A fantastic performance and work rate from QPR wasn’t enough to avoid defeat against champions-elect Chelsea at Loftus Road on Sunday as Robert Green’s late error proved costly. Andy Hillman was there for LFW.

In the week following Easter Harry Redknapp has emerged, risen if you will, to sit on every sporting sofa known to man to tell the world how he’s ‘enjoyed’ his break from football, how unfair it all was at QPR and how he’s ready to return if the ‘right opportunity’ comes along. Relatives of Eddie Howe look away now.

It’s therefore almost ironic that in a season where ‘bonus game’ was bandied about so frequently to describe pretty much every QPR away game, with only six matches to the end of the season the Chelsea home game actually felt like an actual proper bonus game. If you’re banking on getting points to stay up against the Champions elect, then I fear it’s already too late for you.

QPR lined up in the fairly standard 442 formation, with one change from the match against Villa — Karl Henry coming into an unorthodox left wing position for Niko Kranjcar after his insipid display on Tuesday. Henry’s role was fairly clear - track and stop the marauding Branislav Ivanovich down the QPR left -and he was instrumental in nullifying much of Chelsea’s (admittedly limited…) attacking intent. Richard Dunne returned following a two month absence among the substitutes.

For Chelsea, Loic Remy, the poor fragile little lamb he is, decided that he didn’t fancy coming back to Loftus Road under what would have been a fairly hostile welcome, and cried off injured in the build up to the game. Didier Drogba started instead, looking every bit the 37-year-old striker on one last victory lap. Nemanja Matic and Cesv Fabregas also started - both, like Joey Barton, on nine yellow cards and one away from a two game suspension ahead of crucial games against Man Utd and Arsenal.

Clint Hill on the QPR Podcast urged the fans to create a ‘cauldron of hate’ for the game, and inevitably the crowd welcomed Chelsea, led by Big Racist John, to a cacophony of boos. Rumours surfaced that the Chelsea players were originally too scared to leave the team bus pre-match due to the barracking they were getting outside the ground, and thoughts drifted to the torrid time R Block gave Juan Mata in the first of these fixtures in recent memory, back in 2010. Chelsea didn’t know back then that this was a derby, but they certainly do now.

QPR kicked off, unusually, attacking the Loft End in the first half and the pattern of play settled fairly quickly — QPR tackling, harrying and not letting Chelsea any time or rhythm on the ball, but also wasteful in possession, ostensibly knocking it long to Zamora but in essence just aimlessly downfield.

One of the hallmarks of this team this season has been that they struggle to know what to do with the ball when they have it — the instinct is always to get rid of the ball as soon as possible often high and long, instead of taking a touch and looking up. That said, one of those pitching wedge-type clearances gave QPR their first chance on five minutes, as a clearance from Nedum Onouha caught Azpilicueta flatfooted as Philips charged down the right, but neither Zamora nor Austin had gambled into the area and Philips low cross was easily met by Thibaut Courtois. In response, Willian hit the post with a cross that appeared to catch Robert Green unawares — more of which will be covered later.

In the centre of the park an intriguing battle was developing between Matic and Barton, each their respective side’s best player on the day. Joey was careering round the pitch at breakneck speed — harrying, breaking up tackles and involved in all of QPR’s defensive work. Matic, an imposing figure at 6ft 5ins was the fulcrum for most of Chelsea’s play, with Ramires and Fabregas largely anonymous in the opening exchanges. A rare blip in Matic’s performance was greeted roundly with cheers as, following a Barton challenge on Hazard, he spooned the loose ball into touch under no pressure whatsoever.

The game was end to end to a point, but neither side were looking particularly sharp in attack. Austin had chased a through ball and given Courtois a boot to his chest for his troubles, whilst for Chelsea, Willian and Matic in particular were enjoying more of the ball without actually doing much.

The worry for QPR was that despite Rob Green not having much to do, certainly less than Courtois in the first half, what he was being asked to do he was making a hash of. As mentioned previously, Willian’s cross had caught him unawares in the opening exchanges, and to add to this both his kicking and coming off his line was suspect. Numerous times in the first half Green kicked the ball straight into the right hand touch under no pressure, and no less than three times he was rooted to his line when he should have collected balls into the box, leaving Caulker and Onouha awkward over the shoulder type clearances as a result. Green was an eloquent and confident talker to the media in the pre-match build up, but it looked like the occasion got to him.

