[1]It might have been controversial off the pitch, but on the final whistle at Loftus Road yesterday all that mattered was the 1-0 victory which takes us through to the 5th round of the FA Cup.
Regardless of whether John Terry and Anton Ferdinand shook hands or not this was a West London Derby which needed no further hype as ultimately we emerged victorious thanks to Juan Mata’s penalty in the 62nd minute.
It was also Mata who had the first real chance of the game pouncing on Luke Young’s slip but his shot from just inside the area was close enough for Paddy Kenny to parry it away for a corner.
The first half saw few chances as both teams worked their way into the game.
QPR’s tight defensive set up reduced us to shots from range as Fernando Torres drifted out wide. It nearly paid off as Raul Meireles found room on the edge of the box to take a touch on his thigh and volley the ball at goal but it fizzed wide of Kenny’s right-hand post.
There were other moments of magic from Mata, whose backheel played Ramires into the right channel but for all his good work Ramires over hit the ball well past the waiting Florent Malouda.
Half-time led to Mark Hughes making one change introducing Manchester United loanee Federico Macheda for Heider Helguson but it was Chelsea who had the early threats on goal.
Torres’ fine work inside the right corner of the box saw him elude two QPR defenders and feed Sturridge in behind him. His strike looked to be headed in but rose just over Kenny’s crossbar.
Shortly afterwards and QPR produced their first threat as Macheda and Wright-Phillips teamed up to unlock our defence. Ashely Cole was left on his heels as Wright-Phillips nipped down the right but his drive across goal was beaten away by Petr Cech.
The penalty provided much controversy as Jaun Mata cut back and crossed towards Sturridge, the striker felt contact from Hill and tumbled in the box. Referee Mike Dean had no hesitation in pointing to the spot amid boos from the home support, who had presumed Sturridge was guilty of simulation.
Regardless of the protest from QPR players Mata composed himself before striding towards the penalty spot and sending Kenny the wrong way to give us the lead right in front of the euphoric Chelsea away fans.
As we battened down the hatches Ramires was stretchered off after tumbling awkwardly.
The time taken to deal with the injury allowed us time to re-group his team and ensure we saw out the result, while QPR mustered one chance in the dying seconds of the game as Young’s low drive across goal was pushed to safety by Cech to deservedly maintain his clean sheet.
Following the draw this afternoon we will play Birmingham at Stamford Bridge in the 5th Round.
Gill Reeves –CSG disabled rep.
Stats from the BBC website: [2]
QPR
• 01 Kenny
• 03 Hill
• 05 Hall – yellow card
• 18 Young
• 35 Ferdinand
• 14 Buzsaky (Hulse 79)
• 17 Barton
• 32 Wright-Phillips – yellow card
• 12 Mackie
• 21 Smith
• 22 Helguson (Macheda 46)
Substitutes
• 24 Cerny,
• 02 Orr,
• 42 Onuoha,
• 04 Derry,
• 25 Ephraim,
• 20 Hulse,
• 33 Macheda
Chelsea
• 01 Cech
• 02 Ivanovic
• 03 Cole – yellow card
• 04 David Luiz
• 26 Terry
• 07 Ramires (Romeu 79 – yellow card)
• 15 Malouda
• 16 Meireles
• 09 Torres
• 10 Mata (Essien 90+1)
• 23 Sturridge
Substitutes
• 22 Turnbull,
• 17 Bosingwa,
• 24 Cahill,
• 34 Bertrand,
• 05 Essien,
• 06 Romeu,
• 18 Lukaku
Ref: Dean
Att: 15,728