From: seanb@cs.man.ac.uk (Sean Bechhofer)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer
Subject: Man City 1 QPR 1
Date: 18 Aug 92 16:09:27 GMT



	MAN CITY 1		Q.P.R. 1
	White			Sinton

City: Coton, Hill, I Brightwell, Simpson, Curle, Vonk, White, Lake
(Sheron), Quinn, Holden, McMahon

QPR: Stejskal, ?, Wilson, Wilkins, ?, Peacock, ?, ?, Ferdinand, Bailey,
Sinton. 

Attendance: 25,000ish

City opened the 92-93 season with a hard fought draw against QPR, while
BSkyB opened their Monday night football coverage with a completely over
the top display featuring dancing girls, parachutists, a band and
fireworks.  

We should have known something was afoot after noticing the plane trailing
a banner announcing "Sky FA Premier League football - it's a whole new ball
game" on the way to the ground. They're not joking. We got to the ground at
about half seven, quarter of an hour before the off, expecting the usual
couple of crap records and a team announcement you can't understand.
Instead, the "pre-match entertainment" kicked off with about 50 women
dancing around with ballons to Simple Minds' "Alive and Kicking" - a song
that those of you who watch Sky will know and love by the end of the season
:-). Then the parachutists dropped in. Rather unfortunately, the "Red
Devils" were chosen for the honours, and the reception for the announcement
that they were arriving was somewhat mixed! (For those not in the know, the
"Red Devils " is one of the nicknames of Man Utd, a team much loved on the
terraces of Maine Road :-). Finally, a barrage of Roman Candles lit up the
pitch. On Radio 5 this morning, they reported that the crowd had been very
entertained by all the razmatazz. As far as I could see, the reaction had
been mostly one of disbelief. I think I prefer the crap records and
unintelligible announcements. There was worse to come at half time.... Can
we get on with the football now please?

The game was fairly typical First Division/Premier League fare, with both
sides looking like they have something to offer this season. On balance, I'd
say that City were probably unlucky not to clinch it, but they failed to
take their chances when they should have. Both teams started well, with
City having the better of the early chances. Rick Holden looked quite
useful on the left, but the early breaks came from White down on the right.
Unfortunately, White's crossing hasn't improved, and a couple of times, he
got away only to send a woeful ball into the centre. Simpson and McMahon
had the best of the midfield, with Simpson showing his talents. He's
developing into a good combatative midfield player, in the style of Macca,
but without the thuggery. Most of the threat from QPR came from the left
hand side, with Clive Wilson, an old Maine Road favourite, and Andy Sinton
threatening down the flank.  Ferdinand and Bailey also caused some problems
through the middle. Wilkins didn't seem to appear at all, and it wasn't
until the second half that I realised he was playing - even then, a large
part of his participation seemed to consist of arguing with the referee.

City took the lead late on in the first half. Quinn got the ball outside
the box, and with Stejskal well off his line, tried a speculative shot. The
kepper tipped the ball, but it rolled gently across the box, where White
pounced on it and turned the ball in from an angle. Simpson also went close
with an effort from a free kick. The ball was touched to him, and his shot
went just wide. The game dipped a bit towards half time, but the crowd
seemed happy with a one goal lead at the break.

Then we got the "exciting" half time entertainment. A stage was set up in
the centre circle, and some bunch of aspiring pop stars appeared to mime to
their single. This merely prompted some loud singing from the Kippax in an
attempt to drown out the young hopefuls! We were also treated to the
dancing girls again. More welcome was the appearance of the boss of the
Timperley Big Shorts, Frank Sidebottom, dressed in a lurid yellow suit, and
dancing with a large inflatable banana. I don't know quite what BSkyB are
trying to do, but I really can't say I welcome it. I'm all for some half
time entertainment, but why can't we have something with a bit of
relevance, like a kids five-a-side or a penalty competition or some such?

The second half started well for QPR. They came out fighting, and after a
couple of minutes, Andy Sinton levelled the scores with a tremendous shot
from outside the area that gave Coton no chance at all. The game perked up
for a while, but got bogged down a bit during the second half. There was
the odd moment of excitement - Simpson hit the post with another free kick,
and a couple of Holden crosses should have produced better efforts from the
City front line. Sheron came on for a tired Lake towards the end, but
didn't really have much opportunity to shine. The game finished 1-1, and we
were treated to a closing firework display. Ho hum.

The new backpass rule was a bit of a mixed blessing. One the one hand, it
certainly creates excitement, and encourages players to chase and push up
on defenders. Keith Curle and Clive Wilson both did very well though,
playing out of defence with some good footwork, and beating onrushing
attackers. However, it also seems to encourage the long ball played over
the top of the defence, which could become tedious.  It wasn't as bad as I
expected though. There was one strange incident in the second half though.
The ball was played back to Coton, who kicked it out to allow a QPR player
to recieve treatment. After the restart, the ball was thrown back to a City
defender, who knocked it back to Coton. To the horror of the watching
Kippax, Tony stooped and picked it up! For some reason, the referee didn't
blow, though, and the game continued. I still don't understand why - maybe
because it was a throw from the opposition that was knocked back, the ref
decided it wasn't really a back pass? Very odd, but we didn't mind! Ray
Wilkins was a bit miffed though, and spent a while arguing with the ref.
The rule could well cause problems later in the season, when the mud comes,
and teams aren't quite as sharp as they are right now. It wasn't as bad as
I was expecting, but I think the jury are still out on this one....

So, a reasonable result for the first game of the season, with both teams
looking like they could have some say in the destination of the title. One
of the best points for the City fans was the return of Lake, who got
through the match unscathed, and at times showed some of the skill that had
made him a real crowd favourite before his injury a couple of years ago.
Holden, although no real replacement for Michael Hughes, looked good on the
left, and provided some fine crosses. Once Quinn gets used to good service,
there might be a few goals from the big man this season. With Simpson and
McMahon working well in midfield, it looks unlikely that Reid will be
playing much this season. That's probably a good thing, as it means he can
concentrate on managing rather than leaving the bench to Sam "hoof it up
the park, lads" Ellis. However, I'm certainly not convinced by the
razmatazz provided by Rupert Murdoch and his cronies. Can anyone comment on
the TV coverage? On the transfer front, City are still bidding for Terry
Phelan of Wimbledon. The asking price is 2 million, but Reid has said he
won't go higher than 1 and a half. Watch this space. 

Cheers,

	Sean B