Smith deal falls through, Gorkss scores for Latvia Tuesday, 7th Sep 2010 23:12 by Clive Whittingham QPR must try to strike a loan deal for Portsmouth attacker Tommy Smith after his permanent move was rejected by the Football League. NewsOn a deadline day when Tottenham were able to complete an £8m deal for Rafael van der Vaat well after the deadline and successfully blame a computer problem you can forgive QPR, and Portsmouth for feeling aggrieved at today’s news – especially as the Daily Mail says the transfer was completed just two minutes after the 6pm deadline. There was a double blow for Pompey who have also been told their deal for Liam Lawrence from Stoke was also late, and they cannot loan the player as they already have two temporary deals set up with Stoke. Rangers remain confident that a loan deal can be done for Smith prior to this Saturday’s home game against Middlesbrough and ahead of a £1.5m transfer in the January transfer window. Pompey administrator Andrew Andronikou said: “'Unfortunately, we are not Tottenham and are not allowed to have this issue sorted the next day as they did with Rafael Van Der Vaart. This sort of thing will only happen to us. There is proper brinkmanship going on just because we are Portsmouth Football Club. The whole world knew two weeks before that we wanted this deal to happen. Unfortunately, they have been finding ways of making things difficult to actually push it through. From our end, all documentation was sent on time, well before the 6pm deadline. I was there myself to see it. “Admittedly, the deal happened a little later than we would have liked as the player was training with the Republic of Ireland squad. We haven't even had a chance to give him a medical yet. But it was sorted before 6pm, I can tell you. The authorities also reckon the Tommy Smith deal to QPR was completed at 6.02pm or something like that. This puts more work on us but we are determined to see it through, even if we have to get the player on loan instead.” Meanwhile on another night of international action Kaspars Gorkss scored a rare goal for Latvia as they won 2-0 in Malta in European Championships qualifying. Heidar Helguson played 77 minutes for Iceland in Denmark but his side succumbed to a late goal from Thomas Kahlenburg in a 1-0 defeat. Elsewhere at Rangers today the reserves lost 3-1 to Spurs in a behind closed doors match at Tottenham’s training ground. The club continued its policy of not naming trialists that featured for the second string for fear of alerting other clubs to our interest, and it was one of the temporary players that scored for the R’s while Spurs’ goals came from The big positive for Rangers was another run out, 70 minutes this time, for club captain Martin Rowlands. David Bentley and William Gallas both made their own comebacks from injury in the Tottenham line up. Reserve team boss Ronnie Jepson told the club’s official website: “It was a really good exercise for us, and the boys were excellent against very good opposition. It was a very good match played at a great tempo, and it was really useful for the likes of Antonio German and Romone Rose to play against that calibre of opponent. Rowly came through without any problems and, as a bunch, I was really pleased with them all." QPR: Cerny, Parker, Ramage, Fitzsimmons, Borrowdale, Leigertwood, Rowlands, Buzsaky, Rose, German, Trialist. Subs: Oastler, Brown, Hibbert, Doughty, Ehmer, Bulmer Finally former Spurs man Adel Taarabt has told the Fulham Chronicle that he is keen to be remembered as one of the great QPR players of all time. He said: ““I don't really know them because I have never seen them play - I grew up in France. But there are people here that tell me about Rodney Marsh and Stan Bowles. They're legends here and I also hope one day to be a legend at QPR.”
Championship Shorts- Tony McMahon and Seb Hines both continued their respective comebacks from injury as Middlesbrough reserves beat their Lincoln counterparts 3-0 at the Riverside Stadium. Boro meanwhile have invited striker Jeremie Aliadiere back to the Riverside for treatment on his ruptured knee ligaments. The former Arsenal junior was released by Gordon Strachan at the end of last season and had been on trial at West Ham when he suffered the injury that has ruled him out for the rest of the season. - There were also outings for Reading duo Chris Armstrong and Ivar Ingimarsson on their returns as Reading Reserves drew 1-1 with Brighton. Lee Hendrie played the full 90 minutes as he continues his trial with the Royals. - Leeds new boy Ross McCormack was on target for their second string in a 1-1 draw with Grimsby that also saw former Newcastle and Stoke man Amdy Faye play as part of an ongoing trial period at Elland Road. McCormack was deemed surplus to requirements at Cardiff following the arrival of Craig Bellamy. - Ipswich’s rising star Conor Wickham is being watched by England Under 21 manager Stuart Pearce despite being just 18 and only making a handful of first team appearances. Wickham has courted attention from the Premiership’s big names after impressive performances for Ipswich and England’s youth teams and the Under 21s may be his next stop. Pearce said: “Every young England player is on my radar. Whether it is Connor or anybody else, we won’t go more than two games without watching them. Connor is certainly in the category of players we are watching. I saw him myself towards the back end of last season and was impressed.” - Swansea are hoping to tie up a deal for Dutch midfielder Kemi Agustien after a successful trial in the summer. The move has been on hold while the player recovered from a knee injury but he is in South wales this week to discuss a move. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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