that know where to be and when. The stuff they write about in books.

The last time we did this was a 2-1 win away at Blackburn two seasons ago, that day Dykes started alongside Sinclair Armstrong. To go from that pairing to Kone alongside Rumarn Burrell on Saturday was night and day, I’m struggling to think of a bigger upgrade.

As well as the inclusion of Burrell, Koki Saito came into Rangers team following Paul Smyth’s injury and his heroics off the bench against Charlton. A far cry from the terrifying passing style you may remember from successes such as Coventry 7-1 QPR, some of the interplay here between the Japanese winger, the strikers and the excellent Harvey Vale was an absolute delight.

Wrexham on the other hand were everything we would expect from a Phil Parkinson team. Unashamedly direct, spit on it and call if foreplay football, they set about a game plan of getting the ball wide and crossing for mountain amongst men Kieffer Moore over and over and over and over again.

On five minutes, one of these crosses after a short corner was punched by Paul Nardi, returning in goal for the R’s for a first league start this season thanks to Joe Walsh’s broken wrist, and returned with interest by James McClean on the edge of the box for a volley wide.

Seven minutes later another warning shot as a weak header from Liam Morrison in midfield allowed George Dobson to free McClean down the left, his low ball into Moore was dummied when a shot looked more likely and fell to Ryan Longman who did shoot straight into a retreating Nicolas Madsen. From there the ball was worked back to Matty James who dragged the chance wide.

The Frenchman’s return to the QPR net was the other big talking point among the away team line-up. One of the LFW cohort had been on the same train as the Rangers team heading north on Friday night and reported no-sign of Joe Walsh among the travelling party and it was confirmed by the club’s injury update before kick-off that the keeper had fractured his wrist in training.

Look I’m sure we will come onto the Nardi’s vampire like aversion to coming for crosses later in the report, but the Joe Walsh experiment has been a big talking point over the last few weeks, and this at least allows him a bit of time out of the spotlight, although in somewhat cruel circumstances.

For one I feel a lot more confident with the ball at Nardi’s feet than his counterpart’s and it was from this source that the Hoops first real chance of the game was fashioned, a long ball from the keeper was flicked down the line by Jimmy Dunne. McClean beat Vale to the ball but tripped and fell allowing the R’s winger to venture into the box and square for Saito whose shot was well saved by Arthur Okonkwo in the home team goal – Wrexham having injury problems of their own between the sticks with high profile summer arrival Danny Ward now set to miss the first half of the campaign.

Okonkwo again saved well from Koki later on following some good work in the midfield from Jonathan Varane and a one-two with Madsen.

The R’s did have the ball in the net between these chances. Harvey Vale’s corner’s all day were a thing a beauty, each one planted right onto the Wrexham’s keepers head causing chaos and panic. When one of these were half-punched away and returned by Rhys Norrington- Davis via an Mbengue flick on, the ball found its way through everyone and found Dunne who turned home from close range only to be rightly flagged for offside.

Never mind, the Hoops came back undeterred first on 32 minutes when Saito played Burrell in down the right but the Jamaican’s cut back was cleared when perhaps he should’ve shot and then two minutes later when the away team finally did go in front.

If you thought Paul Smyth’s longish throw was fun let me introduce you to Jimmy Dunne’s attempt. The Rangers captain had already had one attempt which really didn’t get very far and was cleared but his second try found Richard Kone’s chest and via an unconventional one-two with Saito the striker bundled both him and the ball towards goal. The ball broke loose and was turned forward by Burrell before cannoning back off Okonkwo into Conor Coady and into the net for 1-0. Not going to trouble any goal of the month compilations but with how QPR started the season we’ll take whatever we can get. Own Goal already closing in on its total of four from last season with two already this.

Shocked and surprised with being in front, Rangers immediately set about changing that when a long ball from Coady in between Mbengue and Morrison got Ryan Hardie clean through. Luckily the former Plymouth man’s left footed shot bounced the wrong side of the post from his perspective when he really should’ve scored to level it up.

