UP FOR THE CAP

Etienne’s strike sends Hornets into the last eight.. but it’s so tough on Rangers

TOTALLY undeserved, but Watford won’t care a fig after Etienne Capoue’s burglary at Loftus Road.

FA Cup ties are not beauty contests settled by artistic licence alone – if they were, Queens Park Rangers would be through to their first quarter-final since 1995.

There was little justice, and not much decent football from the Premier League side.

Watford’s only shot on target, an accurate barometer of their impoverished display, was enough for them to reach the last eight.

The Hornets’ only appearance in a major final was 35 years ago in Graham Taylor’s heyday, but they have often punched above their weight in the cup – with three semi-finals in the last 16 years to prove it.

And with 13 Premier League sides already fallen by the wayside, this was a golden opportunity to make serious headway towards Wembley.

But there are easier assignments than Friday night excursions under the lights in a Shepherd’s Bush melting pot.

QPR are a far cry from the shower who began the season with four straight league defeats and Watford settled into their task with all the comfort of sumo wrestlers trying to squeeze into supermodels’ jeans.

In the dearth of early chances, the Hoops had come closest. Massimo Luongo volleyed inches wide and Nahki Wells’ cushioned volley from Luke Freeman’s delightful scooped pass, was tipped to safety by Heurelho Gomes, whose 38th birthday was busier than his head coach Javi Gracia would have liked.

But in first-half added time, the Hornets – who had been dreary, functional and uninspired – snatched an undeserved lead.

With their big guns out of kilter in open play, a setpiece looked to be Watford’s best bet of a breakthrough and they made their second corner of the night count.

Tom Cleverley miscued a deep Jose Holebas cross, but it fell kindly for the unmarked Capoue to sweep home his third goal of the season beyond goalkeeper Joe Lumley.

In the hope he could conjure some cup magic by proxy, Rangers wheeled out Bobby Zamora – last-gasp hero of the 2014 play-off final at Wembley – as their half-time guest.

And in fairness, Zamora inspired more of the same: QPR in the ascendancy, Watford on the back foot.

Christian Kabasele was lucky to get away with a dreadful mistake, Wells failing to punish him by curling narrowly wide.

Rangers knew it was not going to be their night when Toni Leistner, stretching to met Darnell Furlong’s cross-shot at the far post, could only shovel it wide from point-blank range.