Next Up: Queens Park Rangers at Home. Capital One Cup

A good win and a decent performance to match in the season opener on Saturday ensures Paul Tisdale’s City side will be in buoyant mood ahead of the visit of ‘Arry Redknapp and his QPR all-stars on Tuesday night for what promises to be an entertaining Capital One Cup encounter. As is his wont, Tisdale sprung a few surprises with his selection especially in light of a very settled line-up in pre-season, Jordan Moore-Taylor preferred to Aaron Dawson at right back while the mercurial Alan Gow had to make do with a place on the bench with John O’Flynn up front alongside Sam Parkin, who marked his debut with a fine goal. Matt Oakley missed out altogether with a niggle, but may hope to be in contention to play on Tuesday night.

When the draw for this competition was made in June, this tie was immediately picked up as the “tie of the round” aka how the mighty have fallen. QPR, despite paying out the GDP of a medium-sized nation in wages last season, found themselves easily relegated in what was a shambles of a season. They have said goodbye to a few of their high earners, and also City supporters have been denied the chance to welcome back Jamie Mackie, the energetic forward having signed for Nottingham Forest just before the season kicked off. One name expected to be in the line-up, however, will be Joey Barton – whether he still retains his comedic French accent from his stint across the channel last season remains to be seen. Another high profile name added to the QPR roster during the summer was Steve McLaren, the former England boss (another to hone a funny foreign accent) having joined ‘Arry’s backroom staff.

The last meeting between the sides was a few short weeks ago, QPR winning the pre-season friendly 2-0. The margin of victory was wider in the last competitive fixture, as a Wayne Routledge-inspired QPR scored five (all in the second half) against League One newcomers City in August 2009, Scott Golbourne sent off on his home debut for handball. Once upon a time this was a fairly regular Football League fixture, QPR enjoying a big lead in the head-to-head with 28 wins to City’s 14 (17 draws).

A few eyebrows were raised when Sky’s selections for live TV coverage missed out this fixture, but if you are unable to make it to the Park the BBC has announced that the match will be their live commentary game on Five Live, so you can still get close to the action.

Match Officials details and ticket information can be found on this link.