Newcastle moved closer to Premier League safety after Yoan Gouffran was gifted the winning goal in their 2-1 victory over QPR on Sunday.The home side took the lead early
in Sunday’s game as referee Lee Probert awarded them a controversial
for a foul on Junior Hoilett. Loic Remy
made no mistake from the spot, but seven
minutes later the visitors were level as Hatem Ben Arfa converted a penalty
after Bosingwa was penalised for holding his shirt.
The deciding moment of the game came ten minutes before
half-time when Bosingwa and Green conspired to gift Gouffran the easiest goal
of his career, the Frenchman able to volley
into an empty net from 20 yards.
Both sides made two changes from their previous games, the
visitors brought in Mathieu Debuchy and Mike
Williamson in place of Danny Simpson and Steven Taylor, the latter suffering
with illness on the morning before the game. Bosingwa and Junior Hoilett
returned for the hosts with Ji-Sung Park and Tel Ben Haim dropping out, the
Israeli having sealed a loan move to Toronto earlier in the week.
Probert was the centre of attention in the game’s opening 20
minutes as he awarded both teams controversial penalties.
The home side were
the first recipients of a spot kick as Debuchy was adjudged to have fouled Andros
Townsend on the left-hand edge of the penalty area. Replays
showed that the decision looked to be a generous one as the challenge happened
just outside the box. With protests going on around him Remy remained the
coolest man inside Loftus Road, and was eventually
able to fire home his sixth league goal of the season.
The visitors rallied well from the disappointment and
moments before their equaliser created an excellent chance for Cabaye but the
Frenchman saw his shot blocked by Bosingwa, however a moment of madness from
the full-back saw him tug at the shirt of Ben Arfa inside the area and another
spot kick was awarded. The forward took the penalty himself and fired into the
top corner giving Green no chance.
Newcastle could have gone ahead five minutes after
equalising but an excellent header from Papiss Cisse was controversially ruled
out for offside, and after Elliot made a good save from Hoilett to keep the
scores level, QPR gifted a second goal to their visitors.
Green rolled the ball
to Bosingwa, he played a short pass back to the him which Jonas Gutierrez
forced the goalkeeper to clear quickly. The loose ball fell to Gouffran and he volleyed the ball into the empty net.
A double change by Harry Redknapp at half-time saw Bosingwa,
who was being roundly booed by the home fans, and Stephane Mbia replaced by
Fabio Da Silva and Shaun Derry but neither man was able to have an immediate
impact on the game as the second-half struggled to gather momentum.
It was the pace of Hoilett that slowly began to have an
impact for the hosts but crucial interceptions from Debuchy and Fabricio
Coloccini denied two opportunities for Bobby Zamora the
winger had created.
After seeing his team-mate miss two openings, the
22-year-old took it upon himself to threaten QPR’s goal. He received the ball
on the edge of the penalty area, danced his way past a number of Newcastle
tackles but dragged his shot just wide of Green’s right-hand post.
Newcastle came close to securing the win with 20 minutes to
play but a crucial goal-line clearance from Derry denied Gutierrez his second
goal of the season as he hooked his header clear after some more comical
defending by QPR.
The visitors survived going down to 10-men in the closing
minutes as Elliot made a terrible mistake that earned him a second yellow-card. The goalkeeper carried a harmless ball forward from the hosts out of his
penalty area and was given his marching orders.
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