Keeper Bartosz Bialkowski made a number of saves to keep the scoreline 0-0 between QPR and Town at half-time at Loftus Road.

Mick McCarthy handed Luke Varney his first league start since May alongside Brett Pitman, the duo having combined to created Town’s late winner against Reading on Tuesday.

Daryl Murphy and Ainsley Maitland-Niles dropped to the bench, while Luke Hyam missed out with a calf injury and was replaced in central midfield by Kevin Bru.

For QPR, who included former Blues loanee Massimo Luongo from the start, full debutant Conor Washington came in for the sold Leroy Fer in an otherwise unchanged team.

The game started in a blustery wind and with Town in their Barcelona-style second strip for only the second time.

Blues keeper Bialkowski was forced in a double save inside the first 35 seconds. Matt Phillips escaped down the right and hit a powerful shot from a tight angle which the Polish keeper pushed away from goal. The loose ball fell to Luongo but Bialkowski was there again to deny the Australian.

Bru picked up his third booking of the season for a foul on Alejandro Faurlin in the eighth minute with the early stages of the match having been hampered by the swirling wind and a number of stoppages for injuries.

There was a scare for Town in the 13th minute when Jonas Knudsen allowed himself to be robbed by Phillips, who took the ball into the area on the QPR right before Christophe Berra got across to dispossess him.

Rangers continued to have the better of it and on 16 Washington cut the ball back to Sebastian Polter from the left but Berra got in the way of his effort at goal.

The Blues again had Bialkowski to thank for keeping the scores level in the 19th minute when Phillips sent over a cross from the right which reached an unmarked Junior Hoilett at the far post. The Town keeper came off his line quickly to block and Sears did enough to prevent Polter from getting in a subsequent strike.

On 21 a long wind-assisted Knudsen throw down the left beat Nedim Onuoha and reached Pitman, who slid in to cut the ball across the box but with none of his team-mates there to add the final touch.

Two minutes later, Bialkowski batted away a Hoilett shot from 25 yards, then on 28 the Canadian international cut in from the left and hit a shot to the keeper’s right that he got down to save and then claim at the second attempt.

Faurlin joined Bru in referee Charles Breakspear’s book in the 33rd minute for diving in somewhat recklessly on Sears, angering the Town players who surrounded the official.

Five minutes later, Bru gifted the ball to Hoilett, who just failed to thread Polter in on the right of the area.

As the half moved into its final five minutes the lively former Blackburn Rovers man curled another strike just beyond the top corner of Bialkowski’s goal from the right.

Pitman struck Town’s first shot on goal of the game four minutes before the break from the edge of the box but keeper Alex Smithies was untroubled.

Phillips again got away from Knudsen in the 43rd minute and crossed low to James Perch, who turned it past Bialkowski’s left post.

A minute later, an interchange of passes on the right ended with Hoilett curling a shot past the opposite post.

Town will have been much the happier to have gone in with the scoreline still 0-0 at the break with QPR having been on top throughout and having had all the game’s chances.

But for a number of impressive stops from Bialkowski and some important blocks and interceptions from Berra, the Blues could have found themselves well behind at half-time.

Town had struggled to gain control in midfield and had shown little going forward with the wind perhaps having favoured the home side during the first half, while Murphy’s physical presence had been missed up front. Changes ahead of the restart would be little surprise.

QPR: Smithies, Perch, Hall, Onouha, Konchesky, Faurlin, Luongo, Hoilett, Phillips, Washington, Polter. Subs: Ingram, Angella, Chery, Petresso, Tozser, El Khayati, Mackie.

Town: Bialkowski, Chambers, Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Bru, Fraser, Sears, Varney, Pitman. Subs: Henly, Foley, Digby, Coke, Maitland-Niles, Touré, Murphy. Referee: Charles Breakspear (Surrey).

Photo: Action Images

Seasider added 16:05 - Feb 6 Well thank you Bartman for keeping Ipswich in the game. Although wearing Barcelona type shirts,havn't quite matched the Spanish Giants lol But hey go in at 0-0;so Mick has chance to change things round a bit.
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blueboy1981 added 16:12 - Feb 6 ....... settle for the proverbial point - and it will cost us. We're not sound enough at the back to absorb too much pressure - as we've seen before. Would be nice to remember in the second half that there is such a thing as a 'forward' pass.
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Kirbmeister added 16:41 - Feb 6 Won't cost us - a draw away to QPR will be a decent result.
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bluey123 added 16:49 - Feb 6 McCarthy OUT pathetic
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blueboy1981 added 16:54 - Feb 6 Kirbmeister ........... all far too predictable I'm afraid. A sure fire bet, if ever there was one.
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Kesblue66 added 17:15 - Feb 6 I said a long, long while ago that we have got as far as will get under ME,MM .You can only get so far on freebies and transfers under £100,000. I'm afraid to say we have reached that point, and that is where we stay.
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