There's no doubt that this was Blues' most impressive all-round performance of the season so far, and they even secured their victory with only ten men following Nicklas Bendtner's dismissal midway through the second half.
QPR 0 Blues 2 .. Report
Steve Bruce made two changes to the team that beat Hull City at the weekend, with Mehdi Nafti forced out with an injury and Julian Gray forced out with disinterest. Fabrice Muamba came in to replace Nafti as the 'holding midfielder' alongside David Dunn, whilst Neil Danns came in for Gray, meaning Sebastian Larsson switched to left-back, whilst Danns played on the right-hand side of midfield.
Blues started the game impressively, and, to be honest, this lasted for 90 minutes. There was a fine blend of hard work and battling attributes with some flair and pace in attack. Credit must go to Bruce who picked an adventerous team in an away game, with Dunn, Danns and McSheffrey all taking their places in the midfield, and even at full-back, Larsson and Damien Johnson are hardly defenders. It worked, and worked well, so fair play to Bruce tonight.
QPR had what I'd describe as 'token home team pressure' for periods in the first half. Any home team is going to have a fair amount of possession and territory, and QPR did, but were unable to hurt Blues, despite Marc Nygaard winning a lot of balls in the air and Dexter Blackstock's pace causing the odd problem. At the other end, however, Blues looked extremely dangerous. Dunn and McSheffrey were both constant threats from midfield, whilst DJ Campbell and Bendtner looked impressive up front. The only real criticism of Blues during the first half was that they finished like an Australian contractor building a national stadium in a different country - Campbell, Larsson and Bendtner should all have done better on occasions.
Blues took the lead, however, midway through the first half. McSheffrey - whose set-pieces are really beginning to show up his predecessor, Mr Pennant - delivered a free-kick into the area and Bruno N'Gotty was left moreorless unmarked to power a header past Paul Jones for his first goal for the club. Blues continued to be a threat for the rest of the half, with Campbell having a goal disallowed (perhaps harshly) for handball, and Dunn striking the post with a fine volley right on half-time.
Blues carried on in similar vain in the second half - quite literally, in fact, as Dunn went close with another excellent volley, only to be denied by Jones on this occasion. Again, the home side huffed and puffed, but the Big Bad Wolf will tell you that sometimes that isn't enough when you're dealing with a brick house, and in N'Gotty and Radhi Jaidi, Blues have a couple of brick sh*thouses at the back. The pair of them were superb again tonight. They both make the odd error, but in general they're so strong, and very few centre forwards will get the better of them this season.
Blues continued to look dangerous in attack, with Bendtner setting up Campbell for a toe-poked effort that hit the inside of the post and somehow stayed out, rolling along the goal-line. This moment aside, Bendtner was obviously struggling in the second half. His control had deserted him somewhat, and he was evidently tired. He took out his frustration on the referee with an act of dissent which earned him a yellow card, and moments later he was shown his second yellow card, and the subsequent red card for some kind of misdemeanour at a throw-in. I have no idea what it was for, to be honest. Even so though, my one criticism of the evening's events would be that he was so obviously struggling for fitness in the second half (he is only 18, remember) and was so obviously getting frustrated with himself as much as anyone else, that I was screaming for him to have been taken off before all this unfolded halfway through the second half. I have to ask why he was still on the pitch at the time he picked up his bookings. He wasn't replaced though, and his obvious replacement Cameron Jerome had to wait to come on for Campbell instead as Blues went 4-4-1, and obviously preferred Jerome's presence to Campbell's up front, given that he'd be doing a lot of work on his own. Campbell would have been knackered too though, because although he wasted some opportunities, he worked tirelessly, and was generally excellent again.
As you'd expect, QPR raised their game slightly against the ten men, but still struggled to really create anything. They had the odd shot wide and a cross that flew across the face of the goal, but that was it really. Jerome was really struggling to make an impression at the other end though, and in a role where he should have been chasing, harassing and holding the ball up, he actually looked a little bit of a liability for a time. Neil Kilkenny came on for Dunn to offer more legs in midfield (Kilkenny's doesn't have any more legs than Dunn, but you know what I mean...), whilst McSheffrey (who volleyed just wide from a Jerome cross late on) and Danns both worked extremely hard up and down their flanks.
And just as it looked as if Blues were going to hold on to their precious 1-0 away victory, they had to go and ruin it didn't they? Yes, that bloody Jerome character who'd come on and looked shocking only decided to score with a sublime lob over Jones from the angle to make it 2-0. Jerome had even initially not even looked to go for the ball, but obviously had a change of heart. Cue particularly excitable celebrations from the Blues players - Danns, Larsson, Muamba, Jerome and McSheffrey especially enjoyed the moment in front of the Blues fans - and that was that. Interestingly seconds after scoring Jerome charged at a QPR player with a lot more purpose and menace than in the whole of his previous 20 minutes on the pitch - here's hoping that such a fine goal has now meant he's got a bit more confidence. He strikes me as a confidence player.
So, lots of credit to Blues tonight - everyone played their part. Of the players I haven't really mentioned so far, Maik Taylor took some fine catches late on to ease the pressure, Damien Johnson was extremely solid again at right-back, Larsson was exposed on occasions at left-back, but did well enough and clearly just loves playing and relishes a battle, whilst Muamba was very impressive in the middle of the park in the holding role.
As I say, this was a performance that had that fine blend of grafting and battling, together with displaying that little bit of extra class that Blues have at this level. Blues soaked up pressure well, and then looked very dangerous themselves in attack. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was 'a counter-attacking display', as I think that gives the indication that QPR were on top more than they actually were, and that Blues only had the odd break - that wasn't the case at all. Blues looked excellent going forward, looked solid at the back, and went top of the league. You can't say fairer than that, can you?