Ade Akinbiyi's brace was enough to separate Burnley from injury-ravaged QPR at
Turf Moor.
Akinbiyi, who joined in a £600,000 move from Stoke in February and scored his
first home goal in the 1-1 draw with Brighton at the weekend, doubled his
Clarets tally with two close-range finishes - a header with less than two
minutes of the first half remaining and a simple tap-in in the 80th minute.
Victory moves Steve Cotterill's side to within two points of Rangers in
mid-table but there were much more pressing concerns for Ian Holloway, whose
Rangers side shaded the opening period.
The visitors were already forced into making four changes to the side that
drew 1-1 with Leeds, without 10 players through injury and suspension and
following on-loan defender Andrew Davies' return to Middlesbrough.
Striker Shabazz Baidoo, making his first start, was taken off injured after 29
minutes and replaced by debutant Lewis Hamilton, who himself came off for
another youngster making his bow, Luke Townsend, at the interval.
Even more worryingly for Holloway, with a trip to promotion-chasing Wigan
looming at the weekend, key midfielder Marc Bircham was stretchered off midway
through the second period and replaced by Scott Mulholland, also making his
first Rangers appearance.
Both teams showed attacking intent from the outset with Rangers goalkeeper
Chris Day unconvincingly pushing a long-range Micah Hyde shot wide for a corner
after just three minutes.
Dean Bowditch also fired over after fine build-up work from the overlapping Mo
Camara and Graham Branch as both teams started to hit each other on the
counter-attack.
Rangers slowly began to establish themselves at the other end, with Kevin
Gallen sending a quickly-taken free-kick inches wide of Brian Jensen's post and
the same player also drilled over after a speedy breakaway by Lee Cook, who
later looped a shot just over after a tidy turn.
But just before the break, Gary Cahill's deep cross from the right found
Branch at the far post and his neat flick back across goal saw Akinbiyi nip in
front of the Rangers defence to snatch the lead.
After half-time Branch was full of confidence down the Burnley left and made
the most of hesitation from Bignot and Jamie Cureton to jink in from the flank
only to blast over Day's goal.
With eight minutes of the second period gone, Jensen produced a superb stop to
keep his side in the game, the big Dane showing great agility to get to
Bircham's low effort, which found a way through the Clarets' wall, from Gallen's
short free-kick just outside the area.
Rangers put up little resistance after that point, particularly following
Bircham's withdrawal, and Camara even hit a post with a curling long-range
free-kick after Patrick Kanyuka hauled down Branch.
In a rare attack Cureton passed Cahill only for his strike to be blocked by
the impressive Jensen before the rampaging Camara got in behind the tiring
Kanyuka down the left to whip in a low cross for Akinbiyi to touch in at the far
post with 10 minutes remaining.
Teams:
Burnley Jensen, Duff, Cahill, McGreal, Camara,
Grant (Oster 90), O'Connor, Hyde, Branch, Akinbiyi (Valois 90),
Bowditch (Roche 89).
Subs Not Used: Coyne, Pilkington.
Booked: Bowditch.
Goals: Akinbiyi 43, 81.
QPR Day, Bignot, Shittu, Edghill, Padula,
Bircham (Mulholland 69), Cook, Baidoo (Hamilton 30), Kanyuka,
Gallen, Cureton, Hamilton (Townsend 45).
Subs Not Used: Cole, Johnson.
Booked: Kanyuka.
Att: 10,396
Ref: C Oliver (Northumberland).
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