Queens Park Rangers vs Stoke City. Sky Bet Championship.
Loftus Road StadiumAttendance2,000.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium as the two sides played out a drab goalless draw on Tuesday night.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 21:58, UK
Struggling QPR are without a win in six matches after a 0-0 draw at home to Stoke.
Rangers have won just one of their past nine games - a run which has included five defeats and resulted in them sliding towards the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone.
They struggled to create clear-cut chances against injury-hit Stoke, who defended well and were mostly comfortable.
QPR's best chance fell to Lyndon Dykes after lovely work on the right flank by Ilias Chair after 11 minutes.
Chair delivered the ball in low towards the Scotland striker, who was unable to score from four yards.
At first it seemed that Dykes was guilty of an inexplicable miss.
However, an all-important touch from Stoke defender Nathan Collins slightly altered the course of the ball before it reached Dykes, causing him to slice wide of the target.
Chair was the stand-out player in the first half, sending one shot over and another wide as the home side threatened.
It was a totally different story after the interval, with Stoke putting Rangers under sustained pressure and almost going ahead.
Harry Souter lifted the ball towards Josh Tymon, who was denied at point-blank range by Seny Dieng.
Keeper Dieng showed superb reflexes to keep out Tymon's shot and the ball then ricocheted off Rangers defender Todd Kane and onto the crossbar.
With 20 minutes remaining, Nick Powell missed a great chance for Stoke when he headed over from Morgan Fox's left-wing cross.
Dieng was called into action again late on, diving to his right to keep out a low shot from Potters substitute Jordan Thompson.
Rangers' season has been blighted by a tendency to miss chances and then concede goals after a defensive lapse.
A clean sheet and a point after two successive home defeats will be some consolation for boss Mark Warburton.
But it was another frustrating game for the west London side, who lack a cutting edge up front.
Dykes has established himself as Scotland's number nine but has yet to reproduce his international form for his club, scoring just one goal in open play since his summer move from Livingston.
Rangers' wastefulness was summed up in stoppage time when Chris Willock blasted wide after more good work by the always lively Chair, who sent a wayward effort well over the bar in the final seconds.
QPR's Mark Warburton: "We started the game well but to be fair to Stoke they started the second half in the same fashion. We were chasing shadows in the first 15 minutes of the second half. I thought the boys showed a lot of character on the hour mark because we were under the cosh.
"Stoke were throwing men forward and have good players, good presence and a lot of experience in their squad. But our players stood up as a team and defended the goal. Then we started to come into the game more. I was pleased with the character they showed in that last half an hour to finish the game strongly."
Stoke's Michael O'Neill: "I thought there were periods of the game where we were quite dominant and had a lot of control. We probably just didn't do enough in the final third. We had a lot of opportunities to get good balls in the box.
"Overall I thought we had a lot of good play and looked assured at the back. I'm a little disappointed not to come away with more but if we're honest we maybe just didn't do enough."
