[themaclad]

Queens Park Rangers
Deepdale
18/4/2025 15.00hrs

The penultimate game at the citadel of quality football

https://www.qpr.co.uk/

MANAGER



THEY DREW LAST TIME OUT



PNE 5 QPR 8

[themaclad]

The Fitness Test
Paul Heckingbottom will provide a team news update in his pre-match press conference.

The Hoops

Queens Park Rangers spent a lot of the early part of the season lingering in and around the relegation spots, however they’ve pushed themselves away from the bottom three in recent months.

The gap now stands at eight points and, like PNE, they’ll now be looking to close out the season in a positive fashion.

They arrive at Deepdale three matches without defeat, with a 3-1 victory over Oxford United within that run, and they’ll also have a part to play in the promotion picture as they’re set to take on Burnley and Sunderland in the final two games of the campaign.

The Officials

Referee: Jeremy Simpson
Assistant Referees: Sam Lewis and Hristo Karaivanov
Fourth Official: Ross Joyce

Jeremy Simpson will take charge of his first North End match since October 2023 on Friday.

That was a 2-2 draw at Deepdale against Southampton, and Simpson has twice officiated clashes between PNE and QPR, including the 1-0 home victory in December 2017.

So far this season, Simpson has shown 53 yellow cards and two reds in 13 matches.

Jeremy comes from Carnforth 20 miles north of Preston



T'other Champo Stuff





Still need a point or two to ensure safety although looking at the teams below us, they all play each other, you can almost smell the sun tan lotion.
Suspect this will be a draw

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Marti speaks

QPR head to Preston for our Good Friday fixture with a clear message from Martí Cifuentes – there is still work to be done.
Rangers are eight points clear of the bottom three with four games remaining, but the head coach said: “We're in a good position but mathematically it's not done. So I always say that until the job is done, we need to keep pushing, no matter what."




“I'm very aware of what the situation is but the most important thing for me is to finish in a good way.

“We are coming from a strong week with three strong results, especially the last two, and the target is to try to finish with as many points as we can.

“So we reached this first step that I've been talking about for months - 50 points usually mean safety. The reality is that it's not 100% done. It’s looking good but we want more.”

Last week, the R’s picked up five crucial points with draws against Cardiff City (0-0) and Bristol City (1-1) sandwiching a 3-1 win at Oxford United. It was a set of results which brought praise from Cifuentes for the way his players handled the mental challenge.

“I think the guys did really well because in the first game against Cardiff we knew about the difference in the table, the points between both teams, and the guys responded really well,” he said.

“Perhaps it was not the best performance of the season, far from it, but at the same time I don't think it was a brilliant football game for either of the teams because it takes a toll on the performance as well - the emotions, the nerves, the pressure of these kinds of games.

“I think the team responded at a really high level against Oxford, playing away against a team that definitely needed the points as well. The way we started the game, the way we performed - and not only the first half, but until we conceded the goal in a very unfortunate situation.

“And then it's true that those minutes after they scored the goal were a bit more nervy but then it was very important, the response, the third goal, the way we competed until the last second of the game was brilliant."

Shutterstock
“I think that all these emotions were important to keep building, and the way we started the game against Bristol City was brilliant.”

The Lilywhites currently sit one place and one point below the R’s in the Championship but they pose a threat at Deepdale which Cifuentes is aware of.

They have lost only two league games at home all season – the last being in November – and Cifuentes said: “I think that everybody who knows the Championship knows about Preston, knows about Preston at home, and they are this physical team that is very good on set pieces, that will be direct, that will play in a style of football that if you are not very focused, very concentrated, it's easy for them to punish the opposition and to create chances and to score.

“The reality is that it's always a difficult game to play there, and we need to be prepared for the kind of game that will be quite different than what we play, for instance, against Bristol City.”

Cifuentes confirmed Ilias Chair is closing in on a return to action while a late decision will be made on Kenneth Paal

“We have good news on Ilias,” he said.

“This week he has been training with the group at a high level, showing big energy, and he's getting closer and closer.

“We're going to do some tests with Ken Paal and take a decision together with him because we know that it's not only about the game against Preston, but as well three days after we play against Swansea.”

[themaclad]

Preston North End 1 Lindsay Queens Park Rangers 2 Frey, Andersen

Attendance: 14,922 (1,039 QPR fans).

Referee: Mr J Simpson.

