Ahead of QPR’s visit to Norwich City this Saturday LFW looks back at the career of Chris Woods who played for both teams, and remembers a seven goal thriller from 1994 that was settled by a Rangers cult hero.

Recent Meetings

QPR 1 Norwich 2, Monday January 2, 2012, Premier League

QPR suffered a frustrating home defeat to Norwich at the turn of the year as Neil Warnock’s reign as manager came to a sad end. Things had started well for the home team when Joey Barton lashed in a well executed volley to give them an early lead, but Barton quickly turned from hero to villain. At the midway point of the half he squared up to Norwich midfielder Bradley Johnson after being kicked in an off the ball incident. Johnson jerked his head back, pretending he’d been headbutted, but referee Neil Swarbrick and linesman Dave Richardson initially played on with QPR in possession suggesting they’d seen nothing wrong. When play came to a halt Grant Holt and the Norwich players surrounded the officials and after prolonged discussion Barton was sent off. Anthony Pilkington scored a fine equaliser before half time and it came as no surprise when former Millwall man Steve Morrison won the game with seven minutes remaining.

QPR: Kenny 6, Young 7, Ferdinand 7, Gabbidon 6, Hill 6, Derry 6, Faurlin 6, Barton 6, Taarabt 7 (Campbell 85, -), Mackie 5 (Wright-Phillips 46, 7), Helguson 6 (Macheda 80, -)

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Orr, Connolly, Hulse

Sent Off: Barton 36 (“attempted headbutt”)

Booked: Helguson (foul), Wright-Phillips (foul)

Goals: Barton 11 (assisted Hill)

Norwich: Ruddy 7, Martin 6, Whitbread 7, Ayala 7, Drury 6 (Fox 66, 6), Bennett 6, Johnson 6, Lappin 6 (Hoolahan 66, 6), Pilkington 7, Holt 7 (Morison 66, 7), Jackson 6

Subs Not Used: Rudd, Surman, Wilbraham, Naughton

Booked: Ayala (foul)

Goals: Pilkington 42 (unassisted), Morison 83 (assisted Bennett)

Norwich 2 QPR 1, Saturday November 26, 2011, Premiership

QPR suffered their annual defeat at Carrow Road in late November 2011. Buoyed by a surprise victory on the road at Stoke the week before Rangers came into the match against their fellow newly promoted side full of confidence but found themselves tormented by Norwich striker Grant Holt once again. Holt stooped to head home a late winner minutes after coming off the bench just at the point that it seemed QPR were the more likely side to go on and win the game. Russell Martin, as he did in this fixture the previous season, gave Norwich an early lead with a fine finish after poor defending but Luke Young scored a deserved equaliser when Jamie Mackie’s long range drive rebounded out to him off the base of the post. That set the scene for Holt’s super sub act that left Rangers empty handed.

Norwich: Ruddy 7, Martin 8, Barnett 5, De Laet 6 (Naughton 58, 6), Tierney 5, Pilkington 7 (Hoolahan 70, 7), Johnson 6, Crofts 6, Surman 7, Morison 8, Jackson 7 (Holt 70, 7)

Subs Not Used: Rudd, Fox, Bennett, Wilbraham

Booked: Naughton (foul)

Goals: Martin 15 (unassisted), Holt 73 (assisted Hoolahan)

QPR: Cerny 6, Young 8, Gabbidon 5, Ferdinand 5, Hill 6 (Bothroyd 57, 7), Wright-Phillips 6 (Smith 79, 6), Derry 5 (Buzsaky 77, 6), Faurlin 8, Traore 7, Mackie 7, Helguson 6

Subs Not Used: Putnins, Orr, Hall, Puncheon

Goals: Young 59 (assisted Mackie)

Norwich 1 QPR 0, Saturday January 1, 2011, Championship

Rangers met Norwich at Carrow Road in the first game of 2011. Norwich were in great form and closing in on QPR at the top of the Championship table at the time. They’d overhauled Leeds at the top of League One the season before the home supporters spent most of this game taunting the visitors that the same thing was about to happen. It didn’t, QPR went onto win the division, but Norwich did beat Rangers thanks to a fabulous early strike from full back Russell Martin. QPR’s cause wasn’t helped by Matthew Connolly’s second sending off in as many visits to Norfolk for fouling Grant Holt as he ran through on goal but the R’s should have equalised late on when Patrick Agyemang hit the post with a header that should have been scored. Norwich were promoted in second behind QPR.

