Kuryu Matsuki celebrates with Azaz, Bree and Downes, after scoring his second goal of the night
James Bree rounded off the night, scoring the fifth goal with a spectacular strike
|Our underperformance this season is demonstrated by our current, second unbeaten run, only seeing us level with tonight’s visitors in midtable on 47 points. We won at QPR during Tonda’s first good run in November, but while we were failing to beat an obdurate Charlton on Saturday, they were winning at Hull, who’ve doubled us.
Rangers usually line up 4-4-2, so THB and Cap’n Jack could both be picking up a striker tonight. They are missing a few starters, but they clearly carry a threat. They will probably take us on rather than sit back like Nathan’s boys did, so an open game should suit us better.
With a 3-game week, Tonda may swap Larin in for Ross and Matsuki for Azaz, but no further changes look likely.
Our Ref is Oliver Langford, an experienced EFL official with over 500 games on his CV. Oli has made some notable mistakes too, like allowing a goal for Norwich after the ball had gone out of play. Fingers crossed.
|Whilst QPR went with the same XI that started at Hull, Tonda made 3 changes: out went Shea, Tom and LND and up stepped Jander, Matsuki and CLarin.
QPR wore a vile changed strip of pink and black, which clashed with our home kit. Why not wear the hoops FFS? They won the toss and forced us to kick towards the Northam.
The game was underway before I recognised Ronnie Edwards playing alongside their skipper, Dunne, at the back. Unsurprisingly, he was one of their better players.
The first corner was conceded by Norrington, and as THB and Ronnie tussled to get at Rhino’s cross, they both ended up in a heap. The Ref saw nothing amiss, so the game carried on. Saints were moving the ball nicely and, on 10m, Leo played the ball in to Manning. His forward pass to Azaz took a couple of defenders out, and Azaz sidestepped another before curling a right-footed shot in at the far stick. 1-0 Saints!
After the frustration of Charlton on Saturday, it was a relief to take an early lead. However, Rangers immediately began to carry a greater threat, and Jander was booked for hauling back Mbengue as the full back went by him. Vale hit the wall with his free kick but, as Saints flooded forward, Vale raced back and made a crucial interception to stop Azaz getting another strike on goal.
Dunne then had a shot blocked before the visitors won their first corner on 20m. They had a decent spell keeping us pinned back without really bothering Dan P. Then, as Madsen tried to close down Matsuki, the Dane pulled up, clutching his hamstring.
The resulting break allowed Saints to catch their breath. Madsen limped off to be replaced by Morgan. Vale had a shot from distance, which flew wide, but Saints then took back control for the rest of the half.
On 38m, Saito’s foul on Bree gave Rhino the chance to put the ball in the box. THB headed it against the foot of the post, and Cap’n Jack was unable to react quickly enough to put in the rebound. Jander forced Walsh to save his shot and Matsuki sent his wide as 3m of added time began. .
Leo then drove into the box, forcing Dunne to concede a corner. The Brazilian took it. With defenders watching our big men, Matsuki was able to rise in front of Walsh and head it home. 2-0 at halftime.
Watching Saints is always improved by G&T, so I poured a large one with Fever Tree’s excellent Summer Garden tonic. Bad move. I put in so much gin it needed the whole bottle of tonic, and YT was off for a piss at least 4 times during the 2nd half.
Kolli never reappeared after the break with Bennie (who got their 3rd v Hull) coming on in his place. Play was interrupted by a string of niggly fouls before Rhino sent Leo in on goal.
The angle was tight, but the shot was firm, and Walsh could only palm it away. Matsuki had only scored in the cups until now, but he controlled the ball and stuck it past the keeper for his 2nd in the league. 3-0.
This seemed to have broken Ranger’s spirit, as there followed a period where we kept on the front foot and forced a series of corners. Then on 57m, Rangers got forward, and Vale forced Dan P to make a save.
They continued to attack, so they were out of position when Azaz collected a ball played up to him from our defence. He picked out Scienza breaking from our half, and no one was catching him. He slowed slightly in front of the goal but gave Walsh no chance with his finish. 4-0 and still half an hour to go.
Julien Stephan had been waiting to make changes, so he was able to take off Vale and Norrington and send on youngsters Adamson and Esquerdinha. Then, on 67m, he sent on Varane in place of Kone, who had kept fouling our defenders. Tonda made his first changes, sending on LND and Archer for Clarin and Aziz, who had both looked decent.
Pretty much our next attack saw the ball break towards Bree on the edge of their box. It looked like he’d curled the ball expertly in at the back post, but replays showed a helpful deflection off one of theirs helped it on its way. Whatever, it was now 5-0, and every completed pass was greeted with Olés from our fans.
Scienza and Matsuki were next to come off, Edozie and Fellows getting their chance to torment the Rs. QPR had other ideas and decided to attack us. Bennie had a shot blocked, and Bree was obliged to upend Saito to prevent his progress. Manning conceded a corner, which Peretz punched away.
During this period, a Saints break ended with Ross flagged offside and then Downes taking the ball, player and much else with a trademark tackle. Soon after, having gone 82m without a booking, he was replaced by Shea Charles.
Saints dominated the remaining period with Edozie and Jander (twice) being halted by fouls. We finally created a chance in the 90th minute, but Archer’s shot was straight at Walsh. We stayed on the front foot during added time, but neither THB nor Shea could keep their shots on target.
Full time and a nice 5-0 for fans who’d seen no more than 1 a home game for 2 months. We moved up to 7th!
|This was a good team performance, with every player contributing. The back 7 all did their jobs, and ahead of them, Azaz and Leo seemed to have their mojo back. Although neither Clarin nor Ross had a decent chance all evening, their hold-up play and the space they made for others were key to this big win.
My MoM, however, goes to Kuryu Matsuki who repaid Tonda’s faith in starting him with a solid performance and an EFL brace. Nice work, Sir!
Matsuki scores his first league goal for Saints and the second goal of the night
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