I'm not entirely sure what I just watched, but I believe it was a football match. Queens Park Rangers have three more points than they had two hours ago after defeating Chelsea by a score of 1-0, but it was hardly a conventional 1-0 victory. QPR were certainly not the better team on the night, and while referee Chris Foy didn't lose the match for Chelsea - they more or less did that themselves with some awful mistakes - he made things a lot harder on them with some questionable decisions.
QPR Vs. Chelsea, 2011 Premier League: Full Time, Rangers Nick Odd, Improbable Win
The Blues finished with nine men, with one of the two sendings off being unquestionably legitimate. But, let's start from the top. The goal came in the 10th minute, on a penalty kick. David Luiz shoved down Heidar Helguson in the box and Foy correctly granted a penalty, which Helguson converted. A terrible start for Chelsea, but no controversy.
Then, controversy! In the 33rd minute, Jose Bosingwa was sent off for a last man 'challenge' on Shawn Wright-Phillips. In reality, his challenge was a shoulder to shoulder tussle, in which SWP fell over because he is an elf. Straight red for Bosingwa, and Chelsea were down to 10 men.
They would go down to nine in the 41st minute, and this red card was one that they couldn't complain about. Didier Drogba went two footed, high and studs up into the legs of Adel Taarabt, and was correctly shown a straight red card. This sent Chelsea into halftime with nine men, down a goal and with seemingly no way to get back into the match.
Incredibly, Chelsea were the much better side in the second half. Neil Warnock inexplicably withdrew Taarabt, basically his only creative player, in the 61st minute to defend his 1-0 lead. At home, against nine men. You really can’t make this stuff up.
David Luiz, the man at fault for QPR's goal, was absolutely immense in the second half, winning every defensive challenge. He went down in the box after apparently getting fouled in the 74th minute, but Foy wasn't having it. In all honestly, Luiz probably deserved a penalty. In the 83rd minute, he attempted an audacious overhead kick that was deflected by Frank Lampard and over the crossbar.
The Blues threw everyone forward and seemingly almost found an equalizer about a dozen times, but the ball just wouldn’t hit the back of the net. QPR somehow escape with a win, and Andre Villas-Boas’ men won’t be happy with the officiating performance of Chris Foy on the afternoon.
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