Queens Park Rangers came back down to earth with a bump on Tuesday night as Coventry City inflicted their first defeat in six matches.
On Saturday evening Luigi De Canio must have been wondering if English football was going to be that easy to crack all the time. By 10pm on Tuesday he'd have been forgiven for doing exactly what I did and downing a stiff double whiskey as the size of the task was laid bare before him. The Italian may have just had the easiest and hardest days he's ever likely to have as QPR manager within his first two matches. Against a lifeless Hull side on Saturday he probably could have picked any combination of 11 players from our squad (Moore and Rehman apart of course) and still beaten the visitors with something to spare. Against an altogether more impressive Coventry City he couldn't stand up for falling down. No sooner had one problem been corrected than another one reared its head. Rangers lost the spine of their team to injury before half time - Martin Cranie broke his leg in an innocuous looking incident, Mikele Leigertwood suffered a nasty facial injury after taking a boot to the head and Marc Nygaard did what he always does after four or five excellent performances, pulled something or other and vanished down the tunnel for another six weeks. Prior to that De Canio had basically selected the same team. Scott Sinclair arrived on loan from Chelsea in the morning and took Hogan Ephraim's place on the left wing - nobody seemed quite sure what time of yesterday young Hogan's loan ended so he didn't play. With so many loans this season and such complicated rules surrounding the use of borrowed players I'd expect more confusion like this to occur in the coming months. As we're not Leeds United we're unlikely to be looked on as favourably as they were for fielding more temporary signings than they should have done at Burnley last season so we need to make sure we're bang on with the rules, confusion like this doesn't inspire me greatly. So Camp started in goal behind Mancienne, Cranie, Stewart and Barker. Leigertwood and Buzsaky played in the middle with Rowlands on one wing and Sinclair on the other, up front Vine was in after an eleventh hour extension to his loan and Nygaard was again his preferred partner. Play off chasing City came at QPR with a fearsome forward line for this division. Leon Best is a decent young striker in the Championship but the main threat came from the other members of Dowie's surprisingly adventurous three pronged attack. When I saw Dele Adebola play for Bradford City at MK Dons a few years back I assumed his career was on the wane and he was heading in the direction of Oxford United but he's come back from that and is now a really difficult opponent for anybody, once you get tight to him he's big enough to turn you and quick enough to accelerate away, he caused Rangers problems throughout the second half. City's chief threat was the much talked about Michael Mifsud. My God that lad is quick, and he gave Rangers all they wanted last night. He looks to be an outstanding player at this level but did let himself and his club down with some terrible play acting. Once in each half he produced a stop, drop and roll combo that would make Christiano Ronaldo wet. Both times the referee told him to get to his feet, but he should have been booked at least once. Other than that he was outstanding. The thought of Leon McKenzie still to come back into this side should be a worrying one for the other teams chasing the play offs - only Coventry's financial problems and subsequent transfer activity in January, when you would think some of these decent players may attract bids, will cause them problems. The game started very slowly and Mancienne having to hack the ball away into the Loft for a corner after a dangerous cross from Leon Best was about as exciting as the first quarter of an hour got. The injury to Cranie was the first real action of any note after 20 minutes. After putting in a tackle on former QPR loanee Best he struggled to get to his feet and then left the field for treatment just below where I was sitting. After a couple of minutes working on him physio Paul Hunter asked him to stand up but when he did it was clear that his night was over - he could put no weight through the leg at all and the signal immediately went back to the bench that he wouldn't be able to continue. Sammy Timoska came on to replace him at centre half but after half time moved to full back with Mancienne partnering Stewart in the middle. Mifsud looked to capitalise on the confusion seconds later but dragged a shot from the edge of the box wide of the post. Other than that the only thing to get excited about was a linesman on the opposite side of the pitch who, it seemed, had just been roped off the street at half seven, given a few minutes to acquaint himself with the laws of the game and then slung out there. For the opening half an hour he may as well have pleasured himself with the flag as he stubbornly refused to raise it for anything. Three or four times Coventry broke through the line in what looked like stone wall offside decisions but he did nothing. Obviously this angered those sitting behind him in Ellerslie Road quite considerably and maybe one of them leant over the hoardings and explained the offside rule