As the half wore on the game became more and more attritional, played almost exclusively in the midfield third of the pitch. Barton was more than overshadowing his midfield rivals in the tackle and work rate department, but once again was profligate when in possession, passing straight to Chelsea players when better options were available. Most of QPR’s good work going forward was down our right hand side, with Philips and Isla combining well and giving Azpilicueta a good going over. Unfortunately, Terry and Courtois were more than equal to the balls coming into the box - Austin and Zamora having a tough time of it.

QPR’s, and indeed the game’s, first meaningful effort came two minutes before half time. Zamora, who hadn’t seen much change from Terry all half won a header on the edge of the area, and the knockdown found Charlie Austin 25 yards out. After taking a couple of touches to steady himself, he fired hard to Courtois’ right, but the shot was a good height for the massive Belgian keeper, who palmed the ball away. QPR followed up Austin’s effort with a period of sustained pressure, and were by far the better team as half time approached.

Whether half time was a good thing or not was open for debate. On one side of things, QPR were easily dealing with Chelsea on the pitch, Drogba absolutely woeful upfront and Hazard, Willian and Ramires largely anonymous for the visitors, however on the other side, how long could QPR, and Barton in particular, keep up their heroic work rate and concentration levels?

QPR set about the second half as they ended the first — in the ascendancy. Good work by Matty Phillips down the right hand side saw him fizz in a cross that narrowly missed the far post — Bobby Zamora possibly a touch slow on the run into the box, had he gambled he would have had a free header at the far post. QPR followed this up with a free kick flighted into the box by Phillips, and following a melee, Clint Hill of all people curled the ball back into the box. Courtois saved from the onrushing Austin, who for the second time in the game caught the Chelsea keeper. John Terry acted all aggrieved and finger-waggy, which is ironic seeing as it was him who conceded the freekick in the first place with a needless draping of arms over Bobby Zamora.

Later, to the delight of the home crowd, Terry was unceremoniously hurled to the floor by Austin when he’d tried to play the hard-man and thrust an arm out to prevent Austin getting in the way of a counter attack being set away by Courtois.

There was no let up for Chelsea, QPR were well on top, as they had been for much of the game. Barton blotted his copybook with a ridiculous volley from 35 yards out — a proper Sensible Soccer-esque pull back hard and to the right on the joystick from the left wing. Austin had lost his marker, and was onside and unmarked on the edge of the area if Barton had had the vision to pick him out.

Chelsea’s brought on Oscar, and removed the ineffective Ramires in an attempt to gain an attacking foothold in the game, and give some support to the beleaguered Drogba. Oscar offered more in his first five minutes on the pitch than Ramires did in the previous 50, forcing Green to palm the ball over the bar from a looping flick, and then sending in a dangerous ball from the subsequent corner.

A booking from referee Andre Marriner for Drogba for a foul on Sandro, his first actual contribution of note in the game, didn’t ease any pressure on the hoops, and Chelsea set about turning the screw. The pattern was the same as large parts of the first half — QPR defending stoically, unable to recycle possession effectively, but the difference from the first half was that Chelsea now looked much better in attack — the introduction of Oscar waking up both Hazard and Fabregas.

They say that the difference between the Premier League and the Championship is that you have to take your chances in the Premier League, because another one might not come along, and never was this truer than on 63 minutes, when Zamora’s ball from the right into the box found Philips with his back to goal. A clever spin sold Matic the dummy, and Phillips drilled a hard shot… …straight at Courtios, who made a great reaction stop to palm it narrowly wide. Courtois’ save was outstanding, but he shouldn’t have been given the option by Phillips. Anywhere else on target and it’s a goal, and with the exception of Charlie Austin, on current form there was no one else you’d have wanted that ball to have fallen to but Phillips. On moments such as these games are often won and lost.

Chelsea, let off by that incident, upped the pressure even more on the QPR defence. Whilst not quite a full blown siege, QPR’s defending was becoming deeper and more desperate, with long balls to Zamora their only outlet. The home fans were getting nervous, but Barton was relishing it, snapping into tackles, screening the back four magnificently. At times in the second half he was not even metaphorically everywhere, he was literally everywhere.

Zamora picked up a booking for hauling down Azpilicueta after being dispossessed, and Sandro joined him in the book three minutes later following a late challenge on Oscar.

What this game needed, said absolutely no-one, ever, was Niko Kranjcar. But with limited midfield options available to Ramsey, and Sandro needing an iron lung to breathe, Kranjcar finished his Monster Munch and replaced the exhausted Brazilian. Sandro, much maligned and rightly so since his signing from Spurs, was effective here in a rear-guard action - I just wish he could routinely complete 90 minutes. Mourinho replaced a Brazilian of his own, sending on Cudrado for Willian. Shortly after this, Ramsey send on Hoilett for Zamora, who despite having worked hard, had on the balance of play lost his battle with Terry. Hoilett moved over to the left and Krancjar tucked in behind Austin as QPR went 451, seemingly settling for a point under the Chelsea pressure. Neither contributed much to the closing stages of the game.