Let off and the R’s reaction to this was tremendous. Again, Harvey Vale was released down the right flank and his composed cut back to Burrell was a whisker away from doubling the lead.

On 44 the move of the match added that daylight. Starting with Mbengue the ball was moved through Nardi to Morrison. The Scot played a ball into Vale who’s gorgeous little flick around the corner freed Madsen. He in turn laid the ball to Kone who knocked the ball around corner before unleashing a howitzer past Okonkwo and into the Wrexham net via the cross bar. I think I’m in love. A goal of pure sex. Absolute cinema.

Kone scored the first of his 18 league goals for Wycombe last season on this ground and is the first QPR player to score three or more goals in his first four games for the club since Djibril Cisse in 2012 as per Jack Supple. What have we got ourselves into here? How the fuck have we got him here? I’m half expecting some sort of Paladin-style dodgy transfer dealing to come out. It all seems too good to be true, there’s got to be something wrong with him.

Anyway Wrexham 0-2 QPR at half time, and for the first time on LFW match reporting duties I’m in danger of having a nice time. The 1,300 Hoops in the side stand strapped in and waited for the Welsh sides onslaught to come.

Initially, not much of one aside from a curled shot from range by Hardie that Nardi beat away. Gradually though Wrexham grew into the game a bit. On 52, Kieffer Moore had a shot on the edge of the box blocked and then six minutes later one clearing header from the giant Welshman, from Rangers’ own corner, looked to have got Hardie clean through, but for the away side to get back and smother away.

Disney FC’s best chance came two minutes later when a deep Longman cross saw McClean get in front of Vale at the back post, but the Irishman could only bundle the ball into Nardi’s gloves from close range.

At this point the away team needed to take the sting out of the game, make it a bit niggly but instead another blocked cross and concession of a corner on 67 minutes brought the goal those that had travelled from London had been dreading.

Lewis O’Brien, who is a class above in this league, but the R’s had done well to keep relatively quiet, sent in a peach of an inswinger and there was Moore, who lost blocker Varane and flicked home to halve the deficit. Turns out we’re not allowed to have a nice time after all. There will be no fun in the sun, I’ll inform the children.

Not content with that, ten minutes later QPR allowed George Dobson to get to the byline and cross to the back post where once again he found a teammate completely unmarked. This time Ryan Longman’s header was blocked by Jimmy Dunne away for a corner.

What the Londoners’ needed was to either stodge up and stop the constant flow of crosses or somehow find a nerve- settling, game-sealing third goal. The introduction of Karamoko Dembele and Esquerdinha from the bench didn’t scream option number one so it’s a good job option number two was chosen instead.

Rumarn Burrell had ran his blood to water all day and looked all set to be replaced for the grand return of Michi Frey on 75 minutes when a loose touch from Moore allowed Dunne to punt a long ball down field.

Clive appeared on the home sides Racecourse Ramble podcast during the week to preview this game and listening to it the hosts made a point of Parkinson valuing experience over anything else when discussing their team selection. The problem with experience however is that sometimes it can be slow as fuck. Off Conor Coady set after the loose ball. Slowly. Very slowly. The former Everton defender’s pursuit taking 4-5 business days to arrive gave Burrell the chance for one last push of his body and nip in to nick a ball he was fourth favourite for in a two-horse race. Now through clean on goal with only Okonkwo to beat, the former Burton man took a slightly heavy touch but managed to get to it just before an undecided and dithering keeper to lift it up and over him into the back of the net for the goal his performance deserved. The away end descended into pandemonium, maybe we are allowed nice things after all. He immediately left the field after the goal, thanks for having me lads, my work here is done.

Burrell’s departure finally paved the way for Frey to return and make his long awaited first appearance of the season. His first involvement involved him picking up the ball a full 30 yards from goal and deciding this was the ideal time to shoot. The ball of course flew miles wide, taking out someone’s mum in the home crowd, later on the Swiss striker tried to kill one of the home sides players with a slide tackle for no reason at all. Again of course he got nowhere near his man. Welcome back you big fucking weirdo, we all missed you. Just so very QPR.