to him because suddenly for the last 15 minutes of the half, and the rest of the game in fact, everybody was offside. He wouldn't put the bloody thing down, in fact he may as well have just run around with it up in the air. The fact that he was ten yards behind play at all times didn't help him much. Useless. Scott Sinclair had a quiet debut overall but did produce one flash of brilliance in the first half. He wriggled free of two would be tacklers with a sublime piece of skill when it looked like he was trapped on the byline and hammered the resulting chance across goal and out. Overall though he lacked match fitness and sharpness, and any kind of decent service. He will improve. At the Loft End a smart save from Lee Camp spared Martin Rowlands' blushes after his sliding tackle on Adebola sent the ball hurtling towards the bottom corner and De Zeeuw headed a corner a foot or so over the bar but the rest of the half was taken up by more work for Hunter and De Canio on the QPR bench. First Leigertwood took a boot to the head from Doyle and had to leave the field, Adam Bolder came on for him, then Marc Nygaard started gesticulating and pointing to his thigh which meant Daniel Nardiello came on for him. Coventry had looked the better side without these set backs, and were certainly winning the midfield battle hands down. De Canio sought to address this during the interval by switching to a 4-5-1 formation and using Vine wide on the right. With all three substitutions now made the Italian had to make the best of what he had but leaving Nardiello up front alone certainly wasn't ideal. In the opening five minutes of the second period both sides had chances to take the lead. First Michael Mifsud looked all set to add to his tally of ten for the season when he slipped in between Mancienne and Stewart but Timoska arrived right on cue with a trademark covering ball and all tackle from full back. It's impossible not to admire Timoska's ability to arrive with these bone crunching tackles at just the right time over and over again and I hope he'll be used frequently by the new manager. However it had taken just two minutes of the half for one to be required - Mancienne and Stewart really do not make a good partnership together. It's hard to remember a covering full back tackle being needed in the last five games but suddenly Cranie goes off and Timoska's having to fly in here there and everywhere. Fresh from that survival Rangers went on the attack and took the lead with a sublime first goal for the club from Akos Buzsaky. Doyle only half cleared Damion Stewart's long ball and after collecting possession Buzsaky arrowed a 20 yarder into the far corner. The Hungarian is known for his spectacular goals and hopefully this is the first of many - that's three goal of the season contenders in four days at Loftus Road. But QPR soon started to have problems. Adebola dragged a shot wide of the post and then a bad challenge from Leon Best on Michael Mancienne went unnoticed by the officials but left the loaned Chelsea defender hobbling for the rest of the match. With no subs left he had to soldier on. By the end of the match Stewart was also limping and the likes of Buzsaky, Sinclair and Nardiello were blowing through every orifice. The difference in fitness between the sides was embarrassing and surely won't have escaped the notice of our new coaches. In the end it cost us the game because Coventry came home with a wet sail. On the hour confusion between Stewart and Mancienne (not the first time I've written that this season) gave Mifsud a sniff and with his pace and ability that's all he needed. He walked around Camp and forced the ball over the line despite a brave attempt to keep the ball out on the line by Sam Timoska - to be honest I thought he'd succeeded in getting it round the post. Without seeing a replay I can't comment but I'd question whether or not Mifsud was onside because he certainly didn't look it. I wouldn't trust either of the two linesman to officiate at an under tens park match so it wouldn't surprise me if he was slightly the wrong side. QPR struggled for the next half an hour but they really didn't make it easier on themselves. Time and time again they met a long ball down field from Coventry with an identical punt straight back. Mancienne was particularly guilty of this - five or six times he met a loose ball on the half volley under no pressure and hacked it straight back down the field to a Coventry player. That's unforgivable for a player of his ability but he certainly wasn't the only one. With our players struggling we needed to keep the ball, get it down and wide with Vine and Sinclair. Adam Bolder did his best, an improved showing from him I thought, but it wasn't enough. Coventry had Arjen De Zeeuw standing at the heart of their defence. Now what does De Zeeuw not like? He doesn't like pace. He doesn't like little strikers running round his ankles with the ball. What he does like is receiving nice easy free headers all the live long day and that's exactly what we gave him. My God it was infuriating - after so much good football on Saturday as well. It didn't suit Nardiello at all but he could have done more to involve himself - one bottled challenge by the corner flag at the Loft End hardly endeared himself to the QPR fans and