Rangers dumped out by Dale
QPR 0 Rochdale 2
QPR yet again made an early exit from the League Cup, this time at the hands of Rochdale, who are in the third round for the first time since 1962.
Rangers have now failed to reach that stage of the competition in six of the last eight seasons, and the writing was on the wall once John-Louis Akpa Akpro put the League One side ahead after only four minutes.
Gary Jones’ late strike sealed a great win for Dale, who defended resolutely and were always dangerous on the counter attack.
Neil Warnock is no fan of the tournament and the R’s boss will not have to worry about it for another year after his team fell meekly at the first hurdle for the second successive season.
He made a number of changes and they included a full debut for teenage winger Bruno Andrade as well as starting places for outcasts Martin Rowlands and Lee Cook.
There were also QPR debuts for summer signings Bruno Perone and Brian Murphy.
And goalkeeper Murphy quickly found himself picking the ball out of the net.
The Irishman produced a fine save to deny Ashley Grimes but the loose ball ran straight to Akpa Akpro, who had the simple task of scoring from close range.
Rangers received another setback when Bradley Orr limped off on the half-hour mark, paving the way for right-back Michael Harriman to come on for his first senior appearance.
Dan Shittu had a header cleared off the line, while Andrade and Matt Connolly had efforts saved by Dale keeper David Lucas as Warnock’s men tried in vain to find an equaliser before half-time.
Jay Bothroyd did find the net with a header seven minutes after the restart, but an offside flag denied him his first QPR goal.
With Rangers having plenty of possession but failing to seriously trouble the Rochdale defence, Warnock sent on Troy Hewitt for his debut – six months after the striker’s move from Harrow Borough.
Hewitt and Shaun Derry replaced Cook and Rowlands, but any prospect of a fightback was crushed by Jones’ excellent finish nine minutes from time.
Jones latched onto Nicky Adams’ pass and superbly chipped Murphy from the edge of the penalty area.
Akpa Akpro should then have made it three, but spared Rangers even more embarrassment when he dragged his shot wide of the target.
23/08/2011 @ 10:52 pm
Cook especially looked off the pace but that’s to be expected after so little game time. He’ll do well somewhere else i’m sure and so will Rowly, both have been great servants.
23/08/2011 @ 10:02 pm
It was kind of sad to see Rowly and Cook bow out with such a whimper. Both looked a shadow of their former selves. Regardless, the pair are Rangers legends whose telling contributions to the resusitation of QPR won’t be forgotten by fans.
23/08/2011 @ 10:01 pm
If teams cant take tournament seriously why bother, its a FARCE
23/08/2011 @ 9:56 pm
Typical. We bother entering this tournamant?! Same as Port Vale last year and all the other shockers. Now bring on Wigan and let’s get back to proper football!
23/08/2011 @ 9:56 pm
Why do rangers even charge an adimission fee for cup games? Mr Fernandes.
23/08/2011 @ 9:51 pm
What a surprise. Not.