17 March 2007...
-v- 
Leicester City 1 - 3 QPR
Attendance - 24558
Cometh the hour, cometh the Nygaard
Fantastic second half by our players, perfectly finished off by a goal that had it been scored by the likes of Henry/Drogba we'd never hear the end of it. Seriously that's how good a goal it was. But let's go back a bit...
After taking a wander around outside the Walkers where there was different entertainments going on including clowns and a bouncy castle type thing, we did our usual thing in getting inside the ground early to watch the players warming up etc. No Dexter was out there, nor Rowlands, so it was no surprise when the team was announced which included Ainsworth (in place of Rowlands) and Nygaard continuing to partner Furlong up front. Bolder was replacing Lomas in the central midfield and Camp was back in goal.
By the time kick off approached there was probably in excess of 1000+ R's fans eagerly awaiting the entrance of our players onto the pitch and when they did, were given a noisy reception. We were kicking towards the other end in the first half but it was Lee Camp who was called into action first when City made an attack early on and proved himself to be wide awake with the save he made.
The game didn't really settle down much and there was much huffing and puffing going on by both sides, though to be fair we looked a bit nervy to start off and whilst we tried in the stand to generate some noise to instill some confidence over to them, we ourselves it seemed were feeling nervy too as we couldn't quite get up to the standard as per on Tuesday night, though to be fair again, we did score after only 8 minutes or so at Pride Park which is a factor in helping to get the crowd going. Mind you, the home fans were very very quiet. Nice stadium etc, but far too big for Leicester City (well currently anyway) and even with various promotions going on, there were significant gaps in the stands around us. As the chant went 'your ground's too big for you'.
It was amusing though watching the riot police form barriers between them and where we were, goodness knows what all that was about but there seemed to be more police there than fans....ok a slight exaggeration there but you get my gist. Also, got to mention this, there was one Leicester fan that we spotted, who was shall we say on the rather large side, nothing on his top, and covered with tattoos (yuk). As one of my girls commented, 'all these police and none of them have arrested him for indecency'.
Anyway, back to the football, or rather what there was of it in the first half. We had a half chance which fell to Furlong but he could only head wide. Camp was called on again, parrying Hume's freekick to safety, this had occurred after Cullip had been adjudged to have made a foul and went into the ref's book. The referee I have to say was absolute rubbish in the first half, every little thing he was giving City's way and there was one point when a foul had clearly been made on Stewart I believe it was, and we were all thinking he was going to give the kick our way, but he signalled for it City's way. At least nothing came from it as that really would have been totally unjustified.
A final flurry by the home side resulted in Camp making a double save and then just before the half time interval Nygaard found himself with time to collect the ball in the area down the other half, and shot from about 5 yards out... but he missed by somehow putting it wide. It was a poor miss and I was hoping that it wouldn't effect his confidence but even I, as Mr Nygaard's number one fan could not have predicted how he was to turn the game in the second half.
I said at half time to the others that if we did not take 3 points from today's game then we would not take 3 points anywhere because even though Leicester had had the best of the first half, their chances had only really come from set pieces, their open play was poor and they actually looked disinterested.
Anyway, onto the second half, and I can only assume that John Gregory must have told the players to remember what they did at Derby only 4 days ago because we came out like a team possessed. Just after the half began, Cook was hauled down on the left, he took the resulting free kick and as it floated towards Nygaard's head, he jumped and directed the ball perfectly across to Idiakez who had timed his run to make contact with the ball with his head, the ball flew through the air, past Henderson in goal, and there it was, in the back of the net, in front of the R's fans to send everyone mad with celebrations.
We now had the bit between our teeth. That goal was exactly what we needed and we kept surging forward, a corner was next which was cleared and then within 3 minutes or so of having taken the lead after the restart, we were on the attack again, Furlong thundering down in the area, a tussle took place and the ref, who had obviously decided to put his hoops shirt on after having worn a blue one in the first half, pointed to the spot. A hush descended our end as up steps Nygaard to place the ball on the spot. With no Rowlands out there he must have fancied his chances. I actually had to clutch hubby's arm as Nygaard stepped up, willing him for the club's sake, and for his, to please put it away. And I tell you what, fair play to him because after having missed that sitter right at the end of the first half, he held his nerve and as he took his run there was no sign of any Lampard/Gerrard type jitters (ala last summer in the England/Portugal shoot out...and this to those R's fans there today was of far more importance) as he calmly slotted home to the right of Henderson. I make no apology for this when I say that I actually felt quite tearful at that stage and had to sit down with sheer relief!
2-0 to us with the second half only being 7 minutes or so old. Leicester made a sub by bringing on Elvis Hammond but at this stage the natives were getting restless and had started to show their discontent with a few boos. At the same time we made a sub with Idiakez going off and Lomas coming on in his place. JG presumably wanted to tighten up in the middle now that we had a two goal cushion but this was to soon become a 3 goal cushion because cometh the hour, cometh the Nygaard.
