Southampton Vs Qpr — southampton vs qpr: Saints maintain play-off push
southampton vs qpr ended in a 5-0 win for Southampton at St Mary's as the hosts strengthened their push for the Championship play-off places. The victory lifts Tonda Eckert's side up from 11th to seventh in the table, four points off Wrexham.
Southampton Vs Qpr match report
A dominant Southampton put five past Queens Park Rangers, with Finn Azaz opening the scoring in the ninth minute when Ryan Manning found him on the edge of the box; Azaz took a touch in-field and curled a low, powerful right-footed shot into the far corner. The lead was doubled just before half-time when Kuryu Matsuki rose highest to head Leo Scienza's header into the net for Matsuki's first Championship goal.
Five minutes after the interval Matsuki struck again. Scienza had a shot saved by QPR keeper Joe Walsh, who palmed the ball straight into Matsuki's path; Matsuki then steered the rebound into the far corner with his left foot to make it three. Scienza added a fourth in the 59th minute after being played through by Azaz, breaking into plenty of space down the left, cutting infield and curling his effort into the far corner for his sixth Championship goal of the season. James Bree completed the scoring roughly ten minutes later when a poor QPR clearance fell to him after Scienza won back possession down the left; Bree took a touch and fired a shot into the left-hand side of the net a slight deflection to make it 5-0.
Goals and key moments
Early in the match both sides had penalty appeals waved away by referee Oliver Langford. QPR's Amadou Mbengue went down after getting past Ryan Manning, and shortly after Taylor Harwood-Bellis appeared to be pulled back in the box by former Saint Ronnie Edwards, but nothing was given for either incident. Just over five minutes before the break Manning sent a free-kick into the box and found the head of Harwood-Bellis; his header bounced once before striking the post and rolling away from danger.
Injuries and substitutions
QPR suffered a blow just before the half-hour mark when Nicolas Madsen sprinted after a cleared corner, pulled up holding the back of his right leg, and was substituted before heading down the St Mary's tunnel. Nicolas Madsen and Jonathan Varane had returned to the squad at Hull, while Ilias Chair suffered a new setback after returning to training and was ruled out of the trip to St Mary's. QPR's new striker Justin Obikwu had still not recovered from an injury he picked up soon after joining the club, and top scorer Rumarn Burrell remained out with a hamstring problem.
Table impact and form
The win moves Southampton from 11th to seventh in the Championship, four points behind Wrexham; QPR sit 13th. Southampton have won four of their last five Championship games and were unbeaten in their last six league matches, winning four of those. QPR had arrived at St Mary's level on points with their hosts after an impressive 3-1 win at Hull on Saturday, which was only the Londoners' third victory in their last 11 league matches, though they had lost only four of those 11.
Matchday details and match pack
The match was listed as a Sky Bet Championship fixture at St Mary's Stadium for Tuesday 24th February, with kick-off at 8pm GMT and coverage getting under way from 7. 30pm GMT. The match officials were: referee Oliver Langford, assistants Mark Stevens and Robert Hyde, and fourth official Tom Nield. The fixture was a Category C match, on general sale with prices starting from £20 for Adults and £10 for Juniors.
The matchday programme was available to order online and from sellers around St Mary's; the double edition was the same publication sold at Saturday's home game with Charlton, two in one for the usual price of £4. Cover art was provided by 10-year-old Emma from Fairisle Junior School to celebrate the Saints Foundation Charity Matchday against Charlton. Inside the programme there was a feature interview with Shea Charles recalling the comeback at Leicester, notes from Tonda Eckert, the latest from the women's team and coverage of both visiting sides. Saints Play match passes were also available to supporters in certain overseas territories.
Tonda Eckert said: "I loved that we were sharp from the off. " Eckert described the game as the reverse fixture of his first match in charge, a 2-1 triumph at Loftus Road back in November, and said he did not foresee "a big turnover" in his starting line-up following Saturday's draw; many players had played their first minutes since the 4-3 comeback win at Leicester 11 days earlier. Full-backs Welington and Mads Roerslev remained sidelined, while Jay Robinson had been struggling with a quad injury that forced him to miss the Charlton game.
A separate match preview titled "EFL highlights: Middlesbrough stumble; Wrexham, Ipswich win & Southampton thrash QPR" was listed but the blog displayed the message: "Sorry, this blog is currently unavailable. Please try again later. "
Saints maintained momentum with a comprehensive victory that strengthened their play-off push and left QPR to regroup after a heavy defeat at St Mary's.
