by Layth Yousif
at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium

A TRIP on the rattling Circle Line through a particular corner of west London to watch Queens Park Rangers beat Brentford 2-1 reveals plenty.

In the shadows of Latimer Road tube station stands the tragic mausoleum that is Grenfell Tower. An eerie tombstone detailing the fatal effects of austerity, where decades of neglect, allied with corporate greed, and no little malfeasance, condemned so many innocent souls. 

The next halt on the underground, Wood Lane, sees a different monument, one to mammon and conspicuous consumption. The gigantic Westfield shopping centre, occupying a previously nondescript hinterland next to the A40, on a site where the White City Stadium once hosted the Olympic games. 

The following stop, your destination, is Shepherd’s Bush Market — where you emerge and note the all-night stores selling delicious baklava and a million other delights, as their wares spill out onto the once bustling Uxbridge Road. 

Only a few miles apart, this trio of sites have one thing in common. 

A lack of activity. An absence of people. Humans made invisible by this awful pandemic and events that still dominate our lives above all else.

And so it is at nearby Loftus Road, the compact and normally atmospheric home to Queens Park Rangers. 

On Wednesday evening, Rangers hosted high-flying neighbours Brentford in what many loyal fans of both clubs consider to be a “proper” west London derby.

In a world full of challenges, the pity the match was played behind closed doors at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium because of current coronavirus restrictions, ranks low in the scheme of things. 

But, as all true believers know, football is the most important of least important things. We need our fix to help us through these troubling times. And this derby offered succour, even in silence.

After 11 long months, mostly under the confines of lockdown, sans supporters, how wonderful would it have been for grand old Loftus Road to host such an occasion, fuelled by local bragging rights and no little spite between the clubs. 

The Loft, QPR’s traditional home end, hosted cardboard cut-outs of supporters, as well as their flags — but the silence was a salutary reminder that football without fans is nothing. 

Passion is perfect when it doesn’t spill over into hate, as so much unfortunately does, in life and on social media these days, and this fixture has traditionally had just enough spice to have seen the whole place rocking. 

As it was, QPR boasted an excellent run of form under Mark Warburton — a former Bees boss no less — having won four of their last five in the Championship. 

But with only four wins in the preceding five months, the R’s were still threatened by the spectre of relegation. Prior to kick-off, they sat just five points clear of the drop zone. 

How things change.

For their part, Thomas Frank’s Brentford saw their 21-game unbeaten league run ended by Barnsley on Sunday and were looking to bounce back, as they continue their push for automatic promotion, following last season’s miserable play-off final loss against another west London side, Fulham. 

Memories of that painful defeat — which capped a sad end to a promising season — still haunt the Bees. 

The pain was only compounded by the departure from the evocative Griffin Park at the end of last term. Their new stadium, a short drive from Shepherd’s Bush, and an even shorter journey from their former ground, is testament to such a progressive, community-based club. 

Yet many supporters still regret the fact they couldn’t say goodbye, thanks to Covid emerging in the spring of 2020, the prevalence of the malign virus ensuring fans were prevented from a bidding a fond farewell in person last spring. 

Even so, with the canny Frank promising his side would come flying out of the traps after their defeat to Barnsley, and QPR well-rested after their game against Rotherham was postponed at the weekend, the clash in W12 was an eagerly-awaited one. 

It was just such a shame no fans were present. 

In an energetic opening that would have had the crowd roaring, the visitors were dominant, without ever threatening QPR’s former Stevenage keeper Seny Dieng. 

Frank’s favoured 4-3-3 system has seen his side pick up all 16 of their victories when using the formation. 

The tactic relies on the prowess of an attacking trident, which on Wednesday evening consisted of Sergi Canos on the left, Tarique Fosu on the right with the dangerous Ivan Toney as the spearhead down the middle. 

The system also relies on energetic full-backs, Rico Henry and Henrik Dalsgaard, and is bolstered by the effervescence of former Arsenal academy youth Josh Dasilva, who has pleasingly rebooted his career at the Bees. 

So, it was no surprise that Toney, Brentford’s standout player this season so far, put the visitors in front on the half hour. 

The goal arrived when Mathias Jensen whipped in a free-kick from the left, with former Peteborough attacker Toney deftly touching the ball past Dieng at the near post to make it 1-0. 

The strike was his 100th goal in league football. A remarkable haul for a player still only 24, as he made it 24 goals this campaign in only 30 league games. Which, if you factor in nine assists, makes him, in the eyes of this correspondent, the best player in England outside the Premier League.

QPR flickered briefly, giving only a slight indication of what was to follow in the second half. 

Ilias Chair was behind Rangers’ best efforts of the opening 45 minutes. 

