QPR edged out by table-topping Bournemouth as controversial ref has big say

QPR (0) 0

Bournemouth (1) 1 Solanke 41

Rangers missed out on the chance to get back into the play-off positions – unable to quite find a way back from conceding just before the break despite a rousing finale.

They ended the match with 10 men after having sub Andre Dozzell sent off during a frenetic finish.

It was their second successive home reverse for the Hoops, though fans would be forgiven for not noticing, as that previous loss was all of 22 days ago against Stoke and Rangers had not played since.

Covid has side-lined Mark Warburton’s men at the very moment they had been hoping to keep pressing their promotion claims and they must find a way to get back into gear.

Dominic Solanke’s first-half header settled the outcome but a sometimes anarchic undercurrent made for a chaotic final few minutes, as ref Keith Stroud lost control – his authority undermined by some strange decisions and a total of eight bookings.

He had a big say in the winning goal and sent off Dozzell for a second yellow after the midfielder got involved in an unseemly melee involving a glut of players..

Bournemouth, though, were worthy of a win that takes them back to the top of the Championship.

The opening 30 minutes suggested rustiness all round. It had been nine days for the Cherries without a game either and the football from both sides was decidedly scrappy.

But Scott Parker’s team went up a gear to take a first-half lead – albeit in controversial fashion.

Former Chelsea man Solanke glanced in a superbly flighted inswinging free-kick from the left touchline from Junior Stanislas, but the set piece award looked highly questionable – as decisions made by Stroud often are.

The official decided Sam Field’s challenge on Jefferson Lerma was illegal and even booked the Rangers midfielder. Neither decision looked correct.

While there was much good fortune about the goal, the Cherries had gone close before then, with Stanislas firing a free-kick that Seny Dieng had to tip over and Solanke heading a Philip Billing byline cross over the bar from close in, with the goal seemingly at his mercy.

Ryan Christie also threatened after overlapping on the right to get a shot away into Dieng’s midriff.

Sub Jaidon Anthony should have put the game more or less out of reach when he got on the end of a Jack Stacey cross to the far post – but somehow contrived to put the simple chance over. Solanke also went close, but Dieng was equal to the striker’s low strike.

Albert Adomah came off the bench to offer pace down the right, but gave the ball away to offer Solanke another long-distance dash at goal. Dozzell - a half-time replacement for Ilias Chair - raced back to save the day as the Cherries striker bore down on goal from the left.

But alas for Dozzell, he will remember the match for different reasons.

Hoops: (3-4-2-1) Dieng – Dickie, Dunne, Barbet – Kakay (Adomah 70), Field, Johansen, Wallace (Gray 70) – Chair (Dozzell h/t), Willock - Dykes. Subs not used: Archer, Amos, Austin, Thomas

Cherries: (4-2-3-1) Travers – Stacey, Cahill, Mepham, Zemura – Lerma, L Cook (Pearson 90) – Christie (Lowe 82), Billing, Stanislas (Anthony 60) – Solanke. Subs not used: Nyland, Marcondes, Brady, Kilkenny, Anthony

Attendance: 16,308