LONDON: Division Two leaders Queens Park Rangers took a step closer towards automatic promotion to the Premier League with a 1-0 win at Reading on Friday after being a man down for more than half the match.
Wayne Routledge’s late winner saw the west London club go eight points clear at the top and was a reward for QPR’s resilience after winger Hogan Ephraim saw red near the end of the first half at the Madejski Stadium.
Ephraim’s poor touch saw him lose possession and, in his desperation to retrieve the ball, he lunged in on Reading’s Jimmy Kebe.
Referee Russell Booth was in no doubt as to the severity of the offence, producing a straight red card.
QPR manager Neil Warnock was so incensed by the decision to dismiss Ephraim he might have seen red himself.
But his side kept their cool and were rewarded eight minutes from time.
Playmaker Adel Taarabt sent Routledge clean through with a well-weighted pass and Rangers’ loan signing from top-flight Newcastle United beat the Royals’ Australian goalkeeper, Adam Federici, with a sharp low shot.
Afterwards an elated Warnock said: “It’s one of the best wins of my career to be honest.
“It’s nights like this why I don’t retire. My heart will probably go first,” the 62-year-old added.
As for Ephraim’s dismissal, Warnock said: “It’s a bad tackle, but it’s a winger’s tackle isn’t it? I’ve seen yellow cards given for that in the past and that would have done it.
“But we wanted to be positive in the second half. I wanted some guts and wanted us to go for it and we did that.”
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