A late Jack Colback goal against Blackburn moved QPR to within an implausible three points of the play-offs while still sitting 13th in the table on Tuesday night – Andrew Scherer was reluctantly press ganged into summing it up for LFW.

With Clive away this week and first reserve Jamie Perry so traumatised by the experience of writing up Swansea A he went to extreme lengths to avoid writing another match report (becoming the first person in medical history to have an entire arm placed in plaster cast for a broken little finger), I was asked to move from occasional data column duties to cover the Blackburn game.

This not being Clive’s first rodeo, he asked me in the pub before Millwall when I was three pints deep and probably approaching peak pre-match anticipation. If he had asked me after, I suspect he might have got a different answer.

I hate going to Millwall. I hate the monosyllabic noises that belch out of the home end. I hate that they care so little about being hated they sing about it 47 times a game. I hate the fact that scientists still haven’t found the missing link between apes and humans when 10,000 of them gather at the New Den every other week.

And I really hate it when we lose there. So, I was not in the best mood on Saturday night.

I have, however, made it something of a new year’s resolution to (try to) not get (too) down after each loss. Millwall, like Sheffield Wednesday before it, not a game in which we played terribly and part of the natural variance of football: sometimes a match will be relatively even but the opposition will just come out on top.

In a league like the Championship, where there are three or four teams clearly head and shoulders above the rest (in terms of budget, skill levels, and willingness to hire Scott Parker), a handful who aren’t really good enough, then a huge blob of pretty similar sides bumping around the middle, you are inevitably going to get a lot of relatively even matches.

So, the theory goes, it doesn’t do well to expend too much energy wallowing in a defeat. Be annoyed, have a few beers with friends to digest it, move on. The flip side of that equation is to enjoy the wins when they come but not spend too much time daydreaming about sneaking into 6th on the final day of the season or agonising over plans for the May Bank Holiday.

It would take unprecedented levels of c’est un catastrophe, even for QPR, for us to get relegated from here (our current points total would have kept us up in five of the last ten seasons). It would equally require a lot to go our way if we were to seriously trouble the play-offs. We should really finish somewhere in the middle of the table, maybe around 60 points, and be pleased with a season of progress.

Where I am less clear is at what stage you reach a critical mass of things going our way to start getting excited.

Steve Cook getting injured against Preston felt like a body blow at the time, yet it led to the signing of Ronnie Edwards, comfortably the best defender (if not player) on the park last night and already winning hearts and minds in W12 with his front-foot defending, ability on the ball, and high cheekbones.

Jimmy Dunne looked for all the world like he was leaving over the weekend. But Sheffield United faffed around then opted for Rob Holding instead, leaving the player-of-the-year elect in situ and back in the side to win anything in his vicinity for fun. It says here that Blackburn’s left-winger Ryan Hedges is an inch taller than the Irishman. Aerial duels won: 0%.

And on Tuesday, despite being the better side overall, it was eventually a handball-assisted goal that enabled the Rs to overcome Rovers and move within touching distance of the play-offs (extra game played notwithstanding).

I am not being disrespectful to our performances, far from it Nick, which are broadly trending in the right direction. But on paper a side like ours will need lots of luck to be in the conversation come the business end of the season. As things stand it feels like we’re getting some of that.

Marti Cifuentes, back in the dugout here after his illness left him on the sofa on Saturday, intelligently shuffled his pack to enable his side to pick up from where they left off after a good second half at the New Den. Saito, impressive off the bench in South London and in Hull the week before, got the nod on the left, allowing Chair to move to a more central role behind Frey, in for Lloyd up front. Slightly surprisingly that meant Varane dropping to the bench and Morgan playing a deeper role alongside Sam Field. Fox was the one to make way for Dunne (greeted with big cheers around Loftus Road), with Edwards shifting from right-back to left centre-back alongside Cook.

It took just five minutes for the Rs to go ahead. A neat combination on the left saw Paal, Saito and Chair work the ball quickly between them to release the former down the flank, where he was fouled as he cut in towards the area.

