Bristol City 1 QPR 1

A very entertaining first half was marred by a fussy referee. Ladesma was sent off but the game was disrupted by a succession of free kicks. Ladesma was a victim of his own complaints, if he had kept his mouth shut he may have stayed on the pitch. He was booked in the first half for complaining to the referee after a throw in which seemed to be clearly a City ball. His tantrum ended in him hurling the ball in the direction of Jamie McAlister. Early in the second half most of the ground was watching Maynard blaze McAlister’s cross over the bar and missed Ladesma clashing with the City left back for a second booking and a deserved red card. After that QPR disappointingly, but perhaps understandably, played for the single point.

QPR took the lead in the 18th minute, a long ball forward saw Carey and Basso collide under pressure from Dexter Blackstock. He kept his head whilst all around him were losing theirs and fired the loose ball into the roof of the net. But less than ten minutes later City were level. Brian Wilson did exceptionally well to keep the ball in on the left and his right foot croos was met by a sliding Dele Adebola to grab the equaliser. Both sides were playing attractive passing football and 1-1 at half time was a fair reflection of a pulstating first half. Basso pulled off a fine save, the ball was powerfully driven to his far post he dived to his right and somehow clung on to the ball as it seemed destined for the far corner.

The sending off changed things. QPR brought on Martin Rowlands and added a much needed bite to their midfield which until then was all tricks and flicks of their foreign contingent. I was disappointed that QPR didn’t give it a go. Louis Carey had dealt well with the constant threat of Dexter Blackstock who had a good chance to go for goal in the last minutes of the match only to take the ball to the corner flag to sum up QPR’s ambitions for the match. Gavin Williams came on for City and showed some nice touches including a mazy run that led to a tame shot. Ivan Sproule added some pace on the right but his crosses evaded everyone. Dele Adebola almost won it at the death but his powerful header was brilliantly saved by Radek Cerny diving to his left to tip around the post.

In truth a draw was all Bristol City deserved as they failed to break down a well organised QPR defence. Both of these sides should challenge for a play-off place on this evidence.

Teams

1 Adriano Basso : Radek Cerny 24
2 Bradley Orr : Peter Ramage 15
6 Louis Carey : Damion Stewart 3
4 Liam Fontaine : Matthew Connolly 16
3 Jamie McAllister (55mins) : Damien Delaney 2
18 Brian Wilson (79mins) : Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma 20
14 Cole Skuse (57mins) : Mikele Leigertwood 6
33 Lee Johnson : Gavin Mahon 4
11 Michael McIndoe : (54mins) Lee Cook 17
15 Dele Adebola : (76mins) Daniel Parejo 7
10 Nicky Maynard : Dexter Blackstock 9

Subs

9 Steve Brooker (unused) : (unused) Angelo Balanta 19
17 Ivan Sproule (79mins) : (unused) Kaspars Gorkss 13
16 Andy Webster (55mins) : (unused) Lee Camp 1
20 Gavin Williams (57mins) : (76mins) Patrick Agyemang 11
22 Chris Weale (unused) : (54mins) Martin Rowlands 14