Norwich: Ruddy 7, R Martin 7, Nelson 6, Whitbread 6, Drury 6, Smith 7, Crofts 7, Hoolahan 8, C Martin 7, Holt 8, Wilbraham 6 (Gill 82,-)

Subs Not Used: Rudd, Jackson, Johnson, McNamee, Tudur Jones, Berthel Askou

Goals: R Martin 10 (assisted C Martin)

QPR: Kenny 8, Walker 6, Gorkss 6, Connolly 5, Hill 6 (Orr 46, 6), Derry 7, Faurlin 6, Clarke 4, Mackie 6, Taarabt 6 (Tofas 62, 6), Helguson 5 (Agyemang 46, 7)

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Rowlands, Hulse, Borrowdale

Sent Off: Connolly 51 (denying obvious goal scoring opportunity)

Booked: Hill (foul), Taarabt (foul)

QPR 0 Norwich 0, Saturday October 16, 2010, Championship

Wes Hoolahan’s first half penalty miss was the headline of a goalless draw between these two sides when they met at Loftus Road during their promotion season. The Irishman drilled a spot kick wide of Paddy Kenny’s left hand post midway through the first half after a theatrical fall by striker Grant Holt under meagre contact from Matt Connolly in the penalty area. In truth both teams seemed happy with a point from pretty early in the second half and a goalless draw was a fair result from a drab fixture.

QPR: Kenny 7, Walker 8, Connolly 8, Gorkss 8, Hill 7, Derry 6, Buzsaky 7 (Leigertwood 27, 4), Mackie 6, Taarabt 6 (Smith 76), Ephraim 5 (Agyemang 69, 5), Helguson 6

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Orr, Clarke, Faurlin

Booked: Derry (dissent), Mackie (foul)

Norwich: Ruddy 7, R Martin 7, Barnett 6, Ward 7, Drury 6 (Steven Smith 58, 6), Crofts 7, Hoolahan 5 (C Martin 69, 6), Smith 6, Lappin 6, Holt 7, Jackson 5

Subs Not Used: Rudd, Fox, Johnson, McNamee, Berthel Askou

Booked: Ward (foul), Barnett (impeding throw in), Lappin (foul)

Previous Results

2011/12 QPR 1 Norwich 2 (Barton)

2011/12 Norwich 2 QPR 1 (Young)

2010/11 Norwich 1 QPR 0

2010/11 QPR 0 Norwich 0

2008/09 QPR 0 Norwich 1

2008/09 Norwich 0 QPR 1 (Rowlands)

2007/08 Norwich 3 QPR 0

2007/08 QPR 1 Norwich 0 (Rowlands)

2006/07 Norwich 1 QPR 0

2006/07 QPR 3 Norwich 3 (Rowlands 2, Smith)

2005/06 Norwich 3 QPR 2 (Ainsworth, Cook)

2005/06 QPR 3 Norwich 0 (Furlong, Santos, Nygaard)

2000/01 Norwich 1 QPR 0

2000/01 QPR 2 Norwich 3 (Carlisle, Wardley)

1999/00 QPR 2 Norwich 2 (Kiwomya 2)

1999/00 Norwich 2 QPR 1 (Wardley)

1998/99 QPR 2 Norwich 0 (Murray, Peacock)

1998/99 Norwich 4 QPR 2 (Sheron, Peacock)

1997/98 Norwich 0 QPR 0

1997/98 QPR 1 Norwich 1 (Peacock)

1996/97 QPR 3 Norwich 2 (Peacock, Dichio, McDermott)

1996/97 Norwich 1 QPR 1 (Impey)

1994/95 QPR 2 Norwich 0 (Ferdinand, Gallen)

1994/95 Norwich 4 QPR 2 (Barker, Gallen)

1993/94 Norwich 3 QPR 4 (Barker, Penrice, Peacock, White)

1993/94 QPR 2 Norwich 2 (Sinclair, Ferdinand)

1992/93 QPR 3 Norwich 1 (Ferdinand 2, Wilson)

1992/93 Norwich 2 QPR 1 (Allen)

1991/92 Norwich 0 QPR 1 (Bailey)