After watching Paal find the near-post defender ad nauseam at the weekend (doing exactly what we've done 18 times before will be the last thing the enemy expect us to do this time), hopes weren’t necessarily high for the resulting delivery, with the left-back and Chair stood over the free-kick just inside corner flag. It was Chair who fizzed in an inswinger, flat and with pace, that Michael Frey simply had to encourage along into the net for his seventh goal of the season. 1-0 Rangers, easy as that.

Sort of. First goals are crucial in football, particularly in tight leagues like the Championship, particularly particularlyagainst well-drilled, hard-working teams like Blackburn. So having got in front it was somewhat frustrating that we contrived to spend the next ten minutes letting off some rounds in the direction of our own feet.

There were several instances of giving the ball away cheaply (Chair and a still-off-the-pace Cook both guilty) but most dangerous was a repeated failure to clear our lines. On ten minutes Dolan cut inside Dunne to feed Hedges, whose low cross was cleared weakly by the Rs captain, the ball hitting Weimann and falling straight to Beck on the corner of the six-yard box who saw his first-time effort rebound back into play off the crossbar. Disaster averted for now, Brittain hooked the resulting rebound back into the box from the right, which was met by Ronnie Edwards. His looped header back out wide just about made it out of the box but only found Gueye, who got to the byline and put in another weak-ish cross. Clear that one shall we lads? Nah. The otherwise outstanding Edwards showing why right-sided centre-backs can struggle on the left, allowing the ball to run across him so he could clear with his stronger foot, only to slice it back into the middle of the area where Dolan collected and got off a decent effort that was well saved by Nardi, the Frenchman collecting at the second time of asking.

A few minutes later with Rovers sensing blood, Paal received the ball from a short goal kick with right back Brittain bearing down on him. Lackadaisical at times in this match, as he has been too often this season, and now seemingly having also had some extra lessons from Harrison Ashby on the art of cutting inside, Paal ran straight into Brittain to give away possession in a dangerous area. Blackburn worked the ball to Travis whose attempted through ball was blocked but bobbled loose in the area. The midfielder followed up his pass and got there just before Saito but then took a belated theatrical tumble over the Japanese winger’s outstretched leg. Not a pen and referee James Linington, who was happy to let plenty of physical stuff go and allow the game flow, wasn’t buying it. Travis does go down over-easy.

Nevertheless it was almost another self-inflicted wound: you can credit Blackburn with working hard and pressing well but it was a period of unnecessary pressure brought about largely by our own poor decisions and execution. Clear the damn thing properly. If you are rocking a little, take your time over a long goal-kick, get the team up the pitch, and give Frey or Dunne something to battle for. Game management.

Fortunately, that ten-minute brain fart proved to be an aberration rather than a symptom of wider malaise. With the collective attempt to toss away an important early lead out of our system, Rangers started to settle into the game and create openings. Chair should have done better from a Saito pull back on 16 minutes, scooping his curled effort high and wide. In what became something of a theme for the evening, a meaningful drive out of defence by Edwards to beat the press led to him spraying a delightful cross-field pass out to Smyth, who cut inside well but his rasping shot from the edge of the area was always fading wide of the upright. The winger again a hard-working nuisance here and the fact that he keeps defenders guessing by occasionally coming inside now is another improvement in his game.

Chair did better on 27 minutes having picked up the pieces from Frey’s knockdown, driving towards goal with the ref waving play on as Travis again took a soft tumble in an attempt to buy a free-kick. The Moroccan’s eventual curling effort from 25 yards was turned around the post a little awkwardly by the unconvincing Pears in the Blackburn goal.

