QPR 0-0 West Ham
Without his goals this season Queens Park Rangers would have long been dead and buried in the race for survival but Charlie Austin’s first half penalty miss in this otherwise dull scoreless draw has left Chris Ramsey’s team on the brink of a Championship return.
The QPR manager had spoken before kick-off of his team requiring three victories from their remaining five games if they were to survive.
Considering West Ham’s limp performances of late, this represented arguably their best chance of victory. Now daunting trips to Liverpool and Manchester City await and after Hull won at Crystal Palace time is running out.
Earlier in the campaign, QPR were entirely reliant on their home form to remain in touch. A dismal record away from Loftus Road, suffering 11 consecutive defeats, was their problem.
But since Ramsey assumed control in February, their record in west London has wilted. They had lost their past six home games before, despite a promising display against Chelsea a fortnight ago, and their only triumphs since Christmas have come at Sunderland and West Bromwich.
As for Sam Allardyce’s flaccid team, their desperate formline now reads one win from 13. A season that promised much has turned stodgy. Four games remain but some players appear to have one eye already trained on sun, sea and sand.
Some of the visiting support at Loftus Road must have which they could change their team as easily as David Cameron after this display. The game had started brightly when Sandro’s low drive was saved at the feet of Adrián after Matt Phillips’ through ball only 50 seconds in, while West Ham teenager Reece Burke, making his first Premier League start at 18, had a header cleared off the line by Nedum Onuoha three minutes in.
After such a healthy opening, it was disappointing that the game rapidly deteriorated into one bereft of genuine quality. Neither side was willing to take control, making Austin’s penalty miss midway through the opening period all the more crucial.
QPR, lacking pace out wide, were almost entirely focused on attacking down the middle and when the ball broke to Bobby Zamora in the area, he shot with his left and Collins, who was no more than two yards from the home striker, raised his right arm and blocked it. Austin drove it low and hard down the middle but Adrián got down to deny the striker an 18th of the season.
Phillips advanced and shot wide with West Ham looking for play to be stopped with Enner Valencia down injured on the half hour mark, while Phillips had a stinging shot blocked by an unaware Zamora seven minutes before the interval but apart from that little of note occurred.
The second period began slightly more lively. Stewart Downing shot wide after cutting in from the right and skipping past Barton, while Rob Green produced an impressive save to turn Aaron Cresswell’s free-kick over his crossbar. At the other end Sandro blasted wildly over before Zamora turned a shaky looking Burke on the edge of the area but could not find the target from around 12 yards.
Leroy Fer’s introduction with a shade more than 20 minutes to go invigorated the hosts and they had the ball in the net in the 73rd minute through Richard Dunne, only for his bundling effort to be ruled out by the referee, Mike Jones, after Steven Caulker fouled Adrian from a Phillips corner.
Desperation took hold entering the final 10 minutes, meaning QPR were also living dangerously and Cheikhou Kouyaté should have punished a ragged defence when fed by Valencia, who turned Dunne with ease. Kouyaté had all the time in the world to place his attempt but instead sent a rushed attempt over.
Adrián denied Phillips with a splendid stop in injury time but they could have played on till dusk and a goal would still have evaded them.
Guardian
