QPR 1 Swansea City 1
Substitute Wilfried Bony scored an injury-time equaliser to deny QPR another priceless home victory.
Swansea’s star striker, left on the bench until the 72nd minute, smashed home to cancel out Leroy Fer’s brilliant first-half strike.
The visitors were down to 10 men after Wayne Routledge had been sent off late on for lashing out at Karl Henry.
In an action-packed game at Loftus Road, Charlie Austin headed against the post early in the second half and missed a glorious chance to restore Rangers’ lead after Bony’s goal.
Fer belted in a right-footed effort from 30 yards in the 20th minute – the Dutch midfielder’s third goal since his arrival from Norwich in the summer.
It came after Rangers had rode their luck in the opening stages.
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s pass carved open their defence and keeper Rob Green was outside his area when he handled the ball after racing from his line to thwart Routledge.
Former QPR man Routledge was involved in much of the early action, shooting wide of Green’s right-hand post as the visitors continued to threaten.
But it was the home side who opened the scoring and Bobby Zamora missed a chance to double the lead when he headed Eduardo Vargas’ right-wing cross over the bar.
Batetimbi Gomis could have equalised for the Swans before the break but dragged a shot wide and also saw a weak effort comfortably gathered by Green.
Rangers made a strong start to the second period and twice went close to going 2-0 up, first when Clint Hill’s cross was headed against the far post by Austin and then when Fer’s deflected shot went just over.
Swansea responded with a spell of pressure, Federico Fernandez missing the target with a header and Gylfi Sigurdson shooting narrowly wide.
And Richard Dunne was on hand to clear Marvin Emnes’ scrambled effort off the line as Rangers clung on.
City kept pressing even after Routledge was red-carded for retaliating following a challenge from Henry.
Their reward came when Bony finished emphatically after Ki Sung-Yueng had cut in from the right and across the edge of the penalty area.
Yet Rangers could still have taken all three points. Joey Barton’s shot was parried by keeper Lukasz Fabianski into the path of Austin, who sliced wide from close range.
QPR: Green, Isla, Caulker, Dunne, Hill, Vargas, Barton, Henry, Fer, Zamora (Hoilett 83), Austin.
Subs not used: McCarthy, Traore, Ferdinand, Phillips, Onuoha, Mutch.
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This post was last modified on 01/01/2015