Blackpool vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Bloomfield RoadAttendance10,051.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Blackpool and QPR at Bloomfield Road as the relegation-threatened Tangerines soced six goals against Rangers on Tuesday night.
Tuesday 14 March 2023 22:58, UK
Blackpool gave themselves renewed hope of avoiding the drop from the Sky Bet Championship thanks to a thumping 6-1 victory against shellshocked QPR.
The Seasiders recorded by far their biggest win of the season to move within just three points of potential safety.
Only a second success in 20 league games was secured in some style against a Rangers side that never recovered from a disastrous start.
Mick McCarthy's Seasiders made a dream start as they went three up after only 14 minutes.
The opener came following a penalty award after only 44 seconds.
Morgan Rogers' initial attempt was blocked before Jerry Yates fired in a shot from inside the box. Referee Jeremy Simpson pointed straight to the spot after adjudging that the effort had been blocked by the arm of Rob Dickie.
Yates stepped up and drilled the penalty straight into the top corner.
Andy Lyons made it two when he darted in to meet CJ Hamilton's superb drag-back before coolly side-footing home.
Bloomfield Road was rocking again when a howler from QPR goalkeeper Seny Dieng led to a third goal.
Dieng hopelessly spilt James Husband's rather harmless cross at the feet of Curtis Nelson, who slotted his first Blackpool goal into an unguarded net from 15 yards.
Rangers were clearly shell-shocked, but they almost reduced the deficit when Husband superbly cleared skipper Chris Martin's strike off the line.
However, it got even worse nine minutes before the break. Some R's fans headed for the exits after watching Jordan Thorniley easily head home from Charlie Patino's corner.
Rangers at least had the final word of an incredible first half when Martin dived in to head home Lyndon Dykes' cross to make it 4-1.
It was five for Blackpool just three minutes after the restart. After Dieng brilliantly tipped Lyons' thunderbolt over the crossbar, the Blackpool midfielder then headed home from Patino's corner.
It was almost six when Rogers' shot thumped the inside of a post.
QPR simply had no answer to Blackpool's dominance, and every time the hosts went forward they looked capable of adding another goal.
Lyons was hungry for his hat-trick, but his effort just past the hour failed to trouble Dieng this time.
As the game began to fizzle out late on, Sam Field headed inches wide for the visitors, before substitute Kenny Dougall's crisp finish made it a superb six for Blackpool in the 88th minute.
Blackpool's Mick McCarthy:
"The lads up front destroyed QPR tonight, but even though we were 4-1 up at half-time, I knew we'd need to do it all again in the second half. We did that, though, and once we'd got the fifth there was no coming back from that. After what happened on Saturday I really wanted a big performance from the lads tonight, and I think I got it. We knew it was going to be tough because they'd had a terrific result at the weekend, but we were excellent right from the start.
"I couldn't have asked for any more than we got tonight. This kind of result doesn't happen very often, and I stressed that to the lads beforehand that it wouldn't be easy at all. I knew QPR could cause us some damage, but we just flew at them in the early stages. It won't be 6-1 on Saturday when we've got Coventry here, but if we can just replicate that kind of performance, then that's all I can ask."
QPR's Gareth Ainsworth:
"I must apologise to the fans because that was an unacceptable performance overall. I'm not worried, because we've got plenty of good players in the dressing room, but Blackpool smashed us and I just didn't see that coming before the game. We looked nervous, we looked weak, but we've all got to get over this quickly.
"I expected the lads to stand up to Blackpool much better than they did, so this result hurts. I just wish I could have put my boots on and gone out there myself. I would have defended those set-pieces better. It's up to me to pick the lads up again now, though. I feel a bit like I've trodden on broken glass, but we'll go again between now and the end of the season and then get ourselves ready for next season, in the Championship."