Hard to know where to start with this, there are several words I could use to describe the second the half performance which has to go down as the worst I have ever seen in the 56 years of penal servitude watching them.
We led at half time probably slightly fortunate, mainly due to Rangers young loanee from Spurs Min-Hyeok inability to hit the target, they also lost their other Far Eastern playerSaito which looked like he had dislocated his shoulder, the time added on for his injury proved to be a God send we scored.
Brady cross poor defending Lindsay back post, header 1 up.
Next attack we got a corner, dfender headed against is his own post and that was as good as it got, Franz KKlammer time, downhill rapidly.
Should have been worried when the team wandered onto the pitch wearing Rangers shirt, might as well as we spent all 45 minutes passing to them.
One effort of note, Mads mazy run set up Greenwood shot well blocked by the defender, with ten minutes liike an unlikely win looked on the cards but then we failed to defend a cross, Frey beat Cornell maybe should have done better, but the winner in the 94th minute although a great strike by Andersen was from a pinpoint pass from Mads.
Dreadful

The manager was non to impressed either

HECK

Following the late defeat to Queens Park Rangers, Paul Heckingbottom reinforced that he’s ready to make changes at Preston North End.

PNE had taken the lead at Deepdale courtesy of Liam Lindsay’s first of the season, but goals in the 80th and 94th minute for the visitors saw the Lilywhites fall to a first home defeat since November 2024.

There's been a lot of talk heading into the final few matches about not allowing a repeat of endings to previous campaigns, and after the loss against QPR, the manager now feels even more so that change is needed.

Hecky said: “Today was a real fight at times and knowhow, and as good as we looked in the first half, they looked hungrier in the second half. We can't have that, no matter what stage of the season it is.

“I'm probably not the first manager here to be saying that at this stage of the season. My job and Peter’s (Ridsdale) job is to make sure that we're the last, otherwise we're part of the problem, so 100% it’s got to change.

“If it's not in you and it's not innate to have these qualities, then it's forever a challenge to drive it out of someone. Does that make sense? When things are easy, you can show them. When things are tough, you tend to fall back and then show what you really are. That's the challenge to the players.

“We've got to change it because we can't have that, otherwise it's always going to be the same story at Preston come the end of the season. That’s the big task in the summer.”

The Lilywhites went into the half-time break a goal to the good thanks to Lindsay’s header on the end of a pinpoint Robbie Brady cross.


North End couldn’t build on their advantage, though, and the manager felt his team lost the good bits of their performance in the second half.

Hecky said: “I felt we could still improve, definitely, but then straight away at the start of the second half, the players are playing out of position and then giving the ball away.

“If you're in that position, you can still see the game out and defend really strongly. It's a bit of everything. It was just really, really poor.

“I could see individuals and see the players in those moments – we're not strong enough to see the game out. The goals were really poor from our part.”

MARTI

MARTÍ Cifuentes was a proud man in Preston after QPR beat the Lilywhites 2-1 with late goals from Michael Frey and Lucas Andersen turning the game on its head.
Liam Lindsay gave the hosts the lead just before the break but Frey levelled matters with ten minutes remaining before an Andersen thunderbolt sealed maximum points in injury time.

The win also confirmed QPR’s Championship status with three matches remaining.


“I'm really happy for the team and for the guys because it's not easy to win here,” Cifuentes said.

“Preston have only lost two games at home in the whole season and they are not an easy team to play against.

“We spoke during the week that it could be an uncomfortable game to play because of the way they play, a very physical team, they defend very aggressively, man-to-man almost all over the pitch.

“I think the first 35, 40 minutes we did pretty well. Unfortunately, we couldn't take, in my opinion, what would have been a deserved lead because we were creating some chances.

“Unfortunately, the only mistake we made perhaps in the whole game, they scored from a throw-in.”

Andersen and Frey came off the bench to grab the crucial goals, and Cifuentes said: “I'm very happy for all the guys.

“We have been talking during the whole season that everybody will be important. One of my main targets as a manager is always to keep the whole squad involved. I think the subs, the way we're rotating in the last games is showing that everybody wants to help the team and is ready to contribute.”

marti_1920.jpg
Koki Saito was forced from the action during the first half after falling awkwardly, and the head coach admitted: “That's the only bad news from today's game.

“He hurt his shoulder. He was in a lot of pain, so they took him to the hospital and now they are doing some tests.”

With three games remaining, Cifuentes is determined to see a strong finish to the season.

“We need to keep on going because whatever we achieve today will not help us to win against Swansea, “ he said.

“We are safe and we have achieved the first target as a club. The next target, as I've been saying this season, is to make sure that we at least achieve the 56 points that we achieved last season. So we've got three games to try to get there.

“I’m a competitive person. The guys are competitive. We will not just relax and now in the next games accept average performances.

“We want to keep pushing and finish the season in a good way.”

[themaclad]

[themaclad]

The list of officials balls ups is now 20 miles long, no vendetta against us, yea right