QPR stay in the mire after losing to Spurs

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QPR 1 Tottenham 2

Harry Kane punished two costly defensive lapses by QPR, who remain in the bottom three and in serious danger of relegation back to the Championship after a second home defeat in three days.

Keeper Rob Green was unable to claim Andros Townsend’s 35th-minute free-kick and Kane drifted between Nedum Onuoha and the recalled Rio Ferdinand to head home.

Kane struck again midway through the second half when he again gave Ferdinand the slip, this time to collect Ryan Mason’s ball over the top and round Green before tapping into an empty net.

Ex-Tottenham man Sandro scored against his former club – his first Rangers goal – after Bobby Zamora had touched Charlie Austin’s low cross into the Brazilian’s path.

But Rangers, beaten by the same scoreline by Arsenal in midweek, were unable to find an equaliser and have now lost four of their five matches under head coach Chris Ramsey.

It was a similar story to the Arsenal game, with the hosts holding their own before shoddily conceding twice in the second half and then pulling a goal back to set up a frenetic finish.

They had almost gone ahead in the first half when Austin fired against the underside of the bar after Matt Phillips had dribbled his way towards the left-hand edge of the penalty area.

Earlier, Austin was unable to find a way past Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris after being gifted a sight of goal by Kyle Walker’s woeful back-header.

However, for all the home side’s good work they were undone by an all-too familiar defensive error.

Christian Eriksen almost doubled Spurs’ lead two minutes after the break with a thumping shot that struck the post.

At the other end, Lloris produced a near-post save to keep out Zamora’s volley.

Tottenham continued to threaten and were temporarily denied a second goal by Austin’s goal-line clearance.

Austin attempted to track Walker’s run into the box and after the former QPR loanee was denied by Green, Austin was well placed to block Eriksen’s goal-bound follow-up.

Seconds later, Spurs appealed in vain for a penalty after Mason went down under a challenge from Yun Suk-Young.

Mason created the all-important second goal, lifting the ball over Rangers’ defence for Kane to grab his 26th of the season.

QPR piled forward after Sandro’s 75th-minute strike and felt they should have been awarded a penalty when Nabil Bentaleb appeared to block Austin’s shot with his hand.

QPR (4-4-2): Green; Onuoha, Ferdinand, Caulker, Yun; Isla (Hoilett 71), Sandro (Wright-Phillips 90), Henry (Grego-Cox 87), Phillips; Zamora, Austin.
Subs not used: McCarthy, Hill, Kranjcar, Comley.

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