September 22 – Comeback Kids
WE’VE already brought you the tale of QPR’s comeback in the 1967 League Cup final where the deliciously named Mark Lazarus bagged the winner and today in 1984 they were at it again, bringing back an even bigger deficient against Newcastle United in what was one of the best games ever to be played on the R’s infamous plastic pitch.
When the Toon travelled down to Loftus Road they were, for once, suffering from a bit of a crisis. They had lost their last three games and conceded ten goals in the process so manager Jack Charlton decided to play it safe by packing the midfield and leaving mullet-man Chris Waddle on his won upfront.
Somehow, Charlton’s tactic of keeping it tight paid off big-time, as Newcastle took all their chances and surged to a 4-0 half time lead thanks to Neil Macdonald opener and a 24-minute Waddle hat-trick.
Rangers manager Alan Mullery admitted to having a ‘quiet word’ at the interval and his side came put all guns blazing for the second half. Garry Bannister bagged his side’s first goal four minutes after the break, with his fellow strike partner Simon Stainrod soon netting another before John Gregory, who would later go on to manage the club, brought it back to 3-4 with quarter of an hour remaining.
Newcastle, possibly motivated more by the fuming Jackie Charlton on the touchline than anything else, scored a fifth goal with six minutes left as it looked like they had avoided an embarrassing capitulation. As if. This is Newcastle we’re talking about, after all.
Soon after Kenny Wharton’s goal, Steve Wicks scored QPR’s fourth and deep into stoppage time Gary Micklewhite surged into the area to make the final score an incredible 5-5.
Big Jack was not impressed: “Saturdays game was a total embarrassment, absolutely diabolical. I have never seen anything like it in my 32 years in the game. I went mad at the players because there were times when they were going to give me a heart attack. They just stopped playing.”
He went on to describe the clubs problems in further detail, all of which sounds terribly familiar: “There are so many things wrong at Newcastle it is incredible. People are asking me where I intend to start with the problems, but I just don’t know. It will take years to put right.” Amen brother.
Hoops’ manager Alan Mullery also sounded like a man that had been put well and truly through the mixture, saying “These kind of games are great for the fans but they give managers heart attacks. We needed a miracle in the second half and we got it.”
Someone – we’re guessing it’s not a member of the Toon Army – has put the whole game onto YouTube, so check out the final few minutes from the plastic Loftus Road pitch below. Have a look at what was happening in France today here and join us tomorrow for more footy fun and games.
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