Town and QPR remain locked at 0-0 at the break. Both sides have had chances with Daryl Murphy coming closest for the Blues.
Boss Mick McCarthy named an unchanged side with midfielder Cole Skuse fine to keep his place despite suffering a minor hip problem in training in midweek.
Academy second-year scholar Michael Crowe, 17, was named on the bench for the senior side in the competitive fixture for the first time with second-choice keeper Dean Gerken ruled out with the dead leg he suffered in a collision with Frank Nouble in training.
QPR included former Blues keeper Brian Murphy amongst their substitutes, while ex-Town loanee Danny Simpson started.
Rain fell steadily as the game got underway and within seconds of the start Aaron Cresswell and Shaun Wright-Phillips required treatment after a nasty-looking clash of heads. Both players were eventually fine to carry on.
On five Richard Dunne was on hand to dispossess David McGoldrick inside the box after Jay Tabb had crossed from the left, then Joey Barton took the ball from Luke Hyam as the Blues midfielder looked to shoot from the edge of the area.
The Blues had enjoyed the better of the first quarter of an hour and after skipper Carlos Edwards had broken down the right, McGoldrick just couldn’t get a touch on Cresswell’s low ball from the right. Moments later, Daryl Murphy shot over from distance.
After a 25th minute Joey Barton freekick had caused a few moments of panic inside the Town box, the Blues threatened again at the other end, Clint Hill clearing Tabb’s cross from the left.
There was more danger for the Blues in the 28th minute when Dunne knocked down a Barton corner from the right and Wright-Phillips’s strike was blocked. Soon after, Charlie Austin saw another effort from inside the area blocked by Skuse.
The former Burnley man, who almost joined the Blues under Paul Jewell’s management, went close again a minute later, Loach saving to his left. From Barton’s corner, Hill’s header reached Nedum Onuoha on the edge of the six-yard box but he nodded the ball over.
Rangers were by now on top but in the 36th minute Town ought to have gone in front. Cresswell crossed from the left, McGoldrick and Dunne challenged and the loose ball fell to Murphy just inside the box.
The striker struck a low shot towards the corner of the net but Robert Green did superbly to get down to his left to save. At the other end, Bobby Zamora lashed over after good work from Junior Hoilett.
Town weren’t far away again in the 39th minute when Edwards played the ball to Elliott Hewitt to his right and the Welshman hit a low cross-shot just beyond both the post and his waiting strikers.
Green was almost sold short by Dunne’s backpass in the 44th minute but the former Canary showed quick feet to take the ball away from McGoldrick and avert the danger.
Both managers could have made a case for their sides deserving the lead at the break after an entertaining half in which both teams had had spells on top and chances. But Murphy’s opportunity, which was very well saved by Green, was probably the nearest either side had come to a goal.
QPR: Green, Simpson, Onuoha, Dunne, Hill, Barton, Henry, Wright-Phillips, Hoilett, Zamora, Austin. Unused: Murphy, Suk-Young, Jenas, Ehmer, Hitchcock, Shariff, O’Neil.
Town: Loach, Hewitt, Chambers, Smith, Cresswell, Edwards, Skuse, Hyam, Tabb, McGoldrick, Murphy. Unused: Crowe, Veseli, Berra, Tunnicliffe, Anderson, Taylor, Nouble. Ref: Michael Naylor (South Yorkshire). Att: