Djibril Cissé has often been the villain with Queens Park Rangers, having been sent off twice since he joined the club in January, but he was the late hero in this match when scoring the winner against Stoke City with two minutes remaining. Adel Taarabt took a corner on the right, Anton Ferdinand nodded it on and Cissé turned up at the far post to poke it in.
At 0-0 and with Bolton Wanderers winning against West Bromwich Albion, the west London club appeared to be heading for the Premier League exit, especially with their final match of the season away to Manchester City. But Cissé's dramatic strike and West Bromwich's late equaliser against Bolton dramatically changed the landscape. QPR are still alive.
QPR were nervous in the extreme in a mish-mash of a first-half display. They might have won their previous four home games – against the distinguished likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Swansea City and Tottenham Hotspur – but they had few ideas on how to break down Stoke City's stubborn defence. Taarabt did what he does best, hog the ball, but his selfishness knew no bounds as time and again, in attempting shots on goal, he ignored better-placed team-mates.
At the time of their 3-2 victory against Stoke in November, QPR sat ninth in the league. But their slide has taken root on the back of an appalling disciplinary record – eight red cards, six of them at Loftus Road – and has barely been arrested since the arrival of Mark Hughes to replace Neil Warnock in January. Stoke, in their 55th match of a campaign that started in the Europa League in July, were not the ideal opponents on such an occasion.
Stoke were still up for it, too, attacking with flair once their back four had negated QPR's tame thrusts. Peter Crouch flicked on an early headed pass and although all Cameron Jerome had to do was lob the ball over Paddy Kenny, he lobbed it high over the crossbar instead. Taarabt responded with a rare on-target effort – a skidding 30-yard free-kick – but Thomas Sorensen saved well at the foot of a post.
Not good news, either, when word filtered through that Bolton Wanderers had taken the lead against West Bromwich Albion, jumped over QPR in the as-it-stands table and consigned Rangers to the relegation zone. "1-0 Bolton," chanted the Stoke fans, with obvious relish; the home fans moaned, groaned and hurled abuse at the referee Andre Marriner for no particular reason other than to vent their growing frustration.
Joey Barton, the QPR captain, manfully tried to inspire his troops but to no avail and Stoke almost went ahead when, shortly after half-time, Ricardo Fuller dispossessed the lazy Taarabt and curled a delightful shot just wide. Still QPR laboured, albeit with slightly more passion than in the opening period and with Sorensen having to save superbly to keep out a Cissé header. But then the Frenchman struck late on to keep them alive. Read More
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