QPR old boy Nigel Quashie returned to Loftus Road for the first time to sting
his former side with a first-half goal but it was not quite enough to prevent
Rangers from snatching a point.
Quashie, who cost Forest £2.5million in the summer of 1998, looked to have
done enough to condemn Rangers to their fourth consecutive defeat but with 14
minutes to go the home side grabbed an unlikely equaliser.
Karl Ready came off the bench for his first appearance since November and he
had a hand in the goal just as the game looked to be slipping away.
Ready nodded the ball into the path of Chris Kiwomya who slipped it past Mark
Crossley from just six yards.
Forest came to Rangers with plans for a smash and grab raid and it looked to
have worked a treat.
They packed the midfield and played just Dougie Freedman up front and the ploy
looked to have succeeded as early as the eighth minute.
Chris Bart-Williams played the ball over the top, Matthew Rose missed it and
Freedman ran through on goal. He hit his shot powerfully but Lee Harper saved
superbly with his fingertips.
Four minutes later Forest struck. Bart-Williams floated in a free-kick from
the left and Quashie rose highest to head the ball past the helpless Harper.
QPR, missing striker Rob Steiner through injury, struggled to create chances
against a determined Forest rearguard.
Brian McGovern nodded over after just a couple of minutes while Gave Peacock
shot inches wide from the edge of the box but the rest of the time they were
restricted to long-range efforts.
Forest looked the more potent strike force and should have added to their
lead.
Quashie put Alan Rogers through only for his chip to fail to clear Harper,
while on 50 minutes Andy Gray forced a fine save from the keeper.
Two minutes before the break Rangers did manage to carve out a decent chance.
Ian Baraclough's corner was headed back by Darrin Ward to Stuart Wardley but he
spooned the ball over from just six yards.
At the other end, Rogers cleverly set up Freedman on 56 minutes after getting
to the by-line, only for the striker to shoot straight at Harper, while David
Prutton also went close.
QPR boss Gerry Francis threw on Ready and striker Sammy Koejoe to try and tip
the balance in their favour and within eight minutes the home side had scored
with their first shot on target in the entire match.
With five minutes to go, Baraclough got down the left, crossed to Koejoe at
the near post who deflected it to Steve Slade but his control took the ball
straight into the arms of the relieved Crossley.
Teams
QPR: Harper, Scully (Bruce 68), McGovern (Ready 54), Rose,
Ward, Baraclough, Wardley, Langley (Koejoe 68), Peacock, Slade, Kiwomya.
Subs Not Used: Miklosko, Rowland.
Goals: Kiwomya 76.
Nottm Forest: Crossley, Louis-Jean, Scimeca, Doig, Brennan,
Gray, Prutton, Bart-Williams, Quashie, Rogers, Freedman.
Subs Not Used: Goodlad, Harewood, Dawson, Williams, Petrachi.
Goals: Quashie 12.
Att: 12,297.
Ref: J P Robinson (Hull).
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