After a fantastic 3-1 win against high-flying Southampton, Bristol City came undone against a relegation threatened QPR side this afternoon at Ashton Gate. A goal from Ilias Chair was enough to confirm all three points for the visitors and move Cifuentes’ side within 1 point of safety in the Championship.
As the game got underway, there was little to pick between the two sides after 15 minutes of play. Bristol City saw bright spells from Samuel Bell on the left hand side, the 26 year whipping in dangerous crosses and providing chances for the hosts. However, a worrying sight for the City faithful was when the winger went down under no pressure with a suspected hamstring injury. He was replaced by Harry Cornick after just 24 minutes and this affected the Robins massively.
Bell was their main playmaker and they could only produce a handful of half chances which either missed the target or were comfortably dealt with by the experienced Asmir Begovic in the QPR goal. However, a huge chance came to the home team after Ross McCrorie was fouled on the edge of the box, earning Isaac Hayden the only booking of the match. The former QPR man, Nakhi Wells, stepped up but fired his effort over the crossbar harmlessly.
Despite an onslaught of Bristol City pressure, QPR played well on the counter and created an opportunity in the 40th minute. Bristol City were wasteful with their attempts and in the 41st minute Ilias Chair would make them pay. January signing Lucas Andersen showed a brilliant turn of pace and skill to beat Haydon Roberts on the right hand side. He cut the ball back to an unmarked Ilias Chair who stroke the ball into the bottom corner with ease making the score 1-0 to the visitors and sending the travelling fans into ecstasy.
Little more would happen in the first 45 as City entered the tunnel 1-0 down at half time. Liam Manning would need an inspired team talk to turn this game around and continue his side’s push to the play offs.
The second half got underway, with QPR starting the stronger of the two sides. A clever free kick left Ilias Chair in acres of space on the right wing but his effort was dealt with well and parried away by Max O’Leary.
Manning looked to his bench for answers, making a triple substitution in the 54th minute with Conway, Gardner-Hickman and Medube replacing Williams, Knight and Mehmeti.
Despite these attacking changes, the next chance would fall to QPR and it would be a huge one in their hopes to secure the away win. Lydon Dykes showed his physical prowess to hold off former team mate Rob Dickie in the Bristol City six yard box. He created himself a yard of space from the defence and offloaded the ball to Andersen who unleashed a fierce strike which looked destined to ripple the back of the net. However, Max O’Leary was equal to it and dived acrobatically to push the ball away and ensure the score remained 0-1.
Boos could be heard all around Ashton Gate and despite an extended period of pressure, the experienced Steve Cook and the rest of the QPR back line held firm.
Little more would occur till the 81st minute, when substitute Tommy Conway had a golden opportunity to level the proceedings. His shot from inside the six yard box rolled inches past the far post leaving the striker with his head in his hands and signaling a large proportion of the Bristol City faithful to leave early.
QPR remained resilient up until a huge chance which came in stoppage time for the hosts. A corner flicked on at the near post was heading directly to Nakhi Wells to tap in at the far post, only for Jake Clarke-Salter to divert the ball away brilliantly with his head over his own crossbar.
That was the final chance of the match and the referee blew his full time whistle, resulting in a fantastic hard-fought win for QPR.
