QPR 0 Newcastle U 0:THE SPICE in Joey Barton's debut for Queens Park Rangers against the club he departed amid such acrimony would always have had more zest if this encounter had been staged at St James' Park.
Instead, as Neil Warnock suggested, the prospect of Barton causing a row with his former team-mates proved nothing more than a pre-match sideshow.
Warnock named Barton as captain, and he proved a presence in his inaugural half in the hooped jersey. And in two or three moments before the break Adel Taarabt, stripped of captaincy, suggested that the new signings around him could elevate his game.
First, collecting possession inside the visitors’ half, he swept a pass sweetly into the run of Shaun Wright-Phillips. From this, the winger glanced up and delivered a ball in front of Tim Krul that was just beyond Jay Bothroyd.
It was also Taarabt’s ball from inside his half that later released the excellent Wright-Phillips whose run was first blocked by Krul, before he recollected possession and dinked a lob beyond the back-peddalling goalkeeper that had to be headed off the line.
Bothroyd also had a header cleared off the line after 27 minutes as Newcastle struggled to assert themselves.
Leon Best forced a sharp save from Paddy Kenny but at half-time it was QPR who should have been two or more ahead.
On one occasion in the second half, Barton and Taarabt linked down the right, with the latter floating inside from his wide-left berth, as he likes to do. But this brief flicker and a corner apart, Pardew’s men blunted QPR’s threat.
QPR: Kenny, Young, Ferdinand, Gabbidon, Traore (Connolly 51), Barton, Derry, Faurlin, Wright-Phillips (Puncheon 88), Bothroyd (Campbell 80), Taarabt. Subs not used: Murphy, Hall, Buzsaky, Smith. Booked: Derry.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Krul, Simpson, Steven Taylor, Coloccini, Ryan Taylor, Obertan (Sammy Ameobi 88), Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Best (Marveaux 82), Shola Ameobi (Ba 64). Subs not used: Elliot, Santon, Guthrie, Lovenkrands. Booked: Shola Ameobi, Tiote, Steven Taylor.
Referee: Phil Dowd.
