46 across, 1 down?

Match Report: West Ham 1-1 QPR

Rangers fans will be very satisfied to have come away with a point from the Boleyn Ground, after the Hammers banged at the door relentlessly throughout this ding dong derby.

QPR headed to West Ham for their third league derby game in a row with Loïc Rémy making his debut with a midfielder (Ji-Sung Park) sacrificed to accommodate him. West Ham started brightly mixing attacks through Cole (of the Joe variety) and Jarvis down the wings with direct balls into central areas for their debutante Chamakh to compete against Hill and Nelsen. After just 6 minutes one such attack down the right saw Diame get to the bye-line and play a low dangerous ball all the way across the goal line and out the other side. Cesar saved with his legs, as often appears the case.

Bubbles and snowflakes everywhere

Rangers were meanwhile growing into the game and on two occasions Rémy was flagged offside when running onto through balls from Taarabt. On 14 minutes this combination worked again to deadly effect with Rémy timing his run perfectly and crisply driving past Jaaskelainen for one nil from the edge of the area. A very confident finish which had the Rangers fans instantly singing his name and echoed of Djibril Cisse's debut goals away at Aston Villa last season where investment in a new striker paid immediate dividends. 

I would go as far as saying that Rangers continued to be the marginally better side for the next fifteen minutes following the goal with Taarabt strutting well creating half chances for SWP and Mackie and drawing a booking for a foul by Tomkins. On half an hour Chamakh decided he would audition for Splash but as with each of the previous two derbies, where Bertrand (Chelsea) and Lennon (Spuds) attempted laughable theatrics, the referee failed to punish with a booking.

West Ham were now on the charge and getting plenty of men in the box with Nolan heading over and Mbia appearing from nowhere behind Diame and clearing before he was able to shoot home. Nevertheless, QPR held out and went in at the break one up.

The second half can be summed up in almost a single word: onslaught. At times the Rangers goal led a charmed life with blocks, ricochets and Cesar's legs (again) all keeping the Iron out. Mbia managed to fit in his traditional 'lie in agony on the floor' time after another six yard box scramble. Only when the home fans had been wound up to a frenzy did the Cameroonian get up and walk round to rejoin play at the first opportunity, completely unimpaired. Cesar was busy, occasionally unconventionally (for him) using his hands to save. He also stood up well to the bombardment of crosses into the box from Matt Jarvis, as did Nelsen and Hill. It was extremely disappointing from a Rangers perspective that Redknapp didn't want to cut off the supply by closing down the Irons' wingers. Jarvis in particular was having far too much joy against Nedum Onuoha.

Substitutions aplenty followed as SWP and Mackie were replaced by Traore and Bothroyd for Rangers while Carlton Cole came on for Spam to replace the ineffective Chamakh, who they might as well send back to Arsenal on today's evidence. This seemed to be a game-changer as there was now much more aerial menace and there was a sense of inevitability when the equaliser finally arrived on 68 minutes. Jarvis dinked one up from the left which Carlton Cole headed goalwards. Cesar's diving save left Joe Cole with a tap in and his first West Ham goal for 10 years. Sam Allardyce reckoned West Ham had 46 crosses in the game, so based on the law of probability alone it was always likely that one would result in a goal.

Rangers continued to offer nothing up front with Rémy now anonymous and Taarabt withdrawn for Park as Redknapp demonstrated that leaving with a point was now the aim. Every time they were able to break out of their half (can't have been more than twice in the second half) Rangers looked lost and unsure whether to hold on to the ball or try to set up an attack and go for the win, which often lead to through balls being played with nobody on the end of them or cheap surrendering of possession. West Ham meanwhile continued to chuck it in the mixer but the only real concern was when Cesar was tempted to go walkies from his box but Fabio cleared up behind. Final score 1-1.

So as it turned out, this fixture was very similar to the Cisse debut of around a year ago - the new striker scored with a great goal in the first half and had the fans instantly singing with new found optimism in their voices, only to fade in the second half along with the rest of his team mates and allow the opposition to fight their way back into the game and have the away fans feel lucky to go home with anything. Under normal circumstances 5 points from 3 derby games, two of which were away, would represent a decent return. However, games are fast running out and, despite the positive of being unbeaten in 5 games in 2013 (including the FA Cup sponsored by HMV), Rangers remain 5 points from safety. Next for the Rs are three consecutive home games; FC Franchise (FA Cup (sponsored by Jessops), then Citeh and the Canaries in the EPL.

Man of the Match: One man who continues to shine is goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who showed his best form again here in East London with several 'worldies' to allow the Hoops to come away with a point they didn't deserve. His wobbly days under Hughes seem to be behind him now, fingers crossed his form continues.

C