Week's contrasting fortunes in league and cup
Last updated 12:38, Tuesday, 02 September 2008
The visit to Loftus Road provided an interesting insight to what life would have been like for The Blues had they been in The Championship this season.
It is fairly obvious to most football followers that QPR, bankrolled by the immense wealth of Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone, are one of the better sides at that level and have heady aspirations to reach The Premiership as soon as possible.
The 4-0 scoreline may have looked like a thrashing to those who weren’t at the game, however the gulf in class was nowhere as nearly as chasmic as that. Ultimately, United were undone by the brilliance of Emmanuel Ledesma.
The Cumbrians have the ability and potential to compete in the division above, after all teams similar in size and stature such as Barnsley, Blackpool and Plymouth have managed to do so in recent seasons. And that was very evident in the first half at least. It is important not to forget too that United rested their current first choice strike partnership.
The two Dannys, Graham and Carlton, returned against Yeovil and the former followed up his brace against Crewe with a treble to gatecrash his way to the top of the League One goalscoring charts.
The race for the golden boot certainly makes interesting reading, with ex United loan signings Matt Fryatt and Jermaine Beckford also riding high.
Two big positives from the weekend were the inspired form of Cleveland Taylor who looked more like the player who terrorised us for Scunthorpe on the final day of the season before last and the debut goal in senior colours of Gary Madine, who will be absolutely delighted to get off the mark.
The table is gradually beginning to take shape now. Nigel Pearson’s Leicester and Oldham are up there with us, with Brighton heading the chasing pack. Leeds are ominously looming in the middle, MK Dons and Peterborough are taking time to adjust to a higher standard, while surprisingly Huddersfield are propping up the rest - I’m sure it won’t be long before they are on the climb.
This coming Saturday’s opponents, Southend should provide a stern test, despite their lowly position. Perhaps they are suffering from a hangover after losing out in the play-offs, but they have an excellent manager in Steve Tilson and some good players too in the likes of Simon Francis, Adam Barrett, Peter Clarke, Nicky Bailey, James Walker and Lee Barnard.
Some would argue that our last gasp defeat to them in April in which David Raven somewhat harshly received his marching orders cost United promotion. That has gone now, and hopefully any retribution will come in the form of a resounding victory for The Blues this time. It appears that The Blues have overcome the disappointment of last season - let’s hope their unbeaten run in the league is a long one.
CHRIS AYERS
- Chris Ayers’ column is in no way representative of the views of the management of the Beehive.
