A stalemate at Loftus Road did neither Queens Park Rangers nor Wolves any
favours in their respective fights for points at opposite ends of the First
Division table.
Play-off hopefuls Wolves, with one eye on Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against
Arsenal, gave a start to new signing Steve Claridge but his partnership with
Steve Bull rarely gelled as the visitors seemed content with a point.
Rangers, struggling against the drop, made most of the running but their lack
of confidence in front of goal let them down badly time and time again.
They started brightly and recent signing Tony Scully made an immediate
impression on his home debut by letting fly after six minutes with a 25-yard
shot which Hans Segers did well to hold.
Vinnie Jones, a £500,000 signing from Wimbledon last week, did not make quite
the same impression on his home debut as he hauled down Claridge just outside
the box after 12 minutes and then earned himself a booking for shoving the
Wolves striker in front of the referee.
Lively QPR forward Mike Sheron should have done better when on-loan Neil
Ruddock's long ball was inadvertently chested into his path by Wolves defender
Adrian Williams, but he sliced his effort high and wide with the goal at his
mercy.
Wolves slowly began to force their way into the game and Paul Simpson went
closest in the first half when he robbed Scully and shot inches wide from 30
yards.
Segers completely missed a Scully corner and Karl Ready's header was cleared
off the line by Steve Froggatt, but after that he was rarely troubled by the
Rangers forward line.
Claridge almost put Neil Emblen in the clear after 49 minutes only to see his
shot fly just wide, but Wolves did not show much ambition and even took off Bull
just after the hour.
Rangers were forced into long-range efforts as they became increasingly
frustrated, Kevin Gallen's two shots in a minute midway through the half both
flying just the wrong side of the post.
Wolves managed to apply some pressure in the last 10 minutes and Dougie
Freedman almost got a vital touch to a Simpson cross.
But in the end both teams looked too afraid of losing to commit enough players
up front.
Teams
QPR: Harper, Bardsley, Morrow (Dowie 68), Jones, Ready, Ruddock,
Baraclough, Quashie, Sheron, Gallen, Scully.
Subs Not Used: Barker, Heinola.
Booked: Jones.
Wolverhampton: Segers, Muscat, Froggatt, Sedgley, Williams,
Richards, Simpson, Emblen, Bull (Freedman 63), Claridge,
Osborn (Keane 78).
Subs Not Used: Robinson.
Booked: Muscat.
Att: 12,337
Ref: J A Kirkby (Sheffield).
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