Queens Park Rangers v Norwich City

hoops
Media Voice
IAN MCCULLOUGH, SENIOR WRITER AT WEST LONDON
SPORT, SHARES HIS THOUGHTS…
Times of great need can
often be the moments when
unlikely heroes make their
mark.
It’s certainly never dull
covering or supporting
QPR, with much of the last
25 years involving the team
either trying to go up from
whichever division they are
residing in or stay in it.
Tonight, a Norwich team
boasting one of the biggest
budgets and best squads in
the Championship descend
on Loftus Road with the playoff
places still firmly in their
sights.
It will without doubt be a
hugely difficult game for a
QPR side bereft of confidence
and victories and looking
over their shoulder at the
unthinkable prospect of
dropping into League One.
But for much of the fanbase,
this is not their first rodeo of
flirting with the dreaded drop.
While the drama of the
Sergio Aguero game at the
Etihad Stadium in 2011 will
be remembered for decades
to come, there was another
seismic clash between
Manchester City and QPR on
the penultimate game of the
1997/98 campaign that will
never be forgotten.
It seems ridiculous now,
given they are one of the
heavyweights of European
football, but 25 years ago next
week, City found themselves
languishing in the relegation
zone and needing a win over
QPR at Maine Road to prevent
a first ever slide into the third
tier of English football.
Rangers, sitting just outside
the drop zone, needed not
to lose to stay safe going
into the final match of the
campaign and much like this
current team, boasted a
talented but under-achieving
side containing the likes of
Kevin Gallen, Nigel Quashie,
David Bardsley, Mike Sheron
and Danny Maddix.
The hosts got off to the
perfect start, with Georgi
Kinkladze putting them ahead
in the opening minute before
Sheron fired Rangers level
shortly after.
But then came the moment
that no-one of a QPR or
City persuasion will ever
forget when Jamie Pollock,
a steady if unremarkable
central midfielder, scored the
greatest own goal ever seen.
Bardsley sent a ball forward
towards Sheron, which
Pollock nipped in to cut out by
scooping the ball into the air
and into his own penalty area.
But instead of allowing
goalkeeper Martyn Margetson
to come and claim it, Pollock
instead produced a perfect
cushioned header over his
helpless keeper and into the
net to give Rangers a priceless
second goal midway through
the opening period.
Joe Royle’s side equalised just
after half-time through Lee
Bradbury but could not find a
winner as Rangers held on for
the draw to keep them up and
send City down.
Later that year an internet
poll searching for the most
influential man of the last
2,000 years was hijacked
by QPR fans, with Pollock
topping charts just ahead of
Jesus Christ.
So, in the words of Chuck
Berry: “it goes to show you
never can tell.”
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