The Tanner Report: QPR 1 Fulham 2
Fulham’s victory at Loftus Road last night was more necessary than convincing.
In the first minute we fans and Fulham were one-down after once again failing to deal with a cross and Jordan Hugill too easily out jumping Tim Read to head home for QPR.
Alex Mitrovic had been suspended retrospectively for 3 games for a red card offence at Leeds when he elbowed Leeds defender Ben White.
Where would the goals come from as Bobby de Cordova Reid looked a poor replacement as target man?
Two long shots from Harry Arter and Cyrus Christie – my man of the match – resolved this problem and Fulham won the West London bragging rights.
In fact another West London club – Brentford – is in third place and the form team.
You can only admire Brentford for the football they play, the players they buy and then have had to sell profitably and for being such progressive club.
QPR and Fulham never seem to meet on equal terms.
I remember in the late sixties Rangers were twice promoted under Alec Stock,who took Fulham to their only Cup Final in 1975, and we were relegated twice.
By the 90s Fulham could have dropped out of the league altogether and QPR and Brentford were way over the hill. Thanks to Mohammed Al Fayed we revived and within 4 years of his takeover we were back in the top tier.
The QPR derby still means lot to our fans but Brentford are performing better.
We play Birmingham at home on Saturday and then have a key away game on Tuesday against Nottingham Forest who are in the play-off positions. 4 more points and we are pretty much guaranteed a play-off.
Finally a word for Cyrus Christie.
Here is a player who earlier this season looked utterly devoid of confidence.
He is more effective in the opposition half than defining his own, a criticism that can be levelled against other Fulham full backs.
I remember the best full back we ever had – George Cohen, who did well in property – criticising the modern overlapping back:
“They give away too much real estate when defending …“
Cyrus Christie may suffer from this fault but his attacking presence was most welcome and effective last night.
