I have good cause to remember the match - Ray Wilkins decided to impose a ban on your scribe as a result of a post-match interview with Danny Dichio.
The QPR forward reckoned he had no desires to play in ‘Barnsley on a wet Tuesday night’: a reference to Rangers’ battle to avoid the drop. Manager Butch took it to mean his forward would be Dich-ing, ahem, W12 to avoid Oakwell the following campaign.
As it turned out, Wilkins was right. Dichio got an offer to play in the land of his father two months later, and Sampdoria was as far removed from Barnsley as football can imagine.
I might add me and the manager kissed and made up a lot quicker than Rs return to the top flight.
And in some ways this point on a sunny March day was cruel. It offered hope QPR false hope. After all, in the previous game Hoops carved out a 1-1 draw with Manchester United, and the game after this, watched by GetWestLondon from the Ellerslie Road stand, Rs beat Southampton 3-0.
But three defeats from the next six did for them.
Mark Hateley was symptomatic of a season gone wrong. He might have been an England international, but he was no replacement for Les Ferdinand, sold the previous summer to Newcastle for £6m.
In fact, Hateley was no replacement for anybody after he cost Rs a record £1.2m the previous November. Glasgow Rangers happily pocketed the money while Rs spent most of the first two months after his acquisition trying to get him fit.
He played only 13 minutes in this one; a late replacement for a youthful Kevin Gallen after Simon Barker on 19 minutes cancelled John Spencer’s eighth minute goal for the hosts.
Chelsea also flattered to deceive.
It started well enough with the news on the same day in summer ’95 Mark Hughes would be joining Ruud Gullit at the Bridge - then two of the biggest stars in world football.
Alas, the Blues could only peck away at improving a mid table slot, and got to the FA Cup semi-final only to fall to Manchester United at Villa Park.
At the end of the campaign, they lost manager Glenn Hoddle to England duties as well to be replaced by Gullit as player-manager, but they did have the satisfaction of playing Hoops three times that season - one in the FA Cup - and winning two of them.
Take a look at the list below of Chelsea players who later switched allegiance to Rangers, either as coach or player. I count five, six if you include Hoddle, and both he and Kevin Hitchcock will be in the away dugout on Saturday.
Chelsea: Kevin Hitchcock, Steve Clarke, Ruud Gullit, John Spencer (Gavin Peacock, 82), Mark Hughes (yellow card) (Paul Furlong yellow card, 52), Dennis Wise, Craig Burley, David Lee (Erland Johnsen, 79), Dan Petrescu, Terry Phelan, Mike Duberry
QPR: Jurgen Sommer, David Bardsley (yellow card), Danny Maddix (Karl Ready, 46), Alan McDonald, Steve Yates (Matt Brazier, 88), Rufus Brevett, Steve Barker yellow card, Andy Impey, Danny Dichio (yellow card), Kevin Gallen (Mark Hateley, 77), Trevor Sinclair
Referee: M D Reed
Attendance: 25,590
Keep up to date with all the build-up, matchday and post-game reaction to Chelsea v QPR right here on GetWestLondon.
