HORROR SHOW
SKY BLUES OUTCLASSED AS SURVIVAL HOPES SUFFER SETBACK
COVENTRY City suffered another Championship setback with their 12th away defeat of the campaign and arguably worst performance of the season so far.
Queens Park Rangers were simply quicker, slicker and looked fitter than the Sky Blues in a one-sided first half when the home side were ahead inside the first two minutes and had doubled their lead from an own goal by the 22nd minute.
And had it not been for decent saves from Marko Marosi, City would have been trailing by a greater margin at the break.
The keeper, however, will not want to see Rangers’ third and final goal of the afternoon, when the outstanding Ilias Chair beat him at his near post to wrap things up with 68 minutes on the clock.
Mark Robins’ men got off to the worst possible start when they conceded after just a minute and 18 seconds.
A clever overlap allowed wingback Lee Wallace free down the left and Chris Willock met his inch-perfect delivery to direct his header in off the inside of the post to give the hosts the early advantage.
Striker Charlie Austin almost doubled his side’s lead in the 10th minute when Jordan Shipley gave the ball away to Osman Kakay on the right, leaving the wing-back to pick out his team-mate who was denied by a decent save by Marosi from pointblank range.
Coventry looked out of their depth as the home side dominated the first 20 minutes, enjoying almost 70 per cent of the ball, and Rangers’ pressure paid off in the 22nd minute.
Chair had been denied by Marosi after cutting in from the left on the overlap, the keeper putting the ball out for a corner.
Chair took the resulting flag-kick into the near post where the ball flicked off Michael Rose’s head over Marosi and into the back of his own net.
Chair caused further problems just before the break when he got the better of Rose to break clean through on goal where he was denied by another decent save from Marosi.
The keeper, who was making his first start for nine games, was called upon early after the break, making himself big to block Chair following a brilliantly-threaded through-ball.
City attempted to get themselves back in the game with a fairer share of the ball, largely through the good work and smart use of it in possession from Matty James, before Robins made three changes just shy of the hour, sending on Tyler Walker, Viktor Gyokeres and Callum O’hare for Godden, Allen and Shipley.
And switching to two up-top almost paid instant dividends when Gyokeres and Walker linked up nicely, resulting in the latter hitting a shot that was blocked.
Rose was forced off injured on 65 minutes, replaced by Josh Pask, before Rangers upped the gears and finished the job with architect in chief, Chair, given the freedom of Loftus Road as he went on a diagonal run into the box and fired a powerful shot to the near post.
Marosi looked to have it covered but somehow the ball came off his gloves and squeezed into the side netting the wrong side of the post as the home side increased their lead.
City had a rare attempt on goal on 80 minutes when Gyokeres got his head on a James’ free-kick, sending it just wide of the keeper’s left-hand post.
And the on-loan striker hit a thunderous free-kick just wide after some excellent work from Josh Eccles who was brought to ground in the D.
Marosi then pulled off one final save to keep the scoreline to 3-0 when he denied a rising shot from Rangers substitute Albert Adomah in the dying minutes of stoppage time.