The Tanner Report: QPR 0 Fulham 2 (FA CUP 3rd ROUND)

Can it be 49 years ago virtually to the day that I went to Loftus Road to see Fulham draw a 3rd round tie and then win the replay 2-0 as my memory of the match is so clear?

In those days you had nothing like the pre-match information the internet provides today.

You were reliant on the paper press for information.

The Evening Standard reported on Friday evening that Jimmy Conway a lively, pacey goal-scoring right winger who tormented many a full back would be tried in midfield.

And it was Jimmy who scored first with a dipping shot. Standing on the open South Africa Road terrace I could follow the whole trajectory of the shot over Rangers keeper Phil Parkes.

In 49 years many things have changed in football but then and now Chelsea were the number one West London team.

Fulham are now second and Brentford third.

The rivalry between Fulham and QPR is odd inasmuch that the two clubs were/are rarely on equal terms.

When I first started to support Fulham in the mid-sixties, QPR ascended two divisions and won the League Cup whilst Fulham dropped two divisions.

A common link was Alec Stock who masterminded the Rangers revival and then took Fulham to Wembley for the 1975 Cup Final.

Scott Parker was not born then, but I see in the present manager Alec Stock’s superb handling of players.

For this game he selected some of the heroes of the promotion side: Tim Ream, Joe Bryan and Josh Onomah with Neeskens Kebano on the bench and  there was also a run-out for Terence Kangolo, a defender bought from Huddersfield Town who who was badly injured virtually the moment he signed.

It was in extra time that Bobby DeCordova-Reid opened his account with a long shot and Kebano added a second to ensure Fulham were in Monday’s draw.