Having been a peripheral figure on Saturday, the move inside to the middle of the three behind Frey did the Rs’ number 10 the world of good. He popped up on both sides of the pitch to combine with both Saito and Smyth and was able to get at the Rovers back-line consistently. Chair received the ball in a dangerous area again on 37 minutes to fire a low cross in from the right which Brittain did well to get to ahead of the onrushing Saito; he was then the beneficiary of Dunne’s good strong win inside the Rovers half, which Smyth fed to the Moroccan who sat down Danny Batth (may need a non-slip mat) before dragging his shot wide when again he might have expected to hit the target. And just before the break some slick passing from an advanced throw on the left saw Morgan ping it into Frey, whose neat one-touch lay off for Chair gave him time to beat his man but was followed once more by a weak finish, this time straight at the goalkeeper. Frustrating that a fine performance was not capped with the goal it deserved but nevertheless that’s now five assists in an injury-disrupted season: this felt much more like the Ilias we know and love.

So 1-0 at half-time, a deserved lead, and bar the ten minute collective wobble after scoring, a good performance that perhaps warranted a second goal.

Blackburn, who were out early (presumably with a John Eustace rocket up their proverbials), inevitably started the second half quickly. It took just three minutes for them to carve a decent opening as a well-worked passing move on the right cut through a too-passive Rangers low block to find Dolan in the area, but Nardi was again equal to his effort and gathered well at the near post.

The Rs, though, managed to restrict the visitors to that one chance in their early period of pressure, which was eventually relieved when Chair flighted a perfectly weighted ball out to Smyth on the right, whose cross was well blocked by recovering three times soapbox derby champion Owen Beck. The resulting corner was recycled and eventually led to a foul on Paal 25 yards out, the Dutchman himself getting the resulting free-kick on target but without enough pace to ever trouble the keeper.

Early storm weathered, lead intact, could the Rs kick on again? No: Blackburn were soon level.

It came from a break and, although you can’t fault the work-rate in getting men back, Rangers were caught out of shape with Dolan’s intelligent positioning on the left flank dragging Dunne out wide and leaving Paul Smyth to cover next to Cook. When Hedges played the ball into left-back Beck and carried on his run from deep into the box, Smyth was too slow to spot the danger. The Blackburn winger was able to receive the return pass and play a dangerous ball across the box where Brittain was arriving from the right-hand side. In real-time I thought Saito was trying to protect the ball and roll his man but watching the replay Brittain definitely gets there first and it’s a clumsy tackle. The referee called the Travis one right in the first half, and you have to say he’s probably got this one correct too. Penalty, duly dispatched by Dolan with Nardi going the wrong way, and despite having had the lion’s share of chances it was back to 1-1. Harumph.

Blackburn, with their tails up again, then had another opening as Gueye, who was a handful up-front all night, beat Field in the air from a long ball and Paal was again guilty of being too casual in trying to claim the scraps. He was edged out by Dolan, who left it for the Senegalese striker to drive towards the area and take a powerful shot from 20 yards out that Nardi pushed round his near post.

The subsequent corner came to nothing and, whether by design, as a factor of double substitutions from both sides, or a combination of the two, the match (largely a frantic and enjoyable watch) began to drift a little. Blackburn were now clearly happy with a point; where previously they were committing lots of bodies forward (both full-backs involved in the buildup to the penalty, for example) they suddenly seemed content to sit in a little and slow the game down.

While I was frustrated with our inability to get a second when we were on top, if I were in the away end I’d potentially be even more annoyed with this desire to shake hands on a draw when momentum was with the visitors. Three points potentially on the cards for Blackburn, they instead settled for one, and ended up with none.

With Rovers sitting off, the Rs slowly gathered a little momentum of their own. On 69 minutes Saito won a corner with his favourite trick of squaring up his man then getting round the outside, which was well delivered by Chair and just about punched out from under his own bar by Pears. A few minutes later, another Edwards drive out of defence (be still my beating heart, he is but a loanee) led to Colback – just on for Morgan who was quieter in a deeper role but did a lot of hard yards for the team – putting a decent ball into the box which was repelled. The clearance, however, fell to Min-Hyeok (on for the industrious Smyth) and he gave us a glimpse of the crossing ability we’ve been promised with a dangerous whipped ball from the right that Batth had to dive full stretch to nod behind.

