Crystal Palace shared the points at Loftus Road with QPR, leaving them in touching distance of the hosts who are only two points above the Eagles in 15th.
It was a cold Sunday afternoon and Keith Millen was in-charge of Palace for the tenth time during his period at the club as assistant manager, a role he has kept hold of since Ian Holloway brought him to the club after the departure of Dougie Freedman two years ago.
The Croydon-born caretaker manager made one change from the line-up that Neil Warnock went with in the game that resulted in his sacking on Boxing Day and that was putting Wilfried Zaha in attack instead of Frazier Campbell who went off with an injury against Southampton and it was a decision that didn’t pay off as Jason Puncheon did better in-front of goal despite going wide on a number of occasions.
Both sides made contributions early on with the first twenty minutes being fairly scrappy with referee Mike Jones giving the hosts a number of early free-kicks, some of which were harsher than others but after the main bulk of flirting between the two sides, Millen’s side begun to create chances with a large amount of shots on goal compared to previous games.
Palace’s first shot on goal of significance was Yannick Bolasie’s shot from outside of the area which he attempted to curl into the top-left hand corner but Rob Green was equal to the shot with awareness on its course towards goal.
Minutes later, Jason Puncheon struck the ball to only find the nearside post as it rebounded after a shot from outside of the area at the first time of asking, the ball eventually found Zaha who should have made more of the ball but instead allowed it to find a QPR player who knocked it out of danger for a corner.
These were only a few of a chances that Palace managed to put together in the first half but chances are what they remained as despite their superiority in attacking, they couldn’t put any of them away; which couldn’t be said for Harry Redknapp’s side as Charlie Austin struggled in-front of goal as he was prevented from playing in the vein of form he has been showing this season, being limited to one shot on goal and three other shots being blocked.
Zaha was denied a penalty late on in the first half after being knocked off the ball in the area by Dunne who was never looking like winning the ball but after half-hearted penalty appeals, the referee turned his back and looked to the continuing play. Mike Jones did have a decision to make right before half-time as Clint Hill challenged Mariappa and with Palace fans calling for a red card, he was only going to give a yellow.
In the second half, it was very much the same despite QPR piling on a large amount of pressure throughout periods with the amount of corners for the hosts increasing after every attack – showing Palace’s solidarity in defence which was much improved on compared to the Boxing Day defeat against Southampton where players were being left short-footed at every opportunity in defensive situations.
The Hoops’ attacking pressure amounted to a close chance as Steven Caulkaer who joined from Cardiff City in the summer made a headed attempt on goal which was firing into the back of the net before James McArthur who has been in good form over recent games cleared the ball of the line, relieving the pressure on Millen’s side.
At this point, possession was being turned over regularly with both sides showing tired legs after the two games in the space of 48 hours.
Palace had the last chance and penalty appeal of the game as after Puncheon had a shot towards Green, it was parried away into the middle of the box where Joey Barton and Fraizer Campbell were both heading towards the ball before Barton tripped over the Eagles striker whilst they were both en-route to the ball from different directions; the foul did look dangerous but the referee didn’t have any interest in it, turning down penalty appeals from the Palace players which was led by Joe Ledley.
The South London side head to Aston Villa on New Year’s Day with it not yet known who the manager of the club will be, it looks as if Keith Millen could be in-charge for another game.
