It was a moment when Queens Park Rangers’ survival hopes surged. Matt Phillips had dropped his shoulder to throw Nemanja Matic, his first touch from Bobby Zamora’s 64th-minute cross had been true and he was about to pull the trigger from 10 yards.
Everybody in hooped shirts could feel it, the winger was going to score. It had been an encouraging week, what with the thumping win at West Bromwich Albion and the draw at Aston Villa, but this was going to top it.
Thibaut Courtois poured ice-cold water on those dreams. The Chelsea goalkeeper plunged to his left to produce a simply outstanding save. The cheers stuck in the throats of the home support. On such incidents are destinies shaped.
The theory gathered substance at the bitter end of this intense slug-fest which was marked by finger-wagging, rucks and general ugliness. Rob Green picked quite the moment to skew a routine drop-kick and if the clearance barely got beyond the halfway point of his own half, he also managed to pick out the most dangerous player in the Premier League.
Eden Hazard made the incision and when Cesc Fàbregas converted with what was Chelsea’s first shot on target, Chris Ramsey and everybody connected to QPR put their heads in their hands and cursed loudly. From where they were crouching, football’s cruelty seemed to know no bounds.
This was a game that QPR might have won but certainly should not have lost. A point would have maintained their momentum but when Fàbregas snatched it away there was fury in the stands and desolation on the pitch.
QPR fans threw whatever they could get their hands on at Fàbregas and his celebrating Chelsea team-mates – Branislav Ivanovic was hit by a cigarette lighter – while the full-time whistle brought the sight of the home players staring blankly into the distance.
Ramsey used the analogy of the failed driving test. “When you’re so close but you fail it,” the QPR manager said. “You’d like that time back.” How Ramsey wished that he could have had the 88th minute back and he made it plain he did not blame Green for the kick that would have looked more at home in an under-11s game.
“When a ball goes out wide and there are eight players behind the ball, you cannot blame him at that stage,” Ramsey said. “You have to defend it better. We’re in this predicament because the goals have been so soft. We could have defended that one miles better. All that running everyone did went to waste.”
QPR put in the hard yards from the very outset in what was an attritional contest to put it mildly. The home support seethed and so did their team. Sandro and Joey Barton epitomised their no-holds-barred commitment – even if the former went too far with a rugby tackle on the substitute, Oscar, for which he was booked – while Steven Caulker stood tall against Didier Drogba.
The quality of the game was horribly sketchy and it said much that the first proper effort on goal did not come until the 44th minute when Courtois denied Charlie Austin. QPR dug in; they put their bodies on the line, closed down and made life extremely difficult for the top team in the country.
The emptiness they felt at the end will not clear for some time. Annoyingly they do not play again for two weeks, when West Ham United visit for another derby. Ramsey said he would prefer to get straight back into the saddle.
There were positives for him in the performance and in the overall impression that anyone can get a result against anyone else in this helter-skelter league. José Mourinho also had words of encouragement. “QPR are playing well, with a good spirit and they still have a chance,” the Chelsea manager said. “We were fortunate today. I feel sorry for them.”
Ramsey wants points, not sympathy.