As an aside, memories of the ebullient Chair came flooding back, who, when on loan at Stevenage two years ago, singlehandedly nearly dragged the homely Hertfordshire club to the League Two play-offs. 

Such was the raw power and strength of his play, this correspondent still recalls covering a spectacular performance at a raucous Sincil Bank, the home of the soon-to-be fourth-tier champions Lincoln City, two years ago this month — when Chair scored two goals, hit the post twice and had two efforts cleared off the line. 

So it was with a knowing satisfaction that Chair appeared the main threat to the Bees — with his evident eagerness to attack the left flank and cut in ensuring he flashed an effort wide from just outside the box.

It also took a sturdy block from Bees keeper David Raya to foil Yoann Barbet scoring against his former club, with soon-to-be-hero Charlie Austin, fluffing the follow-up.

Even so, at that stage, few would have predicted anything other than an away win as the home side limped to the break.

How things change.

From absent QPR fans during the interval there was only gallows humour, an essential crutch used by all true lovers of this mercurial game, when reality is too much too bear. 

“Thank god we can’t go to games, as I wouldn’t want to be there to witness us losing to that lot again,” messaged Rangers fan Kieran Fanning shortly after Toney’s strike. 

But amid the deadpan irony, there was a wistfulness from Fanning, a loyal QPR fan of four decades and old friend of this reporter. “Roll on next season,” he added, and you understood, for plenty of reasons on different levels. 

The dark humour returned. “Hopefully, when QPR fans return next season, Brentford will have gained promotion — so we don’t have to go through the humiliation of us losing to them again.”

How things change. 

QPR embarked on a remarkable turnaround that none of their fans would have foretold during half-time. 

While Warburton has rightly earned a reputation as a purveyor of stats and figures, a Billy Beane, Moneyball-type character of the lesser leagues, the former City trader is far more savvy than to be a mere data cruncher. 

As a tactician, it is no coincidence his deliberate switch to three at the back, in an effective 3-4-1-2 formation, has prompted a resurgence in recent form, with Brentford about to join the ever-growing list of teams on the receiving end. 

Speaking afterwards Warburton said: “In the first half an hour we showed far too much respect to Brentford and they were the better side. They’re a good team if you give them time and space.

“We had to respond and be better in the second half, which we certainly were. The players deserve so much credit for that quality of response.” 

Respond they did. Yet, after an absorbing 27 minutes following the interval, hopes of Warburton’s side avoiding a fifth successive defeat to their west London neighbours appeared to be fading as Frank’s side looked comfortable with 18 minutes left to play.

However, that was without reckoning on returning hero Austin, on loan from West Brom, grabbing the winner as QPR scored twice in four second-half minutes to earn a dramatic comeback. 

Austin’s deflected strike off Henry sealed an unlikely victory, after substitute Sam Field, also on loan from the Hawthorns, pulled the hosts level with a well-struck left-footed drive in a debut he would never forget. 

Austin’s celebrations along the touchline of the South Africa Road Stand created friction between the two camps, but, as Warburton explained afterwards: “It’s a local derby with emotions running high and Charlie’s just scored the winner — it’s never going to be nicey-nicey. 

“Someone might not agree with the way he conducted himself, but Charlie’s a top-class pro and it means a lot.” 

You could also see just how much it meant the final whistle, with the eruption of joy from the QPR players and staff piercing the air, in an otherwise silent stadium, no doubt joined by their fans uttering a primal scream or two, while watching from afar on television. 

Despite the chastening defeat, Frank’s Brentford can look to the future with promise. If they can earn promotion on the back of their showing so far this strange season, then they will certainly be a match for many Premier League sides. 

But, as always with the Bees, they have to close the deal, they have to get there first, a fact they have singularly failed to achieve in their rise up until now. 

No wonder delighted QPR supporter Fanning, messaged after the final whistle: “Rangers fans love the fact Brentford always lose in the play-offs, so hopefully that’s where they’ll end up, rather than finishing in the top two.” 

But, with five wins in six, in a division notorious as a course that favours a late run from an outsider, who knows what could happen over the next three months to Warburton’s Rangers? 

A fact duly acknowledged after the game when opposite number Frank admitted the Championship “is so even.”

With QPR set to face 11 games in the next 34 days, Rangers fanatic Fanning also added — with the hope that is boosted in the hearts of fans in the aftermath of coming from behind to beat local rivals: “Imagine if we snuck in and beat them [Brentford] in the play-offs — it would be fairytale stuff.”

Long after the final whistle the breeze picked up at Loftus Road, making those flags in the Loft billow in the cold February night, while those cardboard cut-out Rangers fans swayed in the wind, as if in nodding in agreement with the outlandish suggestion. 

After such an enthralling derby, regretfully played in an empty stadium, you could say it was the spirits of all the absent QPR fans desperately dreaming the same. 

How things change.