hopefully there'll be better to come as he gains match sharpness and confidence. I think he's a good player but he must improve on this showing. Staying onside every now and again would help. The service to him was poor, and he probably played longer than he really should have done after a spell out, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Camp denied Adebola and Mifsud with good saves in the closing ten minutes as QPR continued to wilt. Adebola was being allowed to do his trademark turn and run by Barker, Stewart and Mancienne who all got too close to him at one time or another, Stewart was the only one with enough pace to stay with him and execute a tackle which he did well on a couple of occasions. Mifsud looked like he was going to score every time he got the ball. Dowie smelt blood and sent on another huge front man Kevin Kyle in place of Leon Best. Damion Stewart had a header from a rare QPR corner deflected wide and in injury time ran in under a free kick from Rowlands when a firm connection would have resulted in a goal but by that time QPR were chasing the game. Deep into injury time Hall stood a lovely ball up to the back post and the game was up - Coventry had half their squad queuing up at the back post for it but Kyle took charge and powered the ball into the top corner after easily out jumping Timoska in front of the jubilant travelling City fans. That's three consecutive wins for Coventry at Loftus Road now, and two of those have come courtesy of a last minute winner. To be honest there are positives to take from this. There were people sitting near me last night moaning about Coventry being a poor team. They're not. At this level Coventry are a strong, effective unit with flair in the right areas. In this league you're not going to get an Arsenal passing everybody to death. Coventry are a good Championship side and we were seconds away from getting a point against them despite losing three of our outstanding players from the last month before half time. We had to rearrange our defence, midfield and attack all before the break. We had to go from working with Nygaard as the focal point of the attack to working with Nardiello who was clearly off the pace after his injury and even if that wasn't a case when you remove a 6ft 7ins tall brute of a target man and replace him with a 5ft 8ins technical forward who would normally play off a target man himself it's going to be difficult. The organisation in defence went to the dogs when Cranie went off and it's no surprise really that having conceded one goal in five matches with him at the back we conceded two in 60 minutes after he'd gone. Centre back is a key position for us to address now because I don't like Stewart and Mancienne together - for whatever reason the two of them regress terribly when partnered. De Canio suddenly has some serious thinking to do ahead of everybody's favourite away trip on Saturday - Crystal Palace. The Eagles appointed Neil Warnock last month to replace Peter Taylor and wouldn't you just know it the odious git hasn't managed one win yet. With Cranie returning to Portsmouth I can almost write the match report here and now. Injury hit Rangers unable to prevent Warnock getting his first win as Palace manager, defensive frailties and confusion cost QPR a couple of goals, referee Peter Walton steadfastly refuses to award Rangers two blatant penalties because that's what he always does, Warnock confronts Walton after the match regardless because that's what he always does, QPR fans look cold and leave early muttering about being £25 out of pocket, man of the match Lee Camp. See you all there. QPR: Camp 6, Mancienne 5, Stewart 7, Cranie 6 (Timoska 20, 6), Barker 6, Rowlands 5, Leigertwood 6 (Bolder 39, 6), Buzsaky 6, Sinclair 5, Vine 5, Nygaard 5 (Nardiello 44, 5) Coventry: Konstantopoulos 6, McNamee 6 (Stephen Hughes 90, -),De Zeeuw 7, Turner 7, Hall 7, Osbourne 7, Doyle 7, Tabb 7, Mifsud 8, Adebola 8,Best 7 (Kyle 75, 7) QPR Star Man - Damion Stewart 7 - Really difficult to pick a star man for all the wrong reasons. Stewart did ok but the mistakes crept back in once Cranie had gone off, probably a toss up between him and Timoska for me. Showed decent strength and excellent pace in his battle with Adebola but didn't look quite as comfortable once Cranie had gone off. Referee: Tony Bates (Staffordshire) 7 - No cards all night which I like to see, always rather see the players be allowed to have a proper man's match rather than being whistled at and booked all the time. Having said that there one or two naughty ones he missed, particularly the one by Best on Mancienne that rendered him half fit for the remainder of the half. Sadly let down by two abysmal linesman, particularly the one on the Ellerslie Road side. I'd like to take his flag and smack him round the head with it. Attendance: 11,922 (1000 Coventry fans approx) The Rangers crowd backed their side well throughout and the Coventry fans certainly showed what travelling support is all about after Saturday's church like atmosphere down the School End. They went wild when Kyle scored and who can blame them? Always noisy visitors to the Bush.
Subs Not Used: Cole, Ainsworth
Goals: Buzsaky 50 (unassisted)
Subs Not Used: Marshall, Ward, Cairo
Goals: Mifsud 61 (unassisted), Kyle 90 (assisted Hall)