1991/92 QPR 0 Norwich 2

1990/91 Norwich 1 QPR 0

1990/91 QPR 1 Norwich 3 (Wegerle)

1989/90 QPR 2 Norwich 1 (Falco, Clarke)

1989/90 Norwich 0 QPR 0

1988/89 QPR 1 Norwich 1 (Falco)

1988/89 Norwich 1 QPR 0

1987/88 QPR 3 Norwich 0 (Channing, Coney, Fereday)

1987/88 Norwich 1 QPR 1 (Allen)

1986/87 QPR 1 Norwich 1 (Rosenior)

1986/87 Norwich 1 QPR 0

1984/85 QPR 2 Norwich 2 (Fereday, Wicks)

1984/85 Norwich 2 QPR 0

1983/84 QPR 2 Norwich 0 (Dawes, Waddock)

1983/84 Norwich 0 QPR 3 (Stainrod, Fenwick 2)

1981/82 Norwich 0 QPR 1 (Roeder)

1981/82 QPR 2 Norwich 0 (Stainrod, Gregory)

1978/79 QPR 0 Norwich 0

1978/79 Norwich 1 QPR 1 (G Francis)

1977/78 QPR 2 Norwich 1 (Eastoe, Cunningham)

1977/78 Norwich 1 QPR 1 (Needham)

1976/77 Norwich 2 QPR 0

1976/77 QPR 2 Norwich 3 (Masson, Webb)

1975/76 Norwich 3 QPR 2 (Thomas, Powell og)

1975/76 QPR 2 Norwich 0 (Masson, Bowles)

1973/74 QPR 1 Norwich 2 (Bowles

1973/74 Norwich 0 QPR 0

1971/72 QPR 0 Norwich 0

1971/72 Norwich 0 QPR 0

1970/71 Norwich 3 QPR 0

1970/71 QPR 0 Norwich 1

1969/70 QPR 4 Norwich 0 (Marsh, Venables, Clarke, Bridges)

1969/70 Norwich 1 QPR 0

1967/68 Norwich 0 QPR 0

1967/68 QPR 2 Norwich 0 (Keen, I Morgan)

1959/60 QPR 0 Norwich 0

1959/60 Norwich 1 QPR 0

1958/59 Norwich 5 QPR 1 (Longbottom)

1958/59 QPR 2 Norwich 1 (Longbottom, Kerrins)

1957/58 QPR 1 Norwich 1 (Cameron)

1957/58 Norwich 2 QPR 0

1956/57 Norwich 1 QPR 2 (Longbottom, Painter)

1956/57 QPR 3 Norwich 1 (Angell, Locke, Quigley)

1955/56 Norwich 1 QPR 0

1955/56 QPR 2 Norwich 3 (Petchley, Smith)

1954/55 QPR 2 Norwich 1 (Angell, Cameron)

1954/55 Norwich 1 QPR 1 (Smith)

1953/54 QPR 0 Norwich 2

1953/54 Norwich 2 QPR 2 (Clayton, Hawkins)

1952/53 QPR 3 Norwich 1 (Waugh 2, Tomkys)

1952/53 Norwich 2 QPR 0

1947/48 Norwich 5 QPR 2 (Hatton, Smith)

1947/48 QPR 3 Norwich 1 (Hatton, McEwan, Pettison)

1946/47 Norwich 0 QPR 1 (Mills)

1946/47 QPR 2 Norwich 0*(Hatton, Mills)

1946/47 Norwich 4 QPR 4* (Mills 2, McEwen, Pattison)

1946/47 QPR 1 Norwich 1 (Hatton)

1933/34 Norwich 1 QPR 0

1933/34 QPR 5 Norwich 2 (Blackman 2, Emmerson 2, Clarke)

1932/33 QPR 2 Norwich 2 (Goodier, Howe)

1932/33 Norwich 3 QPR 2 (Marcroft, Goddard)

1931/32 QPR 2 Norwich 2 (Blackman, Cribb)

1931/32 Norwich 2 QPR 1 (Lewis)

1930/31 QPR 3 Norwich 1 (Goddard 2, Rounce)

1930/31 Norwich 1 QPR 1 (Goddard)

1929/30 QPR 3 Norwich 2 (Goddard 3)

1929/30 Norwich 3 QPR 0

1928/29 Norwich 3 QPR 1 (Goddard)

1928/29 QPR 3 Norwich 0 (Coward 2, Rounce)

