HIGH-flying Rangers travelled to Selhurst Park to face a Crystal Palace side that were looking to halt a steady decline.
High-flying Rangers travelled to Selhurst Park to face a Crystal Palace side that were looking to halt a steady decline.
Teams: Crystal Palace v Queens Park Rangers
Date: Saturday January 22, 1983
Competition: Football League Second Division
Venue: Selhurst Park
Venables’ men made the trip across London with a view to bolstering their present position in second place and chase down leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Despite the opening day defeat up in Newcastle, Rangers reacted positively and put together a formidable run – finely poised for a promotion push in the second half of the season.
The one blot on their record maintained the 4-0 away defeat to Wolves and this alone was motivation enough to chase them down as the business end of the season commenced.
Palace meanwhile were under the guidance of Alan Mullery and despite a positive start seeing them climb as high as sixth in the table a mediocre run of form had seen their position suffer.
One win in their last six saw the Eagles slip out of the top half and into 17th place from which they faced promotion-chasing Rangers at Selhurst.
The last three games highlighted the inconsistency of Mullery’s Eagles with a home win over Leicester City (1-0) being tempered by a draw at home to Rotherham United (1-1) and an away defeat to Barnsley (1-3).
Rangers meanwhile were looking in fine form after recovering from a minor blip – with the Wolves defeat combined with losses at home to Chelsea (1-2) and away at Derby County (0-2).
In true Venables fashion however the R’s bounced back in style with wins over Charlton Athletic (3-1) and Newcastle United (2-0) with Gary Micklewhite and John Gregory netting a brace a-piece.
To that end Venables named an unchanged team from the victory over Newcastle with Clive Allen and Mike Flanagan the formidable duo leading the forward line.
Rangers took the game at Selhurst by storm and it was the aforementioned Allen that starred in a convincing victory.
He scored his ninth and tenth goals of the campaign to help put Palace to the sword with central defender Bob Hazell netting the third and helping the R’s close the door at the other end.
Consequently only one defeat in 15 ensued – three in total for the remainder of the campaign as Rangers cruised ahead of fellow promoted side Wolves and into Division One.
The R’s finished ten points clear of their nearest rivals as Venables men would play top flight football again after a four year exodus.
Palace meanwhile plummeted as low as second bottom with a run of only one win in nine threatening to see them drop to the third tier.
Six games undefeated at home however saw them to safety with an impressive victory over mid-table Derby County (4-1) helping to secure a 15th placed finish.
Final Score: Crystal Palace 0-3 Queens Park Rangers
Attendance: 14621
Crystal Palace: Fry, Locke, Brooks (Edwards 60), Nebbeling, Canon, Hinshelwood, Giles, Hughton, Jones, Langley, Hilaire
Queens Park Rangers: Hucker, Neill, Dawes, Waddock, Hazell, Fenwick, Micklewhite, Sealy, Allen, Flanagan, Gregory.
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See also: QPR 1-0 Crystal Palace – 11-04-1955
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