Then, with quarter of an hour left, the R’s went ahead. It was Edwards again setting things in motion (be STILL I told you), winning the ball purposefully ahead of Gueye to not only interrupt a potential counter but give Steve Cook time to look up and play a deep cross for Chair stealing in late from the left. Chair’s controlled header back across goal was missed by Hyam and reached Alfie Lloyd, on for Frey up top, who promptly semi-controlled the ball with his arm. No whistle was forthcoming and although Min-Hyeok was dispossessed with a firm tackle around the penalty spot as he tried to pick up the pieces, the ball dropped to Colback on the edge of the area who sent a firm half-volley into the roof of the net via Pears’ poppadom hands. 2-1 Rangers.

Though I didn’t spot it live, it’s definitely handball from Lloyd in the buildup. Blackburn were clearly unhappy at the final whistle and you can’t really blame them, we would be too. The referee looked like he had a decent view of it and it travelled a long way to reach the young forward but I can only assume the officials thought it had come off his chest. In mitigation only three of the massed defenders and the keeper appealed, and from a defensive point of view it was still a perfectly avoidable goal to concede. But we got away with one there.

With the lead re-established, Eustace’s side never looked overly likely to get an equaliser. There was only one real scare in the remaining 14 minutes of normal time and thickish five added on (compare and contrast with the four we got at Millwall on Saturday), though again largely of our own making. A series of inswinging corners from Chair on the left caused the Rovers defence some problems but they cleared properly on the third attempt and launched a dangerous-looking counter, which Edwards defended well one-on-one. Colback, determined to undo his good work, passed up several chances to get the resulting throw clear and eventually presented the ball to substitute Cozier-Duberry, who hit the side-netting with his shot when he might have been better going back across goal.

That, however, proved to be the final effort of the game. Fox and Varane joined proceedings for Chair and Saito as Cifuentes went to a back 5 and while Lloyd – largely ineffective after his introduction – looked isolated chasing around up top, Blackburn struggled to create anything more of note. Unless, of course, you count an inch-perfect 50-yard crossfield pass from Todd Cantwell straight into the path of Beck, who promptly fell over it. Rangers perhaps lucky that the former Norwich man only started on the bench while previous perennial scourge Andreas Weimann phoned in an anonymous display in which he touched the ball a grand total of 15 times before being hooked on 64 minutes (Cantwell nearly matching that in half the amount of time on the pitch). Another player known for doing damage to the R’s, Dion Sanderson, remained an unused sub.

After the game Cifuentes called for his side to ‘keep pushing’ as they try to continue climbing the table, reminding everyone that there are 15 games to go and when it comes to the top six ‘nothing is yet decided’.

Me? I’m just enjoying the win and not thinking about anything else. Promise.

Links >>> Photo Gallery >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread

QPR: Nardi 7; Dunne 7, Cook 6, Edwards 8, Paal 6; Morgan 6 (Colback 71, 6), Field 6; Smyth 6 (Min-Hyeok 66’, 6), Chair 7 (Fox 89, -), Saito 6 (Varane 89, -); Frey 6 (Lloyd 66, 5)

Subs not used: Walsh, Ashby, Morrison, Kolli

Goals: Frey 5 (assisted Chair), Colback 74 (unassisted)

Blackburn: Pears 5; Brittain 6, Hyam 5, Batth 5, Beck 6; Travis 5 (Forshaw 82,-), Buckley 6 (Rankin-Costello 82, -); Dolan 7 (Cozier-Duberry 64, 5), Weimann 4 (Cantwell 64, 6), Hedges 5 (Kargbo 87, -); Gueye 6

Subs not used: Toth, Sanderson, Litherland, Edmondson

Goals: Dolan 54 (penalty, won Brittain)

QPR Star Man – Ronnie Edwards 8 Chair ran him close but a classy display from the young loanee, with and without the ball. As we’ve seen with Clarke-Salter and, briefly, Morrison, having a left-sided centre back confident and capable in bringing the ball out and beating that first press can be transformational to this team in this system. In danger of breaking a few hearts if he carries on like this.

