Queens Park Rangers beat Sheffield United 3-0: Npower Championship update
A brace from Wayne Routledge helped Queens Park Rangers (QPR) beat Sheffield United 3-0 in an Npower Championship encounter at Loftus Road on Monday evening. The win moved the Hoops nine points clear at the top of the league.
QPR manager Neil Warnock made just one change to his team that beat Doncaster Rovers in their last league fixture. Skipper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Adel-Taarabt-c3610 returned to the starting line-up to replace Hogan Ephraim.
On the other hand, Micky Adams made two changes to his team that beat Leeds United two weeks ago. Neil Collins and Darius Henderson replaced http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Shane-Lowry-c33247 and Sam Vokes in a 4-3-3 formation for the visitors.
The hosts had a decent start to the game and they almost scored in the fifth minute. Michael Doyle hauled down Taarabt but the referee waved played on, and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Tommy-Smith-c35389 tried his luck with a shot from 22-yards out, which went narrowly past the right post.
Moments later, Taarabt played a lovely ball to Alejandro Faurlin but the Argentinean skewed his effort way over the bar. QPR were clearly the better side in the opening exchanges and after witnessing the early action, a goal feast was on the cards.
QPR deservedly opened the scoring just before the half hour mark, when Heidar Helguson lofted a beautiful swinging corner kick, and Routledge volleyed it into the net form 10-yards to make it 1-0 for the hosts.
Sheffield’s first chance of the game came in the 31st minute, after a lovely counter attacking move. Stephen Quinn crossed inside the QPR box only for Nick Montgomery to head it into his own team-mate.
QPR created several decent opportunities before the half-time whistle but all went in vain.
The Blades had a wonderful chance to level the scoring immediately after the restart but Daniel Bogdanovic missed a sitter in front of the goal from five yards.
The visitors were made to pay for this miss, as the hosts doubled their advantage in the 54th minute. Taarabt’s corner kick was cleared by Matthew Lowton but only into the path of Faurlin, who drilled a shot from outside the box which found the back of the net to make it 2-0 for QPR.
Things went from bad to worse for Sheffield, as the hosts scored their third of the evening in the 66th minute. Helguson made a good run inside the box and laid the ball for Routledge, who tapped home with ease to make it 3-0 for the Hoops.
It was all QPR in the final minutes of the game, as the visitors could not manage a shot on target in the second half and slumped to a 3-0 defeat. The result heaped more pressure on the Blades as they inch closer to relegation.
Queens Park Rangers will take on Scunthorpe United in their next match on 9th April, while Sheffield United will host Middlesbrough the same day.
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