Star of the show was Robert Earnshaw. A hat trick tonight takes the City superstar to the top of the second division scoring tree with 16 league goals and of course takes City to the top of division 2. I felt that QPR bossed us and were more threatening for just about the first hour. The first half was hardly a classic and in the opening 10 mins of the second half we struggled to control the football but then it all came good. City started to play, Rangers had tried their best and failed to make an opening, with them tiring City stepped up three gears and made it a classic night to remember.
An amazing goalmouth scramble saw City take the lead on 59 mins, it was with the run of play as at that stage City were in the ascendancy. It appeared that a glass barricade had been put on the QPR goal line, a keystone cops style melee saw the ball appear to do everyting but cross the line but the last effort by Earnie was signalled a goal by the linesman. I was stood virtually directly above it and I was confident it was a goal.
Earnie’s second and third were just pure Earnshaw. They underlined his iconic status and will have added some more value to his already increasing worth.
City were really getting stuck in in midfield and, with Rangers trying desperately to clear, a ball into the channel, the first good threaded ball of the night set Earnshaw free, he went for goal, stopped, cut inside and then blasted the ball past the helpless Royce on 65 mins. The Bluebird hoards went mental, at 2 – 0 it should have been game set and match but you never quite feel comfortable, we needn’t have worried. City swatted away any Rangers attempts at goal, a disallowed goal was signalled for offside a long time before the hoops striker had put the ball into the net, a couple of efforts went high and wide from QPR and then Earnie sealed the result and his hat trick, on 87 mins Rangers failed to clear and when the ball ballooned up into the air Earnie nipped between the defender and the keeper and chipped the unfortunate Royce with an air of arrogance that makes Earnie a legend.
Immediately he was substituted, I must congratulate the QPR fans above the dug outs who applauded our crown prince. He was replaced by Andy Campbell and it did not take long for the striker to break free, one on one with Royce, the keeper did well to block Campbell’s first effort but it was the attackers lucky day as the ball ran loose and he rounded Royce to make it 4 – 0 and send City fans into dreamland.
There were more than 2,000 bluebirds at
Certain matches really give you a sense of being part of something special, 7-1 at
City now sit top of the table, the pressure is back on
That win was City’s second consecutive league win since the
Fantastic is not a good enough word to use, it was better than that.