Matthew Connolly has urged Queens Park Rangers to reignite their home record as they host Middlesbrough.
Defender feels Loftus Road form will be key to promotion push
Matthew Connolly has urged Queens Park Rangers to reignite their home record as they host Middlesbrough on Saturday.
The Rs were in scintillating form at Loftus Road earlier in the season, scoring 13 goals in three straight home games as they brushed aside Barnsley, Preston and Reading.
But Jim Magilton's men have since claimed just two points from nine at home after being held 2-2 by Coventry last Saturday.
That has stalled their promotion push yet the Rs are still very much in the play-off shake-up as they could go above third-placed Leicester by beating Boro this weekend.
"If you want to be up there, you have to win your home games,"
Connolly told
skysports.com. "Then away from home take it game by game and get what you can.
"It's been disappointing not to win any of our last three home games but now we've just got to concentrate on beating Middlesbrough.
"We've done fantastic at home this season and it helps create a great atmosphere at Loftus Road. If we can play the same football and get that back then hopefully we can get back to winning ways."
Good blend
Magilton may make changes against Boro having criticised his side's defending against Coventry, with the visitors denying the Rs all three points by scoring from a late free-kick.
Connolly feels that most Championship managers envy the players Magilton has at his disposal and believes Rangers' high-profile owners have helped build a squad capable of staying in the promotion race.
"The takeover is done now so that doesn't bother us (the players),"
he said. "Other people still talk about it and there's a lot of interest in the owners but we're just focusing on what we do on the pitch.
"We've been playing more attacking football since the new manager came in in the summer, he's been a good appointment, and I think a lot of clubs in this division would do anything for a squad like ours.
"If somebody comes out then we've got other players to come in and do a job. There's some great talent in our squad and I think there's a very good blend between youth and experience.
"We've got young kids that have been involved with clubs like Arsenal and Tottenham, like Wayne Routledge, Jay Simpson, Adel Taarabt and myself," added the ex-Arsenal trainee.
"Then we've got another group of players who have got lots of experience at this level like Gavin Mahon, Martin Rowlands and Damion Stewart.
"We've got a fantastic mix and I think we've got a good chance of doing something. We've just got to push on now and try to be up there at the end of the season."