Referee - James Linington (Isle of Wight) 7 Did well overall. Let the game flow, didn’t buy attempts to buy soft free kicks either way, kept his cards in his pocket. In real-time I wasn’t sure about the Blackburn penalty but no complaints with benefit of the replay. Not unreasonable to turn down the Dunne appeal, particularly in a match where you’ve allowed plenty of physical stuff. Mark off for the winner as Lloyd definitely handballs it but, in his defence, only a handful of Blackburn players appealed at the time so it wasn’t that obvious. You’d rather games be refereed like this, but then it’s easy to be magnanimous after a win, isn’t it?

Attendance 13,571 (782 Blackburn Rovers) A really impressive showing from Blackburn given it’s a midweek game hundreds of miles from home and they got barely a fortnight’s notice on it. Safe travels back to that travelling support and good luck for the rest of the season.

Pictures - Ian Randall Photography

062259 added 00:34 - Feb 6 Fantasy
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LiamHodsii added 02:00 - Feb 6 Despite the dubious circumstances in which you agreed to do so - thought this was a really well written, fair and enjoyable to read match review. Brilliant work!
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saxbend added 05:57 - Feb 6 That was never a hand ball. It's not even obvious that it touched Lloyd's arm, and even if it did, by the same rule redefinition of handball that meant the first of our three penalty shouts (the third of which was the foul on Yang immediately before Colback scored that absolutely should have been given but almost certainly wouldn't have been) was also not handball, neither was this. I don't agree with the rule change, but at least it was applied consistently by the ref.

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simmo added 07:43 - Feb 6 Great work mate! Superb sub appearance
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gazza1 added 08:31 - Feb 6 Thought your comments re Paal were 'one-sided' - I thought that he had another very decent game and brings much to the side. That was a very good overall Team performance against a good Blackburn side sitting in 5th in the league - we were better than them for much of the match. Colback played a decent art in the game when he was introduced and his strike was very good and won us the match!!! Very good win and team performance imho and proper good performance from Edwards.

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Jeff added 09:10 - Feb 6 you gave him a SIX? for that? are you joking?! :) Lovely report mate, thank you very much!
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sinceApril66 added 10:53 - Feb 6 An entertaining game with too many very encouraging performances for me not to start calculating optimistic permutations… Pre-game we were wondering if Chair was going to recapture his form… and he gave his best of the season… And RONNIE EDWARDS (keeps reminding me of Terry Fenwick in his appearance and play) looks potentially exceptional… Is it ridiculously naive to imagine we could buy him..? Feels increasingly like we’re growing into playing as Marti has imagined!

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kingfisher6404 added 12:05 - Feb 6 Thanks for the report and hope you get press-ganged again! ;) We were exactly alongside where the penalty incident was called and nobody there saw it like tie ref (who was behind them). It just looked like a clumsy coming together by both players, with one choosing to go down. Other than that, I thought the ref did a good job. Chair was far better in the 'false 10' role; Paal played a lotter better than previously; and Ronne was indeed a deserved MotM! Finally, am I the only reader who is struggling to read this report because it overspills onto the blue margin? Is it saved in 'Landscapte'? [MS Edge user].

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francisbowles added 12:31 - Feb 6 Nice detailed report, Andrew. Even when Clive's away the standard of reporting is exceptional.
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francisbowles added 12:31 - Feb 6 Nice detailed report, Andrew. Even when Clive's away the standard of reporting is exceptional.
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Myke added 12:38 - Feb 6 Excellent report- factual, interspersed with humour.
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NewYorkRanger added 13:02 - Feb 6 Great job - I really enjoyed reading that
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Marshy added 15:08 - Feb 6 I was very impressed by Edward’s performance. He was solid at the back, but loved his runs with the ball further upfield. Brilliant stuff! Highly unlikely we’ll be able to retain him, so best just enjoy while we can. Chair seems to be finally getting back to form, and shame he couldn’t convert one of his many shots into a goal. 13th in the table but only 3 points off the play off’s - as ever the Championship is a crazy league.

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tsbains64 added 15:37 - Feb 6 Perfect report and agree Kudos to the Blackburn fans
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