Gary Deegan scored his first goal for Coventry to condemn QPR to their third defeat in a week.
January signing notches first goal to seal victory for Sky Blues
Gary Deegan scored his first goal for Coventry to condemn struggling QPR to their third defeat in a week at the Ricoh Arena.
January signing Deegan registered the only goal after 10 minutes with a well-taken strike that left Rangers goalkeeper Carl Ikeme rooted to the spot.
After dominating for large spells of the game, Rangers boss Mick Harford will consider his side unfortunate not to gain a point - but their often-enterprising build-up play was let down in the final third of the pitch.
Supporters of the struggling London club turned on owner Flavio Briatore on Tuesday night as their troubled season hit a new low courtesy of a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Ipswich.
And the 500 or so visiting fans who made the trip to the West Midlands saw their side slump to a fifth successive loss which leaves them in a relegation battle having won one of their past 14 Coca-Cola Championship matches.
The visitors enjoyed a flurry of corners inside the opening five minutes and edged of the opening stages but, despite their bright start, were dealt a sucker punch with just 10 minutes on the clock.
A hopeful ball hit the back of Clinton Morrison and Deegan, at the first time of asking, struck the ball home from the edge of the area.
Akos Buzsaky curled a free-kick narrowly wide of the target as Rangers looked for a route back into the game, before Deegan saw another goalbound effort blocked by Kaspars Gorkss for a Sky Blues side who remained second best.
Dominance
QPR continued to be the dominant force as the half wore on but Coventry edged the only stat that mattered going into the interval, with endeavour overshadowing quality.
Rangers again looked lively at the start of the second half but, with Keiren Westwood having hardly had a save to make in 55 minutes, visiting boss Harford introduced Antonio German in place of Tamas Priskin in attack.
Lee Cook tested the Republic of Ireland keeper with a routine free-kick but the Loftus Road outfit were really lacking the quality required where it mattered to test the Sky Blues.
Coventry themselves were struggling to provide a threat at the other end and Ikeme was somewhat of a spectator in the visiting goal.
Adel Taarabt was introduced for QPR while Sky Blues boss Chris Coleman handed new signing Freddie Sears his debut in a bid to increase the level of goalmouth action.
