WARBURTON FUMES AS HIS HOOPS FLOP
MARK Warburton was furious after seeing his QPR side slip to an unexpected defeat and accused them of complacency.
The Hoops, now with just one win in seven Championship matches, went ahead through Andre Gray’s firsthalf opener.
But Bluebirds youngsters Isaak Davies and Rubin Colwill scored in the space of four second-half minutes to turn the match on its head.
A furious Warburton said: “We lost it by dropping the tempo and playing at a testimonial pace after 50 minutes.
“We were thinking it was almost too easy to move the ball and giving a good opponent too much time and not enough respect, and we paid the price for that. Plain and simple.
“We were dominant in the first half, got the goal, should have got the second and all we had to do was maintain our tempo.
“I don’t lose my rag often but that was not us in the second half. We can’t be that.”
A mistake by Perry Ng led to QPR going ahead after 38 minutes.
Moses Odubajo’s right-wing cross was headed by Ng straight to Gray, who blasted home from eight yards out.
Gray had earlier been denied by former Rangers keeper Alex Smithies, who produced a fine near-post save to push away the striker’s header from Ilias Chair’s cross.
The hosts continued to threaten after going ahead, with Smithies keeping out Lee Wallace’s strike shortly before Chris Willock’s deflected shot flashed wide.
Jordan Hugill, who was previously on loan at QPR, had chances for Cardiff either side of half-time but fired the first straight at Marshall and wasted the second by blasting over.
A Rangers counter-attack led to a great chance for Gray midway through the second half but he steered a firsttime effort wide.
Had that chance been taken, the game might well have been beyond Cardiff, but they emphatically made the most
the reprieve. Substitute Davies equalised with 20 minutes remaining with the help of an error by former Cardiff keeper David Marshall.
Davies brushed defender Rob Dickie aside, cut in from the left and fired in a shot which Marshall got both hands to, but the ball looped over the Scotland international and over the line before he was able to claw it away.
And the bustling Davies, causing Dickie more problems, led to the visitors going ahead in stunning fashion.
Davies again went past Dickie, who shoved him to the ground near the edge of the penalty area, and Colwill brilliantly smashed the resulting free-kick into the top corner.
Cardiff boss Steve Morison was delighted to see two of the club’s academy products – Daof vies and Colwill – make their mark.
“I said we’d use the core group of the academy players and we’re doing that. It was an excellent day all round,” said Morison.
“We put the pressure on them and should have had a couple more goals. It was a brilliant free-kick from Ruben and an unbelievable moment.”