QPR 0-4 Middlesbrough: Boro thrash Rangers to boost their automatic promotion hopes

Middlesbrough emphatically boosted their automatic promotion hopes by thrashing Queens Park Rangers 4-0 at Loftus Road.

David Strelec put Boro ahead before Alan Browne and Hayden Hackney added second-half goals.

Tommy Conway’s 88th-minute penalty completed a resounding victory.

It moved second-placed Middlesbrough four points clear of Millwall in third, and five behind Championship leaders Coventry City with 10 matches of the season remaining.

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Match action

They went ahead in the 20th minute with a fortuitous goal that arguably should not have stood.

Riley McGree collected Hackney’s clever pass and played a low ball in from the left towards Morgan Whittaker.

The striker’s first-time poke was off-target but ricocheted back to him off R’s defender Rhys Norrington-Davies, and his second attempt hit the elbow of Strelec, who was standing near the goal-line, and went in.

Isaac Hayden had a header saved by Boro keeper Sol Brynn, but the visitors remained on top and went close to doubling their lead before the interval when Hackney sent an effort wide of the far post, and when Hackney’s corner was flicked over the bar by Luke Ayling.

Second half

Boro continued to threaten after the restart, and keeper Joe Walsh denied Strelec at point-blank range shortly before Matt Targett volleyed wide of Walsh’s right-hand post.

Rangers did then manage to put them under a spell of pressure, but the second goal arrived in the 68th minute.

After Jimmy Dunne’s poor attempt to head Hackney’s corner clear, Ayling’s looping effort came back off the bar and Brown got in front of QPR striker Richard Kone to tuck away the loose ball.

The outstanding Hackney made it three with a superb goal four minutes later.

Conway played the ball in from the left and McGree’s clever dummy allowed it to run to Hackney, who steered a fine strike beyond Walsh and into the far corner.

And Conway added a late fourth from the penalty spot after being bundled over in the box by young defender Tylon Smith, who had just come on for his Championship debut.

Dismal spell

While Middlesbrough remain on course for the Premier League despite a strong challenge from in-form Millwall, Rangers’ promotion chances have evaporated during a dismal recent spell.

They were in the thick of the race for the play-offs before losing their past three matches, failing to score a single goal and conceding 11 in the process.

Although they very nearly scored late on when Harvey Vale’s curling shot hit a post.

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