As blue smoke rose from the away end after Junior Hoilett found the net late on for Cardiff City, Neil Warnock will have hoped it was not a metaphor for the way their season is going.
Premature; the excitement came too soon — before deflation. Up went the offside flag to rule out the goal and extend the Bluebirds’ run of Championship defeats to four in a row.
Warnock was left fuming. He felt wronged by the decision, claiming the ball through was played by Queens Park Rangers’ Josh Scowen.
Cardiff City took the lead against QPR after 54 minutes when Joe Ralls scored a penalty
However Rangers target man Matt Smith powered an effort past Brian Murphy for 1-1
Paul Smyth scored the winner on his QPR debut, finishing an individual effort via a deflection
But Warnock’s wider concern is that Cardiff have let the pack catch up in the promotion race. They were in the automatic promotion spots but now trail Derby County and Bristol City.
Here, they went ahead through a Joe Ralls penalty but then proceeded to capitulate with goals from strike pairing Matt Smith and Paul Smyth — a debutant — to drop points again.
That was before the offside decision that left Warnock questioning the quality of officials in this country.
QPR frustrated high-flying Cardiff, who fell to a fourth successive Championship defeat
Northern Irish striker Smyth, signed in the summer from Linfield, celebrates in style
There was late controversy as Junior Hoilett’s equaliser for Cardiff was ruled out for offside
‘No wonder they want VAR. It’s got to help because they’re not good enough now,’ he said. ‘We’re talking about major decisions that they should get right at this level. It’s really disappointing.
‘I’ll have to have a look at what we’re doing, we must be running over black cats at the moment.
‘That’s three or four games we’ve had crucial decisions go against us. It’s scandalous at the moment, I’ve never known it as poor as it is.’
The truth is Cardiff lacked quality for the most part here, stuttering after Warnock had made five changes from the defeat against Preston North End last time out.
Alex Baptiste of QPR and Kenneth Zohore of Cardiff battle for the ball in the early stages
Josh Scowen holds Junior Hoilett off the ball during a cagey and goalless first half
They created little in the first half with Rangers frontman Smith having the pick of a slim selection of chances, his header being tipped on to the post by Brian Murphy.
But Jake Bidwell’s tussle with Callum Paterson under Ralls’ cross was spotted by referee Tim Robinson nine minutes into the second half to gift the visitors a penalty, which Ralls rolled in.
What should have been a spark for Cardiff provided nothing of the sort. QPR rallied and the visitors rolled over.
Within eight minutes QPR were level, Smith — as usual — rising highest to direct a header in from Jack Robinson’s long throw-in. ‘A Sunday League goal to concede,’ Warnock said.
QPR manager Ian Holloway watches the action, with Cardiff boss Neil Warnock behind him
The home crowd was entertained when Warnock ran down the touchline to kick the ball
Fast-forward another 10 minutes and Smyth was flying through to finish past Alex Smithies, with the aid of a deflection which took his shot over the keeper.
The 20-year-old former Linfield forward had been handed his QPR debut by Ian Holloway — and took his chance.
‘It’s probably one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken,’ Holloway said. ‘He showed unbelievable character to go through like that and belt it in the net.’
Then, on to the controversy. Cardiff pushed for the equaliser and with the ball on the edge of the box Scowen appeared to nick it through to Hoilett to slot in — only for the flag to go up.
Holloway thought it was a fair call, but Warnock’s words spun a different story.
Warnock was in a much darker mood, however, when would-be equaliser was disallowed
Cardiff owner Vincent Tan was an interested spectator for this New Year’s Day fixture