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Championship next season
Apart from the goalkeeping change it was same line up as Saturday with Frank Sinclair still unavailable, it was also the same five subs occupying the touchline seats.
We made a lively start to the game and looked as though we were intent on winning it in the opening exchanges. Ade Akinbiyi produced one piece of magic to turn a defender in the box but delayed his shot whilst Micah Hyde hit a shot from long range that was well saved by Rangers keeper Chris Day.
It all fizzled out far too soon and at the other end QPR were adopting a policy of shooting from distance, presumably because they didn’t think they were good enough to get past our defence. They did come close but none of their shots actually found the target and Brian Jensen’s main occupation was watching them go high or wide.
Much of the first half after that left us with little to enthuse about and at times it was just a matter of trying to work out which of the two sides was giving the ball away the most or how many times the nit picking referee Clive Oliver would unnecessarily intervene.
It certainly wasn’t a classic forty-five minutes but just as we looked to be heading for the interval with the score at 0-0 we produced some good football and got ourselves in front.
In so many ways it was a carbon copy of the goal we scored on Saturday but on this occasion Gary Cahill found himself on the right hand side of the pitch. Gary is now blossoming to such an extent that he has recently added some attacking play to his game.
From a deep position out on the right he hit a ball over to the left which was met by Graham Branch just inside the penalty box. Branchy won a superb header and it left Akinbiyi with a simple header just as it did against Brighton.
It was just the lift we needed and left us hoping that the second half wouldn’t be like those we had endured in the previous two games.
There were worrying signs from the start as QPR pushed forward and we were so thankful to Jensen who made a superb stop to keep out a free kick from Jamie Cureton. It might have looked straight forward but he could only have seen it late as it came through hard and low and he got down to not only keep it out but hold on to it.
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From around twenty yards out on the left hand side he looked to have scored but the ball just deviated enough to take it onto the post and QPR were able to clear.
Branchy twice got clear, the first time his shot was deflected over as astonishingly the officials agreed on a goal kick and then he was stopped in his tracks by Pat Kanyuka, it was good to see that at least one of his fouls was finally spotted by the officials.
By now QPR were hardly in the game and were certainly not causing us any problems but that almost changed when Cureton got into our box and with Gary Cahill doing his best to bring him down it was enough to allow Jensen to get out and smother the ball.
We hardly had time to worry about it though as we swept to the other end and doubled the lead with what could be a goal of the season contender.
James O’Connor played a superb ball inside the full back for Mo Camara but Mo still had plenty to do as he was faced by two QPR players. His pace took him past both of them and he crossed low and around six yards out for Ade to get his second of the game as he powered it home off what looked like his shin.
It was Ade's second double on the Turf this season but this time it had won us three points. That was game over and suddenly we were attacking QPR down the flanks and looking more dangerous than we’ve done for weeks and Ade came so close to getting a hat trick.
But there was time left only for us to make three substations and that allowed our new goal scoring hero to receive his own standing ovation as did Branchy when he was quite rightly named as man of the match.
It was Ade's second double on the Turf this season but this time it had won us three points. That was game over and suddenly we were attacking QPR down the flanks and looking more dangerous than we’ve done for weeks and Ade came so close to getting a hat trick.
But there was time left only for us to make three substations and that allowed our new goal scoring hero to receive his own standing ovation as did Branchy when he was quite rightly named as man of the match.
He gets my vote again and that’s three matches in succession – supporting him rather than abusing him might not guarantee that he will play well but it doesn’t half give him a much better chance of turning in a good performance.
Before the start of the season I was with members of the local media and some representatives of the club, we all thought that it was going to be a very difficult season and that it would be a real fight right to the end if we wanted to avoid relegation. We have all been well and truly proved wrong – and we are all very happy to have been proved wrong.
Hopefully we can now end the season with three good performances and leave us anxiously waiting for more come August when Burnley will be playing football at this level for a sixth successive season.
The teams were,
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Gary Cahill, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Dean Bowditch (Lee Roche 89), Micah Hyde, Tony Grant (John Oster 90), James O’Connor, Graham Branch, Ade Akinbiyi (Jean-Louis Valois 90). Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Joel Pilkington.
QPR: Chris Day, Marcus Bignot, Pat Kanyuka, Dan Shittu, Gino Padula, Richard Edghill, Marc Bircham (Scott Mulholland 69), Shabazz Baidoo (Lewis Hamilton 30, Luke Townsend 45), Lee Cook, Jamie Cureton, Kevin Gallen. Subs not used: Jake Cole, Ryan Johnson.
Referee: Clive Oliver (Northumberland).
Attendance: 10,396.