Championship Game of the Week: QPR v Cardiff

Queens Park Rangers extended their lead at the top of the Championship with an important come from behind victory over second placed Cardiff City.

The game did not start the way the London side would have hoped as Craig Bellamy gave the Welsh side the lead after thirteen minutes, as Jay Bothroyd capitalised on a slip by Kaspars Gorkss slip to provide an assist to the on loan Manchester City striker.

However Gorkss made amends for his mistake just five minutes later by converting Tommy Smith’s cross to draw the London side level.

The scores remained level until well after the hour mark as both sides probed and created chances in a tense encounter.

In the end it was poor defending that allowed the deadlock to be broken, with Cardiff failing to deal with a 68^th minute corner that Adel Taarabt was able to smash home.

Cardiff however will feel that they deserved an equaliser and a point after Jay Bothroyd was brought down by Matthew Connolly with five minutes to play, however the referee did not concur and Taarabt’s goal turned out to be the winner.

This victory extends QPR’s unbeaten run to nineteen games and puts them within one game of their previous record run, however the key statistic for Ranger’s fans will be the five point lead they now hold at the top of the table.

The season is far from over and there are plenty more twists and turns but this is a morale boosting victory that has put the club right back in the promotion driving seat.

As for Cardiff this was always going to be a difficult game and with a three point advantage over fierce rivals Swansea, this will be just a speed bump in their challenge.