Queens Park Rangers 0-1 Birmingham City: Tahith Chong strike earns Blues win
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Tahith Chong (second left) put Birmingham ahead at Loftus Road in the third minute
Tahith Chong's early goal at Loftus Road eased Birmingham's relegation fears and moved struggling QPR closer to the bottom three.
Chong converted Juninho Bacuna's cross after only three minutes and that proved enough for the Blues to secure a valuable away win.
Lukas Jutkiewicz almost doubled the lead, but was denied by Seny Dieng's acrobatic tip onto the bar.
The win sees the Blues climb three places to 16th, while Rangers remain 19th, just six points above the danger zone.
Rangers, who had leaked three goals inside the first quarter-of-an-hour during their 6-1 midweek drubbing at Blackpool, were quickly undone again as Birmingham scored with their first attack.
Bacuna, restored to the Blues' line-up after a two-game suspension, sped clear on the left flank and delivered a ball for Chong, who had all the time he needed to tuck it into the net from close-range.
The visitors might have increased their advantage, but George Hall was foiled by a timely block from Tim Iroegbunam and Jutkiewicz's glancing header soon afterwards was clawed away by Dieng.
Although Lyndon Dykes sent a drive whizzing over, QPR rarely threatened a response before half-time, but they improved after the break and Jimmy Dunne's header brought a save from Blues goalkeeper John Ruddy.
Dunne went close with another header from Stefan Johansen's cross, while substitute Sinclair Armstrong caused problems for the visitors' defence with a cameo in the final 15 minutes.
But they could not find a way through and it was only thanks to Dieng, tipping another Jutkiewicz attempt onto the woodwork at full stretch, that Birmingham had to battle through to the end.
It was the Blues' first victory in the capital since September 2019, when they triumphed 1-0 at Charlton.
QPR head coach Gareth Ainsworth told BBC London 94.9:
"Birmingham were very solid defensively and we could take a lesson from that, because the goal's too easy. That's the tale of the game really.
"They've thrown bodies in and defended their box like their lives depended on it. I wanted that from my boys and we did it second half, but we've got to start quicker and sharper than we did
"There was a set-piece where we've slashed at it and Seny [Dieng] made an unbelievable save, but that's a freakish thing. The rest, they've not had a clear-cut chance on our goal but we haven't had one on theirs either.
"We've got to test their keeper more. It's alright throwing the kitchen sink at them, but we just didn't have that bit of quality around the box."
Birmingham head coach John Eustace told BBC WM:
"With and without the ball, we were immense. The way the lads stood up to that onslaught at the end was magnificent.
"When teams load the box and go long, you're going to be under pressure and the way we defended was outstanding. I think it was the right type of game for the two centre-halves today.
"I thought we fully deserved the win and I was really proud of the effort. The away fans were outstanding and really got us through that second half.
"We knew how QPR would want to play but we knew we could counter on that and it was great to see it pay off for the goal."