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I never did like Subbuteo
Trying to get into the ground in the first place was no easy task as stewards and police somehow managed to create incredibly long queues with many Burnley fans not even making kick off.
I managed to get into my seat with about ten seconds to spare, quickly checking that I had an appalling view on a ground that really does look very much like the Subbuteo stadium I had at home many years ago.
Brighton apart, we will not go anywhere all season as bad as this, a ground where finding as seat with anything like a decent view must be a difficult task.
With five minutes on the clock I was getting worried, but not because the home side had already had a couple of attacks. My worries were with the man in black, Nigel Miller, who had already made his mark with two dubious decisions going the way of the home side.
My worries were soon to be confirmed as he helped turn the game on its head with a series of decisions that all, yes every single one of them, went the way of QPR.
It is difficult to judge what is going on at the far end and therefore difficult to say whether we should have had an early penalty but he waved play on. He had no intentions of waving play on when the crowd, not the players but the crowd, went up for a spot kick at the other end.
Without even looking in the direction of the so called offence he pointed to the spot quicker than Mike Riley at Old Trafford. The penalty was duly put away and we were a goal down.
Miller must have enjoyed that and shortly afterwards he awarded a free kick against Tony Grant for hand ball. He looked totally disinterested as they elected to take the kick some distance from the offence despite it being pointed out to him.
The better angle, the nearer position, allowed Lee Cook to curl one in for Georges Santos to head home and with no more than a quarter of an hour gone we were two down and facing a long tough afternoon.
Within a minute we came close to pulling a goal back as Robbie Blake was brought down in the area (those at the other end of the ground confirmed this).
Miller pointed to the spot for a Burnley penalty but then incredibly changed his mind and waved play on.
Miller pointed to the spot for a Burnley penalty but then incredibly changed his mind and waved play on.
Robbie asked why and was promptly shown the yellow card, the second booking of the afternoon. John McGreal had been booked earlier after a foul although it looked as though Paul Furlong should have been the name going in the book.
Could it get worse? Oh yes it could and almost immediately we had to make a substitution with Graham Branch having to come off. He had apparently picked up the injury in the warm up and was replaced by new loan signing James O’Connor who came on for his Clarets’ debut.
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But Coyne didn’t get up and some three minutes later he was taken from the field on a stretcher with what looked like a knee injury. Brian Jensen came on for his first league action since the end of last season.
That was virtually it and to be honest there wasn’t much happened after that with neither keeper really threatened in the remaining 65 minutes or so. We had a lot of the play, particularly in the second half, but we never really threatened to get back into the game.
Miller continued to upset the Burnley fans, and having allowed QPR to take a free kick at least fifteen yards from where the offence took place he then went down the other end and gave us a free kick. As Robbie was about to take it he stepped in and moved it a full two feet back to where it should be.
Needless to say we got another injury with Jean-Louis Valois limping off in the second half. He had been as good as any Burnley player on the pitch and was replaced by Richard Chaplow who wasn’t fit himself.
We did have a couple of good attacks in the second half but one was halted by an outrageous offside decision whilst the second was stopped just as Micah Hyde was about to cross to allow the referee to take the ball back for a Burnley free kick, some advantage.
We got two more bookings as well, for Michael Duff and Frank Sinclair, Duff’s will now see him miss next Saturday’s game against Ipswich as he serves a one match ban.
At least it didn’t get any worse than three – I had visions for a time of repeating the 7-0 scoreline from 25 years ago this week. It is worth noting that we have now conceded seven goals away from home this season and five of them have been conceded with Miller as referee.
There is no doubt that if I was to be complimentary towards him I would describe him as totally incompetent, although I am somewhat dubious about this as an incompetent referee might be expected to give bad decisions in favour of both sides.
But we must not allow him to cloud the performance which was just not good enough on the day. We allowed QPR to take the initiative from kick off and left ourselves with a mountain to climb, on Halloween weekend we didn’t even look capable of climbing Pendle, never mind a mountain.
The squad looks depleted – what chance any of Branch, Chaplow, Coyne and Valois being fit for Leeds on Wednesday just when we need a performance and result like the one we got in the cup last Tuesday.
It’s not the time to panic but the last two league performances have just not been good enough – we have to get back on track.
The teams were:
QPR: Chris Day, Marcus Bignot, Frankie Simek, Georges Santos, Matthew Rose (Gino Padula 84), Marc Bircham, Serge Branco (Kevin McLeod 68), Martin Rowlands (Marcus Bean 43), Lee Cook, Kevin Gallen, Paul Furlong. Subs not used: Richard Edghill, Tony Thorpe.
Burnley: Danny Coyne (Brian Jensen 27), Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Lee Roche, Micah Hyde, Tony Grant, Graham Branch (James O’Connor 19), Jean-Louis Valois (Richard Chaplow 69), Robbie Blake. Subs not used: Richard Duffy, Amadou Sanokho.
Referee: Nigel Miller (Co Durham) – this is just his fourth game at this level and we have suffered two of them. Serious questions need to be asked as to how he has ever been allowed to referee at this level in the first place.
Attendance: 15,638.