There was nearly a fourth goal in it for QPR (a FOURTH!!! Jeremy etc). Wrexham again busted and broken, sub-Isaac Hayden playing a ball straight through them setting Dembele away in to clear blue water. The little Scot drew the keeper and delivered a delicious chip up and over him and back into play off the base of the post. If that had gone in I would still have been there now, rampaging through Wrexham Town Centre drinking anything in site like an alcoholic Godzilla. A stair’s goal in all but the outcome.

There was still a scare to come, because this is QPR so of course there was a scare to come. A sliced clearance from Esquerdinha set about a chain of events that again led to the Welsh side clipping a cross into a dangerous area and again this found a red shirt completely unmarked at the back post. This time it was deadline day signing Ben Sheaf, who had come on from the bench, and saw his volley brilliantly saved by Nardi and scrambled away by Mbengue for Moore to follow up with a shot of his own. The Senegalese got up and once again got his body in the way with a massive block to preserve the two-goal cushion.

The home side’s push ended with a couple of crosses and free headers from big-money signing Nathan Broadhead, one sailed wide and another safely into Nardi’s gloves. This is the bit where we come back to Nardi’s outright refusal to leave his line for anyone or anything. There were times on Saturday, here included, where it felt like even if a fire had broken out at the Racecourse Ground and the place had been evacuated you would have struggled to get that bloke off his line, standing there point-blank refusing as it burned into a smouldering wreck around him.

The trade-off, and a point that a lot, including me, have been making through the Walsh debate is that you get a very good shot- stopper and a far more comfortable experience when the ball is at his feet. As I said before , ate has handed us a cruel end to the Joe Walsh situation at least for now, we don’t know how long he will be out for at this point and whether when he is back he will take the number one spot back, we obviously all wish him a speedy recovery, but for now at least despite his faults Nardi is our number one again and hopefully that puts to bed some of the discussion and debate surrounding this.

Anyway, scare successfully navigated and a first away win of the season in the bag, this was by a mile Rangers best performance of the season so far. After the full-time whistle Amadou Mbengue led the full-time celebrations windmilling over to the away end and theatrically leading a crowd hanging on his every move into a multiple-cheers, before a botched attempt to again pick up and carry Koki Saito off ended with the two having a playful wrestle on the ground. After everyone had gone down the tunnel Mbengue stuck around with a selfie stick he had picked up from God knows where and led a rendition of Pigbag like some sort of crazed conductor. I love this bloke already. The perfect amount of mental for QPR.

Defensively he was absolutely sound all afternoon and he can play a bit too, his carries out of defence and sweeping passes are a work of art. I can see Mbengue’s Diags™ becoming an integral part of our build up play through the rest of the year.

The goal aside I thought all of the back four stood up and did really well against the onslaught of crosses they were facing. After his interview with Clive during the week Julien Stephan told him that he had a little plan for Kieffer Moore and to be honest again apart from the corner they didn’t give him much of an inch at all - of course it may just be that the best plan against Moore today was to just outscore him.

Despite the neat interplay between the front four, Rangers again were a bit more direct. The switch of style has done wonders for this team so far post-Cov debacle. Is it even possible that it was a blessing in disguise that we had to go through that for this change to be made? I probably need a bit more time to pass before I come to terms with that but I’m not sure the style change would’ve been this extreme if we had only got done by three or four in that match.

This of course is a whole lot easier when you have someone as good as Kone up front to make the ball stick. Kevin Gallen has repeatedly said this has been a problem for years for QPR and even without the goals he’s scoring this part of his game has made such a difference to us. I’d be very surprised if we can keep him for more than a year or two but if this continues how it’s going that departure could even end up banking us more than we got for Eze.

