Queens Park Rangers were left frustrated at Loftus Road as a dominant display yielded only a 0-0 draw against Oxford United, who escaped west London with a hard-earned point. The hosts monopolised territory and set-pieces but mustered just one shot on target, a first-half effort from Michael Frey that was turned away by Jamie Cumming, while Oxford relied on organisation and a late set-piece scare to claim their first league clean sheet of the season.
Julien Stephan's side came into the game in excellent form, unbeaten since their 7-1 hammering at Coventry and buoyed by a sequence of three wins and a draw that had lifted them into the Championship's top half before kick-off. Victory would have taken them into the top six in a congested table, but instead the stalemate saw Rangers slip to 10th, as the U's climbed out of the relegation zone up to 21st thanks to a battling point.
Rangers Control the Contest but Lack a Cutting Edge
For much of the first half QPR dictated the tempo, pinning Gary Rowett's side back without finding the incision to open them up. Oxford's defensive outlook was clear, and it took until the 34th minute for either side to register a shot on target, when Frey collected possession just outside the box and drove a curling effort from around 25 yards towards the near post, only for Cumming to gather and hold comfortably.