AFTER THEIR SIXTH consecutive Championship clean sheet, QPR boss Harry Redknapp had high praise for new signing Richard Dunne.
The Ireland stalwart was allowed to leave Aston Villa after a troubled year with injury and Redknapp expressed disbelief that his attempt to bring the Dubliner down a division was not scuppered by a top-flight side.
“That’s what he is (a commanding centre half),” Redknapp told BBC Sport in the wake of yesterday’s 1 – 0 win away to Yeovil.
“We lost our best player last year when Ryan Nelson went to Canada, we brought Richard Dunne in.
“When we got him, we were chasing him, but I thought ‘a Premier League club’s gotta take him.’ He’s that good. I couldn’t believe no one came in for him. We were lucky we got him.”
Charlie Austin converted a penalty to keep the Rs three-point clear in the race for promotion and though Redknapp was initially asked about the contribution of Rob Green to their run of clean sheets, it was telling that the manager quickly redirected his focus:
“Yeah, we’re lucky we’ve got a good keeper. Richard Dunne came in this summer and made a real difference to the club, to the team – a real proper centre-half, that’s been important for us.”
In classic Redknapp style however, he was sure to highlight areas in his squad which he feels need to be strengthened.
“We’ve got a good group of lads, working hard. We’re short of strikers, short of centre-halves. Only got those two today (Dunne and Clint Hill) and they’re 33, 34 years of age.
“I’ve got no spares. I’ve got a young kid on the bench today who was out on loan at Stevenage, we’ve got no cover at right back.
“We can’t continue with one striker, we can’t keep winning one-nil – eventually we’ve got to score two goals.”
Division 3 for Kildare is a disaster. 7-100 conceded is some amount to be shipped in and that’s against the second tier teams. Leinster football is looking in an awful state. Next year there will be only 3 Leinster teams in the top two division while Ulster will have 8 out of the 9.
Fine character though he is, I think mickey Harte is hanging on for too long. Or perhaps they haven’t the heart to replace him, which would be understandable too.