1927/28 QPR 0 Norwich 0

1927/28 Norwich 3 QPR 1 (Johnson)

1926/27 Norwich 0 QPR 1 (Lofthouse)

1926/27 QPR 4 Norwich 0 (Goddard 2, Lofthouse, Vargo)

1925/26 QPR 0 Norwich 1

1925/26 Norwich 1 QPR 1 (Whitehead)

1924/25 Norwich 5 QPR 0

1924/25 QPR 1 Norwich 2 (Ogley)

1923/24 Norwich 5 QPR 0

1923/24 QPR 2 Norwich 1 (Parker, Johnson)

1922/23 QPR 2 Norwich 0 (Gregory, Birch)

1922/23 Norwich 1 QPR 1 (Davis)

1921/22 QPR 2 Norwich 0 (Gregory, Smith)

1921/22 Norwich 0 QPR 0

1920/21 QPR 2 Norwich 0 (Gregory, Birch)

1920/21 Norwich 2 QPR 0

1909/10 QPR 3 Norwich 0* (Steer, McNaught, Whyman)

1909/10 Norwich 0 QPR 0*

* - FA Cup

Connections

Chris Woods >>> QPR 1979-1981 >>> Norwich 1981-1986

Chris Woods came through the ranks at Nottingham Forest, where he signed professional terms in 1976 prior to their promotion to the First Division in 1977 and immediate league title triumph. That promotion brought with it the signature of Peter Shilton who would spend the best part of the next decade keeping Woods out of teams – Forest at first, and then later England.

As Shilton was cup tied when he arrived Woods, aged 18, played the club’s League Cup ties meaning that he featured for them in the competition’s final against Liverpool at Wembley before he’d actually made his league debut. He kept a clean sheet in the first match, a 0-0 draw, and the second which Brian Clough’s men won 1-0.

Shilton was an immovable object though and QPR saw their chance to pick up the promising Woods in a £200,000 deal in the summer of 1979. He arrived with a European Cup winner’s medal – he’d been an unused substitute in Forest’s final win against Malmo - but without a first team appearance in the league to his name. Rangers had sold Phil Parkes to West Ham during the 1978/79 season and replaced him briefly with Derek Richardson but needed a permanent number one.

Woods filled that position in 1979/80, missing just one game as the R’s finished fifth in Division Two. He was first choice to begin with in 1980/81 as well but he lost his place to John Burridge midway through the campaign and was purchased for £225,000 by Norwich City in March after 72 starts for Rangers. He spent five years at Carrow Road, winning England caps and making 267 appearances. He won the League Cup for a second time, helping the Canaries beat Sunderland 1-0 in 1985, but they were relegated that season as well. Woods won the Second Division title with Norwich at the first attempt before moving to Scottish giants Rangers for £600,000 in 1986.

Rangers, managed by Graeme Souness, had something of an influx of players from south of the border around this time with the ban on English clubs in European competitions in place. Woods won four league titles and four league cups while at Ibrox before moving to big spending Sheffield Wednesday in 1991 for £1.2m. Wednesday reached both cup finals in 1993 but lost on both occasions and missed out on UEFA Cup qualification.

He was eventually replaced by Kevin Pressman at Hillsborough and his career wound down with brief spells in this country with Southampton and Burnley and in the US with Colarado Rapids. He has been the Everton goalkeeping coach since 1998 and the USA national keeper coach since 2011. He won 42 caps for England, initially as an understudy to Peter Shilton, then as number one under Graham Taylor before David Seaman took over.

