We looked like we left our whirlwind back in Burnley

Last updated : 31 October 2004 By Tony Scholes

QPR boss Ian Holloway had some sympathy for the Clarets after a series of bizarre refereeing decisions all went the way of the home side in the early stages, the period when the result was decided.

“If I was Steve I would feel a bit aggrieved about the referee,” said Holloway after the game. “It looked like a penalty for Burnley ten minutes before we were awarded one.

“Gary Penrice was the only one on our bench who called the penalty for the push on Georges Santos and it is nice to have the luck go our way after three penalty decisions against us in the last two games.

“I wouldn’t be very happy if I was Steve Cotterill, because they have come with their game plan and then gone 1-0 down to the penalty before they have got into their stride.

“They only needed to get a goal then and the whole game could have turned, but we got in first with that penalty.

“I felt Burnley didn’t give as good a performance as they did against Aston Villa mid-week while we looked as though we could have scored a lot more.

“Scoring three goals in the first 25 minutes was strange and I have to admit it was a bit surreal after that.”

Steve Cotterill was not a happy man after the game, admitting that he hadn’t even spoken to the players after what he described as the worst his team had played.

“For the first 25 minutes of the game we were as bad as we have been all season,” he admitted. “The game was over after that, but I thought we could have had two penalties before theirs.

“I’ve got a hearing coming up soon (following his altercation with the fourth official during the home game against Gillingham) so I don’t want to say anything about the referee.

“We were poor though and we have to look at our input, w just weren’t good enough in the first 25 minutes.

“Well done to QPR though, they were like a whirlwind in the first 20 minutes and we looked like we left our whirlwind back in Burnley the other night. Where did the saying, ‘After the Lord Mayor’s Show’ come from? It was a bad day for us.”

He spoke about the injury situation adding, “We don’t know how Danny is yet, he’s still on the bed in the dressing room. We lost Graham Branch and Jean-Louis Valois who was arguably our best player.


“We didn’t want to use Richard Chaplow today, but we had to, to play on the left, because the other two subs are predominantly right footed.”

And what would he say to the players? “I haven’t spoken to the players and they will be getting the silent treatment on the way home. They’ll be down about the result and thinking about their own performances so they wouldn’t learn anything now.”