Queens Park Rangers 3-1 Birmingham City
- Published
Birmingham City would have ensured Championship survival with a win at QPR
Birmingham's fight against Championship relegation will go to the final day after they were defeated at QPR.
Blues took the lead midway through the first half when Che Adams fired in Jacques Maghoma's delivery.
But youngsters Bright Osayi-Samuel and Ilias Chair each struck home their first R's goal to put the hosts ahead.
Matt Smith sealed the win when he scored in off the post, leaving Blues in 20th, two points above the drop zone going into the last round of fixtures.
Birmingham would have sealed their Championship status with a victory but their fate will now be decided on a day when they face a Fulham side looking for automatic promotion.
Things had begun brightly when Adams fired home, but the advantage at Loftus Road lasted just a minute as Osayi-Samuel tucked Josh Scowen's cross into the bottom corner.
The hosts nearly took the lead when David Stockdale produced a fabulous save to deny Jake Bidwell but he could do nothing to stop Chair from volleying home at the far post later.
Jota and Maxime Colin were both denied by R's keeper Joe Lumley and Michael Morrison headed a decent chance wide as the visitors sought to make it 2-2, but Smith added gloss to the scoreline late on.
Five sides go into the final day of the Championship season knowing they could be relegated to League One
QPR manager Ian Holloway:
"I honestly couldn't be any more proud of the lads.
"This has been the toughest of times for me personally, losing my mum.
"But today they put in a performance that epitomised everything she stood for.
"They did my mum and my family proud today - and they did QPR and the QPR family proud today. So thank you to each and every one of them."
Birmingham City boss Gary Monk told BBC WM:
"We've been taking this relegation challenge on and we're trying to meet it head on. But I saw fear today in the team and that's what pressure does.
"We need to make sure that we go out in front of all of our fans next week, in front of a full house and we finish, making sure we're in this league (next season)."