Others >>> Lee Camp, QPR (loan) 2004, (loan) 2007, 2007-2009, Norwich (loan) 2006 >>> Jimmy Smith, QPR (loan) 2006-2007, Norwich (loan) 2007 >>> Jason Jarrett, Norwich 2005-2006, QPR (loan) 2007-2008 >>> Zesh Rehman, Norwich (loan) 2006, QPR 2006-2009 >>> Jamie Cureton, Norwich 1993-1996, 2007-2010, QPR 2004-2005 >>> Dean Marney, QPR (loan) 2004, Norwich (loan) 2005 >>> Robert Taylor, Norwich 1990-1991, QPR (loan) 2001 >>> Peter Crouch, QPR 2000-2001, Norwich (loan) 2003 >>>Paul Peschisolido, QPR (loan) 2000, Norwich (loan) 2001>>> Brian McGovern, QPR (loan) 1999-2000, Norwich 2000-2002 >>> Bruce Rioch, QPR (coach) 1996-1997, Norwich (manager) 1998-2000 >>> Matt Jackson, QPR (loan) 1996, Norwich 1996-2001 >>> Mike Sheron, Norwich 1994-1995, QPR 1997-1999 >>> Andy Linighan, Norwich 1988-1990, QPR (loan) 1999 >>> Dean Coney, QPR 1987-1989, Norwich 1989-1991 >>> John O’Neill, QPR 1987, Norwich 1987-1988 >>> Glenn Roeder , QPR 1978-1983, Norwich (manager) 2007-2009 >>> Chris Woods, QPR 1979-1981, Norwich 1981-1986

Memorable Match

Norwich 3 QPR 4, Saturday March 12, 1994, Premiership

QPR had endured a frustrating start to 1994 prior to their March trip to Carrow Road. Since beating Oldham at Loftus Road on December 27 they’d gone eight matches without a win which had included a humiliating FA Cup exit at the hands of lower league Stockport County. Dreadful weather and other team’s cup ties meant they only played once from January 22 through to March 5, a home defeat by Manchester United, but the rest had done little to ease Gerry Francis’ crippling injury list which accounted for England striker Les Ferdinand, captain Alan McDonald, winger Andy Impey, England Under 21 international Bradley Allen and others for the game at Norwich.

Things looked bleak when Norwich opened the scoring early. Efan Ekouko, a perennial scourge of QPR teams around this time, set the chance up with a powerful run into the area and when City then worked the ball wide to the right for a deep cross the Nigerian striker headed home at the far post despite appearing to foul Steve Yates in the process.

One of those days? No, one of those days. Rangers came roaring back after half time, equalising immediately after the restart when Ray Wilkins’ corner dropped plum onto the right boot of Simon Barker who had stolen into the six yard box late and unmarked to slam in the leveller.

That good work was quickly undone when Yates found himself bullied out of the game by Ekouko once more. This time the powerful forward muscled the QPR defender out of the way, seized on a long ball from Ian Crook and then lofted it high over Jan Stejskal and into the unguarded net as the Czech goalkeeper foolishly rushed 30 yards down field to try and rescue Yates from his recurring nightmare.

But Rangers had smelt blood from set pieces with their first goal and they equalised for a second time when Gary Penrice’s long throw was flicked on by the ungainly figure of Devon White and then headed beautifully into the top corner by centre back Darren Peacock. And there was more where that came from too; the R’s took the lead for the first time in the game when Sinclair powered down the right flank and crossed for Penrice to head home an absolute screamer from 12 yards out.

Francis sent on defensive midfielder Ian Holloway for young winger Michael Meaker in an attempt to hold onto the lead, but in actual fact Holloway ended up having a big hand in extending it. The former Bristol Rovers man threaded a ball in behind a static home defence for big Devon White to lollop onto before sliding a cool finish past Bryan Gunn and into the Norwich net for a fourth goal. Only at QPR could Les Ferdinand, one of the finest centre forwards in Europe at that time, be covered when injured by Devon White and goals from the Frank Bruno look-a-like were always celebrated extra hard by the Rangers faithful. Even now, 18 years on, I can remember watching him stride through onto that and finish as if he actually had some footballing ability. It was an outstanding moment.

Norwich halved the deficit in injury time when current QPR coach Mark Bowen curled home a right footed shot from long range after being teed up by Chris Sutton but there was only to be one winner from that point – Bruno, and Queens Park Rangers.

QPR: Stejskal, Bardsley, Yates, Peacock, Wilson, Meaker (Holloway), Barker, Wilkins, Sinclair, Penrice, White

Highlights >>> Norwich 2 QPR 1 2011/12 >>> QPR 0 Norwich 0 2010/11 >>> QPR 3 Norwich 0 04/05 >>> Norwich 2 QPR 0 1984/85 >>> Norwich 3 QPR 2 1976 >>> QPR 2 Norwich 0 1967

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Pictures – Action Images

Photo: Action Images

TacticalR added 22:48 - Aug 22 Always liked Chris Woods. It can't have been easy following on from Phil Parkes, who had been revered. Woods' replacement John Burridge was a bit of a clown.
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