Queens Park Rangers 1-0 Milton Keynes Dons
Match Reports,
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A Daniel Gabbidon header spared QPR's blushes against an MK Dons side who dominated for large periods of the match.
Gabbidon converted Shaun Wright-Philips' corner with 73 minutes played and then the R's did enough to hold on for victory.
The game was far from a classic though, and both sides lacked the creative spark needed to unlock their opponent's defence on a regular basis.
MK Don's Luke Chadwick made the most of a lively start by the visitors when he picked up the ball on the edge of the area and turned, but his tame shot was easily gathered by Paddy Kenny with ten minutes played.
It would take another half hour for either side to produce another shot on target and when it did come QPR should have taken the lead.
Akos Buzsaky played in a lovely ball for Wright-Philips and his touch saw him bearing down on David Martin in the MK Dons goal. The QPR man could not apply the finish though, and although Martin did well to get a hand to the effort, Wright-Philips really should have buried it.
It was the home side who started the second half more brightly, but with more passes being played sideways than forward they again toiled.
MK Dons slowly asserted themselves and for a brief spell dominated the game, with Adam Smith causing plenty of problems for the QPR defence.
It was his cross which led to the visitor's best chance of the game but despite a fantastic ball from him, Jabo Ibehre failed to put it away from four yards and Kenny was left to breathe a sigh of relief in the QPR goal.
The home side slowly dragged themselves back into the game and almost took the lead when Buzsaky fired in a stunning 35-yard freekick only to see Martin claw it out from under the crossbar and somehow divert it behind.
The deadlock was broken just moments later though when, from the resulting corner, Gabbidon was left completely unmarked and was able to power home his first goal in seven years, despite Chadwick's attempts to block it on the line.
With just over quarter of an hour remaining the home side might have been expecting one last assault from MK Dons, but the League One side seemed to have nothing left in the tank and the match drifted as QPR set about hanging on to their lead.
They go through to face Chelsea in the fourth round, but will need to up their game considerably if they are to have any hope of progressing further.


