Queens Park Rangers 4-3 Millwall: Lions play-off hopes ended
- Published
Conor Masterson put QPR ahead just before half-time
Millwall saw their Championship play-off challenge ended by defeat by London rivals Queens Park Rangers in a seven-goal thriller.
R's defender Conor Masterson turned in to put the hosts ahead, but Matt Smith swept home soon after the restart to draw the Lions level.
Rangers quickly regained the lead through Ryan Manning's long-range strike and Ebere Eze raced away from the Lions defence to add a third just after the hour mark.
Shaun Hutchinson gave the Lions hope of a comeback, but Todd Kane headed in to make it 4-2 before Jayson Molumby grabbed a consolation deep into stoppage time.
Defeat, coupled with sixth-placed Cardiff's win at Middlesbrough, means Millwall cannot finish higher than seventh with one game to play.
They are now without a win in 10 visits to QPR in all competitions stretching back to 1989 and have dropped to ninth, while a first win in four lifted Rangers two places to 14th in the table.
Rampant QPR end Millwall's play-off dream
Millwall went into the game two points off the top six and realistically needed victory against QPR to keep their hopes of promotion alive going into the final day.
The hosts, who had won just once in seven outings since the season restarted, consistently created chances and took the lead when Masterson was on hand to pounce on a loose ball after Millwall keeper Bartosz Bialkowski pushed away Yoann Barbet's header from a corner.
The introduction of striker Smith for right-back Mahlon Romeo at half-time prompted a change of system for the visitors, and it looked to have paid off when Smith converted Jed Wallace's low cross to equalise against his former club.
Bialkowski had made fine saves to deny Ilias Chair twice and Luke Amos, but the Pole should have done better when Manning's strike went through him to restore Rangers' advantage three minutes later.
The Hoops continued to pour forward and threaten, and Bialkowski tipped an effort from Olamide Shodipo behind for a corner before Manning clipped the crossbar with another left-footed strike.
Eze latched onto a flick from Chair before advancing into the area and shooting into the bottom right-hand corner to make it 3-1 and seemingly make the game safe for the hosts.
Soon after Lions defender Alex Pearce had a goal ruled out for offside, Millwall did pull a goal back through Hutchinson, who flicked in an in-swinging corner from Wallace.
However, Kane restored QPR's two-goal lead with a diving header from Dominic Ball's cross just a minute after coming on as a substitute.
Aramide Oteh drew two more saves from Bialkowski as QPR probed for a fifth goal, while Joe Lumley punched away a strike from Jake Cooper in the final minute of normal time.
Molumby's deflected shot from the edge of the area made it 4-3 in the 95th minute and there was still time for Hutchinson to have a header from a free-kick ruled out for offside in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
QPR boss Mark Warburton: "I say this full of respect for Millwall, who are a very good team, but we could have scored eight, nine or 10 goals there.
"We've missed a couple of great chances, their keeper's produced a couple of world-class saves and we've hit the bar.
"We looked really dangerous going forward. We knew they had to throw bodies forward and we could transition on them really quickly.
"We hurt them. We looked very good for long periods of the game."
Millwall manager Gary Rowett: "I could easily stand here and say that we've come so far, done so well and are proud of what we've achieved. But that's not me.
"I don't want us to play the 'little old Millwall' card. We needed to capitalise on the opportunity.
"I'm disappointed. I think when the pressure came on we've not managed to step up and handle it very well.
"We didn't start well and I just felt that defensively we were very vulnerable. We didn't do our jobs in the right areas around the box."