An attack by City had been safely dealt with by our defence. Camp took the kick, Furlong latched onto it and headed it towards Nygaard who was on the right with a bit of space. He was outside the box, a good 30 yards from goal, when he looked up, and decided to go for it. He unleashed a screamer of a volley from this position (quite reminiscent of Ainsworth at Rushden a few years ago) and as the ball whizzed into the back of the net there was a sense of disbelief around. Furs and Cook rushed over to him to celebrate and once the R's fans had got over their initial shock, the celebrations began in earnest. 'One Marc Nygaard' went the chant. Me? I was just saying quietly to myself that's my boy.
City fans at this stage began to leave the stadium and there was still 20 minutes or so left of the game! Furs was taken off to a standing ovation to be replaced by Ray Jones and then down the other end, Camp made a good save and the rebound was whacked over into row Z.
The Marc Nygaard show continued with him stretching to get the ball before the opposition player and he seemed to pull something in his leg as he went down and appeared to be in trouble. Prav treated him with a bit of the magic spray, he got to the touchline, still limping, but then came back on, so obviously felt he could run it off. As he was gathering himself, JG made another sub by replacing Ainsworth with Smith very late on.<.p>
To be fair to the home side, whilst they were quite poor, even at 3-0 down at home, they kept going and Cook made a very important headed clearance from goal late on and then right into stoppage time on another attack, Cullip was judged to have made a handball in the area and Hume scored the resulting penalty to which loud music was played and those of us in the away stand joined in with the dancing.
So, the final result was 3-1 to us, a superb second half display was topped off by hearing that all the other results had for once gone our way, and even though it took ages to get out of the traffic at Leicester, did we care? No, we were very happy bunnies.
There is still a long way to go yet with 8 games remaining this season, and much can change, but as always I have faith in our players, and in our current manager. We have two very hard home games to come up next but wins and unbeaten runs breed confidence, it's just a shame we have a break now for two weeks to interfere with the momentum but then again it does mean we have time for Rowlands and Dexter to get themselves fit.
Dexter btw, along with Bircham, was spotted amongst the QPR fans today in the stand.
Player ratings:
Lee Camp: Was very alert this afternoon and made some vital saves, the doube save in the second half was superb. In the first half I think some of the home fans must have been saying some rather uncomplimentary things to him as at one point he made a little sneaky pull of his R's shirt towards some of them. Deserves big kisses just for that alone. 8
Marcus Bignot: Excellent programme notes by Biggie today, great sense of humour. I'll try and copy them when I have time. In the first half he was getting done on the left, needed to tighten up far more and in the second half was much improved. 7
Michael Mancienne: Our stand out player in the first half. One word. Class. You just knew that when he was on the ball he would deliver calmly. Very composed, and chased and harried all game. 9
Danny Cullip:Bit slow in the first half, gave away a couple of niggly fouls but again was improved in the second half. Shame about the handball though right at the last. 9
Lee Cook: Quieter game by Cook in the first half. Also had a bit of a scare with Cookie when he went down at one stage after it looked like he had taken a heavy stamp on his foot. Thankfully he got up and played on. Second half we saw more of him, making his usual runs and crosses, though because he was losing the ball on several occasions, was getting frustrated with himself. 7
Inigo Idakez: Classy. Was spreading the ball about nicely and getting himself involved at every opportunity. Perfectly placed for the opening goal and took his chance well. 7.5
Gareth Ainsworth: The usual Ainsworth performance. Plenty of commitment. Lots of running. Hitting balls at the opposition in attempts to run it past them. A tad frustrating at times too with over zealous, over hit balls, but I guess that's down to enthusiasm! 7
Adam Bolder: Good solid game by Bolder who got forward whenever the opportunity rose to support the frontline. Was getting tackles in and fully committed. 7
Stefan Moore: I've remarked already on his first performance and I think it important to point out how he was improved in the second. Not a natural winger so it was a hard game for him to come into, he stood firm in the second half and quite possibly repaid some of the faith put in him by his manager. I don't know if he'll start on Monday but he showed a couple of glimpses of potential in that second half. Well done for sticking with it Stefan. 7
Paul Furlong: Well, even though he has missed a large chunk of this season with injury, he's still managing to defy the odds and is coming through for us when needed. With Furlong playing, he makes things happen for us. Today was no exception. Yes, he's not as sharp as he once was, but he was committed to every single ball that came his way in that second half. Linked up well with Nygaard a few times and despite the ref being on a downer towards him in the first half (what's new?) it was his determination in the box, and the subsequent push on him, that resulted in the penalty for us. After having played almost two consecutive 90 minute performances for us in the space of 4 days, I expect he's looking forward to a bit of a rest now! 8
Marc Nygaard: Helped towards the first goal; held his nerve to score the penalty for us with the second goal; and his screamer of a volley for the third goal was certainly one second half performance by him. Total respect for Mr Nygaard. 9
Manager Rating: Both he and Warren Neill were out there together during the warm up and Gregory was doing his usual animated coaching from the sidelines throughout the game. A nervy under par performance by his players in the first half, he must have told them the right things during the break as they came out raring to go. Put his faith in Nygaard and it paid off. I think he took Furlong off at the right time too which gave Ray Jones a sniff of the action which would have given him some confidence too. Good day at the office for the manager. 8
MOTM: Ancient in the first half but the second half belonged to a tall Danish player and his second goal was worthy of any Man of the Match award.
TS