QPR 0-0 Cardiff City: Omer Riza has belief in his blunt Bluebirds

By David McIntyre

QPR 0

CARDIFF CITY 0

Cardiff City boss Omer Riza insisted he remains confident his side will avoid the drop following a dour goalless draw at struggling Queens Park Rangers.

The result meant Rangers, who are now without a win in seven matches, remained five points clear of the Bluebirds, who occupy the final relegation place.

Cardiff’s cause was not helped by fellow strugglers Plymouth Argyle, Hull City, and Oxford United all winning.

Second-from-bottom Luton Town also drew with title-chasing Leeds United.

Confident

But Riza said: “The results are what they are.

“We can only manage ourselves.

“It’s important we just try to pick up our three points where we can.

“We have to recover and go again.

“We’ve got six more games and six more opportunities to get out of that position.

“I’ve felt confident all along.

“It’s just these little moments that are important, where you’ve got to make it count.”

CLOSE ENCOUNTER: QPR’s Yang Min-hyeok and Cardiff’s Andy Rinomhota do battle
PICTURES: Mike Griffiths

Match action

Both teams were understandably edgy in a game of few chances.

The hardworking Paul Smyth was at least lively for Rangers on the right flank.

Smyth had a left-footed strike pushed away by keeper Ethan Horvath early on and also set up a first-half chance for on-loan Tottenham Hotspur youngster Yang Min-hyeok, who dragged his shot wide.

At the other end, Rubin Colwill went close when he fired a right-footed shot just wide of the target.

Riza made attacking changes at the interval, sending on striker Callum Robinson and winger Ollie Tanner along with defender Jesper Daland.

Second half

Rangers boss Marti Cifuentes made a triple substitution of his own early in the second half, sending Karamoko Dembele and Australian forward Daniel Bennie on in place of Alfie Lloyd and the ineffective Min-hyeok, and replacing Sam Field – back after injury –with Jonathan Varane in midfield.

Cardiff’s substitutes made more of an impact and the visitors enjoyed a decent spell, with Yousef Salech and Tanner shooting over, as QPR faded badly.

Rangers did manage a strong finish, though, with Smyth having another effort saved by Horvath late on, but they then had a major let-off when Robinson headed Will Fish’s cross over the bar.

In stoppage time, Yakou Meite had a great chance for Cardiff but headed over from Callum O’Dowda’s corner.

Tough

Riza added: “It was a real tough first half.

“QPR dominated first and second balls quite well and didn’t allow us much time to get the ball down and play.

“And when we did, we weren’t really clean enough.

“But in the second half, with a little bit of organisation and a couple of changes, we worked our way back into the game, and I thought we were slightly better than QPR.

“We had a couple of chances towards the back end of the second half where maybe we could have nicked it, but I think a point is a fair point.”