Harry’s Game

Andy Munro watches Blues at home to an out of form QPR. The outcome is inevitable…

QPR were on a bad run due to end, with Blues not being able to buy a win at home so I suppose the result was never in doubt. Mind you hope springs eternal and all the guys around me on the Tilton felt that this could be the chance to end the hoodoo. We should have known better…

Zigic was dire, even by his standards, at Ipswich so Lee Clark decided ‘sensibly’ to keep him in the team as a lone forward. An ideal position for somebody who has the pace of a tortoise, the heading ability of a girl (sorry Germaine Greer) and the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Furthermore our Geordie tinkerman decided that he would play three at the back with wide players abounding. Ferguson, young Ibe,C addis and Burke.

Unfortunately this meant that every time the ball was crossed there was only Ziggy in the box . Indeed , one of the most entertaining moments of the match was a heated debate around me  on whether a lamppost was preferable to Ziggy. Both have similar movement but at least with the former you always know where it is, it stands tall and occasionally a light is switched on to benefit all around it. Obviously no contest.

It got to the stage when the crowd were pleading for Novak to come on and, on that, I rest my case. It didn’t help that the overlapping Caddis seems to have lost his confidence, as has Shane Ferguson, and neither could beat an egg at present never mind a full back. To add to the scenario, the back three were regularly exposed by the wing backs being caught out of position and if Robbo hadn’t creamed a couple of QPR forwards, we could have been in even more trouble. In fairness, Packwood had another decent game as did Spector but this didn’t paper over shortcomings elsewhere.

Huws put in another good performance but his minder Adeymi is still a shadow of his pre-injury self. Even the subs failed to make an impression. Novak worked hard without showing any real inspiration and Macheda was Mr. Ordinary. Tyler Blackett came on and strolled around as if he hadn’t got a care in the world and made one wonder whether, Emrys Huws apart, we wouldn’t have been better sticking with the Blues’ kids.

In the meantime, Ravel Morrison was the difference as he came back to haunt us with a virtuoso performance and two goals to flatter a very ordinary QPR side. When he played for the Blues, of course, he was the epitome of inconsistency but typically he took us apart on his return.
A relegation fight looms ever closer.