August 1 2004

Darren Powell keeps an eye on Kevin Gallen

Crystal Palace suffered the embarrassment of a 3-0 defeat to League Championship side QPR at Loftus Road.

The Eagles looked legargic throughout and it was sloppy defending that allowed a decent-looking QPR side grab an easy victory.

Palace will claim they should have had a penalty when Andy Johnson was pulled down by keeper Jake Cole in the 23th minute at 0-0. The ref felt Johnson dived but admitted afterwards he had made a mistake.

But nevertheless, Palace were awful and Rangers, who kick off their league campaign next weekend, stamped their authority on proceedings within seconds of the kick-off.

Martin Rowlands picked the ball up near the left hand byline, turned Danny Butterfield and struck a low shot at Speroni's near post which was saved by the Argentinian.

Six minutes later, Richard Johnson's low, rasping drive through a forest of legs was turned round his post by Speroni. Then DOUGIE FREEDMAN had an effort sliced away for a corner after good play between Joonas Kolkka and Wayne Routledge.

But QPR went even closer to scoring after 15 minutes - Gino Padula's right-side in-swinging corner crashed against the Palace crossbar. When it was knocked back into the danger zone by Rowlands, Tony Thorpe somehow put the ball over from three yards.

Then came the Palace penalty appeal. FREEDMAN slipped Johnson through and the Eagles hitman got inbetween two defenders, beat them for pace and was brought down by Cole. No penalty was given.

Down the opposite end, Rowlands somehow pulled his shot wide from close range, when it would have been easier to score.

Nine minutes before the break, Danny Butterfield played the ball down the line to FREEDMAN, whose flick found Johnson who beat his marker but his low strike was saved by Cole.

Seconds before half-time the R's scored thanks to a defensive blunder by Tony Popovic. The Aussie's casual pass out of defence went straight to Marcus Bean and his quality throughball found Thorpe who rounded Speroni to score.

The hosts added another on 54 minutes when they capitalised on another poor ball out of defence by the Eagles. Speroni's throw to Routledge put the Eagles winger into trouble and he tried to flick the ball to Butterfield but sub Paul Furlong intercepted it and hit the ball first time from 35 yards past the helpless Speroni.

QPR had all the possession and were playing some neat football; Rowlands had a deflected shot spin out for a corner, while Furlong planted his header wide.

Four minutes from time, QPR completed the rout as sub Kevin McLeod beat Palace youngster Sam Togwell down the left and whipped in a low cross that was steered in by Kevin Gallen from six yards.

Palace: Speroni (Berthelin 77), Butterfield (Togwell 71), Boyce (Borrowdale 46), Popovic, Powell, Routledge (Black 61), Hughes (Watson 61), Riihilahti (Derry 61), Johnson, FREEDMAN (Soares 61), Kolkka.

QPR v Palace photos