Blackburn v QPR 26Feb22 1-0 5th/53pts

I think it is not enjoyable to watch a Full 90 Mins video, knowing the score in advance; but it is far worse to endure it knowing we lost!

Anyway, the first 30 mins were all Blackburn who set to stifle our play as they did last time, forcing the CBs to play the clearance down the line (where they inevitably ended up going out). On the rare occasions we did move the ball forward it was no surprise to find Chair or Willock being outmuscled by the Blackburn defence and losing the ball. On the half hour though we did control the ball, move up the pitch, look for opportunities, but the string of 20+ passes resulted in nothing as Blackburn brought everyone back and squeezed the life out of our attack. With Johansen playing in a forward role we needed his Faurlin-style passing today, but it was not evident; but by the end of the first half honours were equal I would suggest - despite Blackburn having had SEVEN corners!It was interesting also to note that on 40 minutes Gallagher slid into Dieng with studs up and was not booked, despite injuring our goalie..... Have to agree with Mark Warburton that adding only two minutes added time was way too low....

The second half saw the Rs having to use one substitution place as Marshall came on for the injured Dieng, but I would also have looked to replace Willock with Gray at this point (but it did not happen until 60+ mins). Meanwhile Gallagher continued to rough-house and demand action from the ref for imagined fouls. The game seemed to follow that of the first half, with Blackburn always probing. It was good also to see McCallum come on to replace Adomah after so long on the side-lines, with Odubajo swapping to RWB, and Hendrick seemed to be pushing forward more. Sadly it was all to nowt though as Khadra's free kick was what finally beat Marshall and won the game. We were mostly on the back foot and rarely showed what we can do. Could Marshall have saved the goal? easy to say from the side-lines, but it did seem to slip between his hands.