Burnley 2 QPR 0
By Longsider
April 20 2005
Press reports of our game against QPR last night.We have reports from the Guardian and the Sporting Life for you to read.
Akinbiyi double fells QPR These two sides slugged out a contest dominated by a lack of purpose and skill but for the finishing of Akinbiyi, who netted in each half to heap more misery on a Queens Park Rangers side now without a win in five games.
Such profligacy was punished by Akinbiyi on the cusp of half-time. Mo Camara thundered a 30-yard drive against the upright before Akinbiyi confirmed the win on 80 minutes but that was as good as it got for two sides whose seasons cannot end quickly enough.
The Guardian
Turf Moor was in danger of hosting one of the worst and most pointless games of the season last night until Ade Akinbiyi rescued proceedings with a brace of goals to secure Burnley's 12th home victory of the campaign.
Burnley 2 QPR 0
Sporting Life
Ade Akinbiyi's brace was enough to separate Burnley from injury-ravaged QPR at Turf Moor.
Akinbiyi, who joined in a £600,000 move from Stoke in February and scored his first home goal in the 1-1 draw with Brighton at the weekend, doubled his Clarets tally with two close-range finishes - a header with less than two minutes of the first half remaining and a simple tap-in in the 80th minute.
Victory moves Steve Cotterill's side to within two points of Rangers in mid-table but there were much more pressing concerns for Ian Holloway, whose Rangers side shaded the opening period.
The visitors were already forced into making four changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Leeds, without 10 players through injury and suspension and following on-loan defender Andrew Davies' return to Middlesbrough.
Striker Shabazz Baidoo, making his first start, was taken off injured after 29 minutes and replaced by debutant Lewis Hamilton, who himself came off for another youngster making his bow, Luke Townsend, at the interval.
Even more worryingly for Holloway, with a trip to promotion-chasing Wigan looming at the weekend, key midfielder Marc Bircham was stretchered off midway through the second period and replaced by Scott Mulholland, also making his first Rangers appearance.
Both teams showed attacking intent from the outset with Rangers goalkeeper Chris Day unconvincingly pushing a long-range Micah Hyde shot wide for a corner after just three minutes.
Dean Bowditch also fired over after fine build-up work from the overlapping Mo Camara and Graham Branch as both teams started to hit each other on the counter-attack.
Rangers slowly began to establish themselves at the other end, with Kevin Gallen sending a quickly-taken free-kick inches wide of Brian Jensen's post and the same player also drilled over after a speedy breakaway by Lee Cook, who later looped a shot just over after a tidy turn.
But just before the break, Gary Cahill's deep cross from the right found Branch at the far post and his neat flick back across goal saw Akinbiyi nip in front of the Rangers defence to snatch the lead.
After half-time Branch was full of confidence down the Burnley left and made the most of hesitation from Bignot and Jamie Cureton to jink in from the flank only to blast over Day's goal.
With eight minutes of the second period gone, Jensen produced a superb stop to keep his side in the game, the big Dane showing great agility to get to Bircham's low effort, which found a way through the Clarets' wall, from Gallen's short free-kick just outside the area.
Rangers put up little resistance after that point, particularly following Bircham's withdrawal, and Camara even hit a post with a curling long-range free-kick after Patrick Kanyuka hauled down Branch.
In a rare attack Cureton passed Cahill only for his strike to be blocked by the impressive Jensen before the rampaging Camara got in behind the tiring Kanyuka down the left to whip in a low cross for Akinbiyi to touch in at the far post with 10 minutes remaining.
Teams:
Burnley Jensen, Duff, Cahill, McGreal, Camara, Grant (Oster 90), O'Connor, Hyde, Branch, Akinbiyi (Valois 90), Bowditch (Roche 89).
Subs Not Used: Coyne, Pilkington.
Booked: Bowditch.
Goals: Akinbiyi 43, 81.
QPR Day, Bignot, Shittu, Edghill, Padula, Bircham (Mulholland 69), Cook, Baidoo (Hamilton 30), Kanyuka, Gallen, Cureton, Hamilton (Townsend 45).
Subs Not Used: Cole, Johnson.
Booked: Kanyuka.
Att: 10,396
Ref: C Oliver (Northumberland).