Chelsea’s inevitable winner came from their only shot on target in the entire match. An abysmal kick out from Green barely travelled 20 yards, mostly straight up, and Hazard was quickest to pick up the wayward ball, and move into the left hand near the corner flag. Isla stood his man up, but a one-two with Oscar saw Hazard set free and roll the ball into the path of Fabregas, striding in unmarked on the edge of the area. A well placed shot through a crowd of bodies eluded Green and nestled into the net. QPR crestfallen. Fabregas was wearing a protective mask like a burglar, and it felt like we’d been absolutely robbed. The Chelsea players celebrated wildly in front of the boisterous Q, P and R blocks, and got covered in a hail of lighters and other missiles, for which QPR will inevitably get charged for.

The game petered out shortly after that. Mourinho brought on centre back Kurt Zouma for Fabregas to protect his lead, because that’s what Mourinho does, and Richard Dunne was brought on for Isla to free Caulker up to play up front. The final whistle came shortly after that, and the Chelsea fans, practically silent for the previous two hours, celebrated like they’d won the league. Despite the heartbreak for the fans, the QPR players were applauded off like champions, QPR fans finally having a team to be proud of.

Looking at the result from a pure mathematics point of view, nothing really has changed for QPR — we still need those three wins against West Ham, Newcastle and Leicester, and that will probably keep us up. But the goal felt every bit as sickening as Shaun Maloney’s for Wigan last time we were in this position. As it always seems to be with QPR, it’s the small margins, the single moments of either brilliance or stupidity that are costing us this season. On Tuesday it was Benteke’s brilliance, Sunday was Green’s poor kicking. I thought that Ramsey got team selection and tactics spot on. His selection of Henry at left wing completely vindicated, who offered so much more than Kranjcar would have done.

The question now is how the team picks themselves up for the must win game against West Ham. Ramsey and Co have a lot to be proud of at the moment, and the additional week’s rest will give them time to continue this good work off the field, and put this game far from their minds. It also gives us the chance to get some of our injured players like Leroy Fer back into the squad. If we play even half as we as we did against Chelsea, we’ll comfortably win that one.

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

QPR: Green 5; Isla 6 (Dunne 90, - ) Caulker 6, Onuoha 6, Hill 6; Phillips 7, Barton 8, Sandro 7 (Kranjcar 81, 6), Henry 7; Zamora 6 (Hoilett 83, -), Austin 6

Subs not used: McCarthy, Mitchell, Comley, Grego-Cox

Bookings: Zamora 74 (foul), Sandro 78 (foul)

Chelsea: Courtois 7; Azpilicueta 5, Terry 7, Cahill 6, Ivanovich 6; Matic 8, Fabregas 6 (Zouma 90, - ); Ramires 5 (Oscar 55, 7), Hazard 6, Willian 6 (Cudrado 80, 5); Drogba 5

Subs not used: Cech, Filipe Luis, Mikel, Brown

Bookings: Drogba 60 (Foul)

QPR Star Man — Joey Barton 8 A proper captain’s performance, continuing his recent excellent form. Relished the size of the encounter and covered every blade of grass, twice. Didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. QPR play so much better with him in the side, which once again makes the recent sending off and subsequent ban so frustrating.

Referee — Andre Marriner (Birmingham) 9 Genuinely struggling to remember anything he did wrong — he was largely anonymous which is exactly what you want from a ref. Kept his cards in his pocket until absolutely necessary, all the bookings were correct, let the game flow, refereed sensibly and didn’t let the boisterousness of the occasion affect him.

Attendance 17,939 (1,700 Chelsea approx) Predictably we gave both Chelsea and John Terry in particular a torrid time, and were vocal throughout. ‘Mourinho’s right, your fans are shite…’ boomed out towards a largely silent Upper School End, and watching replays of the match afterwards the abuse towards Chelsea came out loud and clear, which was great to hear.
Suspect we will get the book thrown at us for pelting the Chelsea players from the stands following Fabregas’ goal though, and I absolutely don’t buy into this ‘provocation’ nonsense — if you are unable to stop yourself from throwing things at people because they celebrate in front of you, you’ve got bigger problems than your football team losing to a rival.

