Gabbidon Grabs Glory - QPR for the Cup!

Stranger things have happened! The draw has opened the door for a "lesser light" to make it through to the Final. Man City are out and one of Liverpool or Man Utd have to crash out in the next round too. There's still the little matters of Arsenal, Tottenham and the winners of the Liverpool and Man Utd tie, of course, but if the draw is kind after QPR repeat their victory over the Plastics...

The best thing about today, from QPR's point of view, is that the game used up one of Barton's "holiday fixtures", and the next best thing is the victory - any win after the Hoops' depressing recent run is an absolute God send!

Unfortunately the performance was, by all accounts, poor and that is hardly surprising when you see the team. Not that Hughes was treating the competition with contempt, it's just that the players available to him are not very good. In fact, stripped of Barton and Faurlin, you begin to wonder how Warnock got them promoted and kept them out of the bottom three until his dismissal. The defence is poor, the midfield uninspiring and the front two ordinary. Macheda was withdrawn after 62 minutes which doesn't bode well does it? Hopes are being pinned on a Brazilian kid who hasn't yet been signed - and not many Brazilians have cut it in the Premier League have they?

So Hughes has his first victory, but the performance did not set the pulses racing. The game was, in truth, a sideshow, with the main event Saturday's head to head with Wigan. Lose that, and the FA Cup may be all QPR have to play for! But they won't lose at home to Wigan...will they?