Bolton W 2 WBA 2:"STAYING UP" chorused the home crowd when Bolton Wanderers were 2-0 ahead after 75 minutes – but they were singing too soon. West Bromwich Albion scored twice, equalising in the 90th minute through James Morrison, and QPR grabbed a late winner to leave Owen Coyle's side still in the bottom three.
There will be a keen eye on tonight’s Lancashire derby between Wigan and Blackburn which could simplify the last-day equations when Bolton travel to Stoke City and QPR are away to Manchester City. Unless Blackburn win tonight, they will be relegated and Wigan will be safe, leaving Bolton and QPR in a straight fight to avoid the drop.
As a crestfallen Coyle admitted, all his team can do now is win at the Britannia Stadium and pray other results go their way.
There was a collective outpouring of relief midway through the first half, when Mark Davies was brought down in front of goal by a combination of Keith Andrews and Youssouf Mulumbu, enabling Petrov to dispatch the resulting penalty. It was 2-0 when Petrov’s centre from the left provoked panic in the goalmouth where Liam Ridgewell drove the ball into Billy Jones, from where it rebounded past their startled goalkeeper. Cue that singing about avoiding the drop, which died in 20,000 throats when a shot from Dorrans fell to Chris Brunt who halved the deficit.
Morrison, on as substitute, equalised right at the death to leave Bolton perched precariously on the trapdoor marked . . . Championship.
QPR 1 Stoke C 0:DJIBRIL CISSE has twice been the villain since joining Queens Park Rangers from Lazio in January, the hot-tempered Frenchman having been sent off on two occasions in no time at all as his new club plummeted towards the depths of the Premier League.
Yesterday, he was the reformed hero, rescuing QPR from a dreaded fate – probable relegation to the Championship – with an 89th-minute winner against Stoke City. With Rangers labouring towards a goalless draw at Loftus Road and Bolton Wanderers leading West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at the Reebook, the west London club were languishing in the Premier League pit.
And with no prospect of getting out either, bearing in mind their trip to face the champions-elect Manchester City on the final day of the season, on Sunday. It is QPR, after all, who have the worst away record in the top flight.
Then, suddenly, all changed. Cisse, an early second-half substitute, poked in from close range, after Anton Ferdinand had nodded on Adel Taarabt’s corner, to send the doom-mongers among the home fans – most of the 17,319 crowd – into a late frenzy.
When news of West Bromwich’s late equaliser from James Morrison filtered through, there was bedlam. QPR were out of the pit and one point at the Etihad – albeit a target that, if achieved, would border on the miraculous – will see them safe.
Even a defeat, as City are crowned champions, might not matter as the frantic jostling of the clubs below them unravels.