The attack in general was superb, Burrell was just everywhere, Vale absolutely outstanding both with their best games in a Rangers shirt to date. Koki as we’ve come to expect buzzing around creating havoc. Chair and Poku, due to return next week for Stoke, still to fit into this attack? Imagine after Cov saying they might not be able to walk straight back into this team, you would’ve been put in a straight jacket and carted off - but it’s true.

It’ll be interesting to see if this two-striker set up is us now or if this was horses for courses. The modern game is increasingly moving towards pace and power and these two give us this in bundles. But was this just set up to counter Wrexham or a permanent change? Maybe this is what we will look like in away games going forward and at home it’ll return to the land of the little people.

That of course is a question for next week, for now a very enjoyable weekend at Disneyland. Ryan Reynolds was there on Saturday, and I hope he was thoroughly miserable through it all. For me a curse finally lifted. After two LFW reports with 10 goals conceded and one scored I finally get to write about a Rangers win. Angel of Doom no more, at least for now.

Links >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread

Wrexham:Okonkwo 5, Cleworth 5, Coady 3 (Broadhead 82, 5), Doyle 5, Longman 6, Dobson 6, James 5 (Sheaf 61, 5), O’Brien 6, McClean 5 (Barnett 61, 6), Moore 6, Hardie 5 (Smith 61, 5)

Subs Not Used: Ashfield, Brunt, Burton, Hyam, Kabore

Goals: Moore 67 (assisted O’Brien)

Yellow Cards: Dobson 82 (foul)

QPR: Nardi 6, Dunne 7, Morrison 7, Mbengue 8, Norrington- Davis 7 (Esquerdinha 72, 6), Varane 6, Madsen 6 (Field 84, -), Vale 8 (Hayden 84,-), Saito 7 (Dembele 72, 6), Kone 8, Burrell 8 (Frey 77, 6)

Subs Not Used: Cook, Kolli, Morgan, Salamon

Goals: Coady og 33, Kone 44 (assisted Madsen), Burrell 75 (assisted Dunne)

QPR Star Man - Romarn Burrell 8 To be honest I feel a bit harsh not giving this to Harvey Vale who was outstanding and it was his little flick that created the goal for Kone. However, Burrell was everywhere, not only his pace and directness but his overall hold up play was a huge part of what made QPR’s attack so good. Getting the goal also just pushes him over for me, a lovely finish and hopefully the first of many, few deserve it more.

Referee- Ben Speedie (Merseyside) 7 Absolutely fine, the only big decision I can remember him having to make was the Dunne offside and I thought he was correct to rule that out. Other than that, didn’t notice him all that much which is a good sign for a referee.

Attendance: 10,608 (1293 QPR) A lot happier crowd than in recent away games but that was to be expected after the Charlton win. Nice to finally get to go and experience somewhere new for a change, there’s only so many times you can go to Blackburn and fight through the local mum’s weekly shop in the big ASDA trying to get beers for the train back after the latest 2-0 loss.

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Pictures - Ian Randall Photography

sdm1508 added 23:34 - Sep 14 Great report thanks. Wrexham are a bit like us under Fernandes. Throwing money at it without many people who know about football. Afterall they have Shaun Harvey there. That says it all. Parkinson was always going to be able to do something in the lower leagues when they were signing players from two leagues higher up. Now this is where Parkinson will get found out
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tsbains64 added 07:52 - Sep 15 Great to see the momentum continuing and wat a refreshing review 1
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gazza1 added 08:23 - Sep 15 I am not knocking any of the players for a very decent team performance but you do not win the first half very comfortably and the game overall with your two centre mid players being only average and overall the worst Rangers players on the pitch.......the same marks as Dembele (who should have scored - 100%) and Esquerdinha just doing a belated job for 18 minutes. Both CM players deserve better marks, especially Madsen who played an excellent ball for the 2nd goal and overall was pretty 'tidy' going forward and defensively.....but 'hey-ho', I 'get it' (another one!!!!).

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