The Twitter @Andy_Hillman

Pictures — Action Images

Photo: Action Images

062259 added 03:21 - Apr 14 Goals conceded in the last ten minutes this season have cost 10 points. Goals scored in the last ten minutes have earned just 3 points. The 7 point difference (make it 8 if you wish to count Austin's calamitous late penalty miss against a Hull on the opening day) will be what eventually sends them down....that, and just 4 points (all draws, at home) from the 22 games so far against teams currently placed 13th and higher. Relegation form, whichever way you look at it, which no amount of hard luck stories can hide.

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Marshy added 08:04 - Apr 14 Really gutted after all the effort and shift the players put in. All things considered it really was a brilliant performance. If this work rate and passion had of been present in half our games this season, we would not find ourselves in the position we are now in. Rob Green has certainly made a number of crucial saves for us this season, but looked "nervous" throughout this one. I think we all knew that when the invetible goal would go in, it would be from a mistake and be a soft one. Once again we pressed the self destruct button, and how many times have seen that this season. Predictably it was the best atmosphere for a match at Loftus Road for a long time. As fans, let's see if we can recreate the hostility for West Ham and Newcatle. If so, and the team produce the same desire as we saw on Sunday, I'm confident it will secure us 6 points.

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W10Lad added 08:37 - Apr 14 Whatever happens in the remaining games the way that Chris Ramsey has galvanised the team since 'Arry left is the reason that we now look better organised, quite a bit fitter, and as a result, a better team. We do look like a team, which makes Redknapp's jibes about infighting all the more ironic, since they come from an arch manipulator and divider of people, who's only strategy was to keep spending other people's money in the hope he might strike lucky. Anyone would have struggled with the squad he left behind him - unfit, disorganised and dispirited. Ramsey has done a brilliant job and we are close to playing good football after two years of being almost unbearable to watch. There are still weaknesses and Rob Green is one. His problems stem from a lack of character, of self belief, so that whilst he can make unbelievable saves (because he never has the time to think about it) he is always prone to huge gaffs, ultimately, because he is weak minded and afraid. His judgement is suspect on claiming crosses or any ball that comes into the box, leaving his defenders uncertain about what to do, and his distribution is painfully variable. The mistake he made against Chelsea was elementary, attempting to kick a ball too close to him because he'd got too close to the edge of the penalty area. He often does it - somewhere between thinking about it and executing it his concentration goes. I wonder if he can read the play or is actually mentally connected to the defenders and the team since he often clears the ball in a dangerous or unproductive way. I've been saying he is a liability for several seasons, so this is not a knee-jerk reaction to the point he cost us on Sunday. My question is whether others could have made most of the (great) saves he's made, and there have been many, and might not suffer from his weaknesses. Our defence can look confused, old and slow despite the youth of Caulker, Isla and Yun and that might actually be uncertainty rather than cluelessness. It's not down to one man (with the exception of the truly disastrous, self serving Redknapp) but the devil does lie in the detail and right now we need to give the team greater edge by recognising where we can make key improvements. I think Green may be one of them, sadly.

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ActonOccident added 10:14 - Apr 14 "'Mourinho’s right, your fans are shite…’ boomed out towards a largely silent Upper School End" To be honest I though they made a respectable amount of noise (any of their old school with a taste for a derby would presumably have been up for it, as they'd never get that atmosphere at the Bridge), and from B block at least that was the most entertaining chant, counter-chant rallying I've seen at HQ this season.

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18StoneOfHoop added 13:42 - Apr 14 Writing a QPR match report in the absence of the consistently brilliant Clive Whittingham is quite an onerous task, a bit like trying to succeed Sir Alex as Man Utd manager. There's been some good replacements for Clive in the past but Andy Hillman in this report has proved himself the best of the lot.
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Antti_Heinola added 14:05 - Apr 14 Great report, nice one! Incredibly harsh with those marks though - back 4 all getting a 6? All four of them were superb.
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JAPRANGERS added 15:51 - Apr 14 Excellently well done, Mr Hillman sir!
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Jeff added 15:54 - Apr 14 Thanks for the comments all, much appreciated! Antti - i ummed and arred about raising the marks for the defenders, but i thought that none of the QPR defenders did anything particularly *exceptional* in the match in terms of defending – Chelsea were remarkably blunt in attack and Henry, Barton & Sandro did most of the ‘hard yards’ in midfield. I worked on the basis that Barton deserved an 8, Philips, Sandro & Henry were the next best so deserved a 7, and everyone else, Green a side deserved a six. The match was great, but nothing particularly exciting actually happened!

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londonscottish added 15:58 - Apr 15 Great report, thanks.
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PunteR added 19:07 - Apr 15 As above. Great report.
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