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QPR 2-0 Portsmouth: Rangers cruise into FA Cup fifth round with dominant display
STEVE McCLAREN did what more than 20 different QPR managers before him could not by finally leading his team into the FA Cup fifth round.
Goals from Nakhi Wells and Matt Smith fired QPR through to this stage of the competition, and a home tie with Watford, for the first time in 22 years.
They made hard work of it against League One high-fliers and two-time cup winners Portsmouth, but two goals in seven dramatic second-half minutes proved to be the difference.
Cup runs have been in short supply around these parts but with the lure of Premier League opposition for the winners, McClaren was desperate for a victory.
You had to go back to 1997 for the last time QPR made it into the fifth round, when Arsene Wenger was in his first season at Arsenal and Tony Blair was just getting started in No 10.
Portsmouth have won it more recently than that – when Harry Redknapp led them to glory at Wembley in 2008 thanks to a Nwankwo Kanu winner over Cardiff.
But neither side was in good form going into it. QPR had just lost three league games in a row and Pompey were without a win in their last four.
It took a Wells equaliser on the south coast last month to give QPR another crack at this one after a spirited performance from the underdogs in a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park.
And last night he was at it again. Matthew Clarke conceded a corner and when it came in, Matt Smith rose to meet it with a header Pompey failed to clear.
Cue a goalmouth scramble in which Wells stabbed the ball home.
Seven minutes later, Smith towered above the Pompey defence to bury his header and there was no coming back for the visitors.