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Sunday 9 March 2014

Blues vs QPR - Match Report

Ravel Morrison was at his frightening best as QPR strolled to a 0-2 victory at St. Andrews, ending their poor run of form.

Their form is nowhere near the level of Blues' home form however, which has now stretched to 12 games without a win. The most worrying part is that Blues don't look like picking up a win anytime soon.

Of course, it was the on-loan midfielder Ravel Morrison, who had a successful spell with Blues last year, who popped up to condemn Blues to another home loss.

With the squad at their disposal, it's incredible to think that QPR are not top of the table. They were simply better than Blues in every area of the pitch, which is understandable given the amount of money their team cost, when Clark has pennies to work with.

Blues started with a 3-4-3 formation, which is an unusual choice even for the enigmatic Lee Clark, but he started similarly against QPR away so it wasn't entirely out of the blue. Blues struggled to get a hold of the game - outnumbered in midfield and Burke and Ibe were struggling to get the ball in dangerous positions. QPR were working very hard to limit the space, but utilising it well when they had the ball.

Joey Barton ran the show for them, but Ravel Morrison was terrorising the defence with his direct running and clever playmaking. Within the first five minutes he gave the Blues defence something to worry about, beating four or five players before his eventual cross/shot was cleared. But he wasn't done.

Just as Blues started to get into the game, they were hit with a sucker punch. Tom Adeyemi won the ball high up the pitch and found Chris Burke. But the Scottish wide man was not on his game, allowing Richard Dunne to steal the ball off him. QPR broke, Kevin Doyle reaching a pass on the left hand side.

Before he could get a shot away, a cynical challenge from Blues' skipper Paul Robinson brought him crashing to the floor. Somehow, Robinson got away without a yellow card, but it turned out that the free-kick was punishment enough.

The omnipresent Ravel Morrison stepped up to hit a powerful, dipping free-kick which Darren Randolph between the Blues posts couldn't keep out. He may be disappointed that he didn't do better, but the swerve and dip on the ball was vicious.

Blues were just trying to hang on until half time, as QPR pressed to try and double their lead. They should have made it 2-0 through Armand Traore, who skewed his volley wide from 8 yards out with only the keeper to beat.

Barton's free-kick was headed powerfully onto the Blues' crossbar from Clint Hill on the stroke of half-time; a let off for Blues whose performance deserved to concede another.

Blues offered very little, but Rob Green had to be awake to tip over an Emyr Huws free-kick that looked to be going straight in. Then Paul Caddis got put through on the right hand side, with a waiting Nikola Zigic on the penalty spot, but the former Swindon right back took too long and Green denied him.

In the second half, Blues started to look a little more dangerous, but still looked impotent in front of goal. Burke found space on the right, but rather than cutting in and shooting with his trusty left foot like he normally would, he tried to cut back onto his right. Dunne tackled him but the ball fell straight to Jordon Ibe. His shot however, was tame.

Ibe looked much more dangerous in the second half, but Blues couldn't get him the ball in dangerous positions enough. Despite a change in formation coming with the introduction of Lee Novak and Kiko Macheda, it was not to be for Clark's men.

Morrison planted Jermaine Jenas' low cross firmly into the bottom left-hand corner for 2-0 and it was game over. Morrison had no qualms about celebrating against the team whom he had played for last season, but was clapped off by the same Blues fans who booed their own man, Nikola Zigic, off.

There were few positives to take from the game for Clark, and he knows that his team must play significantly better to avoid an embarrassing defeat to high-flying Burnley on Wednesday.

Randolph - 5
Caddis - 5
Spector - 6
Packwood - 6
Robinson - 6
Ferguson - 5
Huws - 7 *MOTM*
Adeyemi - 6
Burke - 5
Zigic - 5
Ibe - 6

Macheda - 5
Novak - 6
Blackett - 6

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