Queens Park Rangers vs Leicester City. Sky Bet Championship.
Loftus Road StadiumAttendance17,385.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between QPR and Leicester City at Loftus Road on Saturday | A red card cost QPR as Harry Winks scored a late Foxes winner
Saturday 28 October 2023 18:59, UK
Harry Winks' late goal gave Leicester a 2-1 victory over 10-man QPR and maintained their five-point lead at the top of the Sky Bet Championship.
After Stephy Mavididi opened the scoring, Andre Dozzell equalised shortly before the interval, but was sent off early in the second half.
Struggling QPR - who have now lost six matches in a row and remain one off the bottom of the table - battled hard, but the Foxes eventually made their numerical advantage count with 10 minutes left.
The ball was worked out to Winks, who made space for the shot and rifled in a right-footed strike from the edge of the penalty area for the midfielder's first Leicester goal since moving from Tottenham.
QPR have won just once at home in more than a year and now have lost all but one of their seven home games this season.
A spirited showing probably somewhat eased the pressure on Gareth Ainsworth, but a defeat away to fellow strugglers Rotherham next weekend would put his future as R's boss in more doubt.
Leicester dominated possession from the start and QPR had an early let-off when Cesare Casadei headed over from six yards from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's corner.
However, luck went against Rangers when they fell behind on the half-hour mark.
Mavididi cut in from the left and Albert Adomah's attempt to block the shot resulted in a looping deflection which went beyond keeper Asmir Begovic and in off the far post.
QPR responded well to the setback and equalised five minutes before half-time.
Lyndon Dykes' header from Adomah's cross was cleared off the line by Hamza Choudhury, but the ball dropped to Dozzell, who fired home left-footed from the edge of the penalty area.
Dozzell, though, soon from hero to villain when he was sent off on 59 minutes for two cautions.
Abdul Fatawu reacted angrily to a challenge from Dozzell, who raised a hand towards the Leicester winger and was shown a first yellow card for the foul followed by another for the retaliation.
It reduced QPR to 10 men for the second successive match, with Jimmy Dunne having been dismissed during the midweek loss at West Brom.
Already without injured centre-backs Steve Cook and Morgan Fox, Dunne's absence further limited Ainsworth's defensive options as Leicester closed out victory when Winks struck late on.
Rangers can at least take some encouragement from the fight they showed against a Leicester team which has won 13 of their opening 14 league games this season and seem very much on course for promotion back to the Premier League.
QPR's Gareth Ainsworth:
"Naivety has cost us again. It's cost us over the past two games. Out of the four bookings that have cost us two red cards, I think there's only one legitimate foul in there and the rest has been just stupidity. Andre has reacted just as Fatawu wanted him to. The referee has no choice but to give a second yellow. We had a plan put in place that I think was working, but again you need 11 men, especially against the top-of-the-league team. I thought there were some superb performances for us. There wasn't much in the game at all until Andre falls for the trick of gamesmanship from Fatawu.
"Andre has to learn from that. It was always going to be tough after that. It still took a world-class goal to beat us. I am proud of that performance. I can hold my head up high and say we gave absolutely everything. As long as that keeps happening we'll amass enough points to stay in this division."
Leicester's Enzo Maresca:
"We have just one problem: we are still in October. I would like to still be in the same position in February, March and April. You can lose a game for many reasons, but for sure you can lose a game if you have a drop in intensity. We know that because we always mention that. If you come here, against this team, after their five (defeats) in a row, and you drop a little bit in terms of intensity, then they will beat us for sure.
"As long as we remain with the same intensity then we can win more games than we lose. But the players deserve it. The way they work on the ball and off the ball, they make an unbelievable effort. They are open-minded and fantastic."
