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QPR's 'horrible smell' earns wrath of Holloway

Jon Culley
Saturday 07 February 2004 01:00 GMT
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Ian Holloway is not a man who easily contains his thoughts and it is fair to say that the dressing rooms at Loftus Road will not be a pleasant place to be should Queen's Park Rangers suffer a third consecutive Second Division defeat at home to Notts County.

Holloway has worked a minor miracle to build a promotion challenge in the face of huge financial problems but could not excuse his players for their performance at Chesterfield last weekend. QPR slumped to a 4-2 defeat that allowed the leaders, Plymouth, to maintain a five-point advantage in spite of surrendering their 10-match unbeaten run at Brighton.

"Two times out of the last three matches we haven't turned up," Holloway said. "I can't protect them after a performance like that, I thought it was absolutely diabolical.

"I've got to knock that horrible smell out of my boys because they smell of complacency. I expect my team to have more fight than that and maybe some of them are getting too big for their boots." Rangers have the striker Jamie Cureton available today after the fans group Our QPR raised £100,000 to fund his move from the South Korean side Busan Icons.

Bristol City were frustrated when the weather denied them the chance to extend a seven-match winning streak at Grimsby last weekend but the midfielder Luke Wilkshire returns from international duty with Australia to face Brentford today.

The new signing Jonathan Walters believes the Third Division leaders Hull City have the potential to start the 2005-06 season in the First Division if they win promotion this season.

The Republic of Ireland under-21 striker, for whom Peter Taylor paid Bolton an initial £50,000 to clinch his move this week, believes the club's move to the Kingston Communications Stadium, where crowds have averaged almost 16,000 this season, has provided a platform for rapid advancement.

"If we can get promoted this year there's every chance we could have a crack at going up into the First Division," he said. Last season, Walters scored five times in an 11-game loan spell at Hull, who face mid-table York this afternoon.

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