QPR 0 Birmingham 0
Wednesday 27th October 1999
Loftus Road
Attendance: 11,196
Ref: R. Harris (Oxford)
| RANGERS | 2 |
| Steiner 40 Kiwomya 54 |
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| BIRMINGHAM CITY | 2 |
| Marcello 73, 76 | |
Rangers threw away a two goal lead as they allowed promotion rivals, Birmingham to snatch a valuable point with two late strikes from new boy, Marcelo. Goals either side of half-time by Rob Steiner and Chris Kiwomya appeared to send the R's cruising to a vital three points as they chased their own dreams of promotion to the Premiership. But Portuguese striker, Marcelo, a recent capture from Sheffield United, denied Gerry Francis' men with a brace in two minutes. For most of the first half, Rangers were restricted to long range efforts as the visitors controlled a large percentage of the play, with Rose and Wardley trying their luck from distance. Marcelo wasted a good opportunity to put the Blues in front before Steiner struck the opening blow five minutes before half-time. Matthew Rose crossed from the right, and the Swedish striker was in the right position to head home in off the post. After the break, the home side came out to assert themselves and in the 54th minute, they doubled their lead in spectacular fashion. Ian Baraclough swung over a free-kick and as Danny Maddix nodded the ball on, Kiwomya leaped acrobatically to overhead kick the ball past a helpless Bennett in the Blues goal. But just as Rangers seemed content to kill the game off, Marcelo struck gold for the visitors with his quick-fire double. In the 74th minute, McCarthy crossed from the right, and Marcelo was on hand to prod the ball home after Holdsworth had headed back across the goal. Just two minutes later and the striker was at it again as he moved on to Adebola's pass, and fired a crashing left-foot drive from 25 yards into the corner of the net. Rangers almost grabbed a late winner, but Baraclough's curling free-kick whistled inches past the upright. R's boss, Francis, will undoubtedly see this as two points lost in a fixture which could have seen Rangers gain valuable ground on their promotion rivals.
 Matt's QPR Page Man Of The Match- Rob Steiner |
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