Queens Park Rangers stay top after Middlesbrough fade

Queens Park Rangers strengthened their status as the Championship's early leaders, scoring three goals in nine second-half minutes against a strangely subdued Middlesbrough side. There is a depth to Rangers' ambitions these days. Six months after the departure of Flavio Briatore, it seems the division's richest and noisiest club could deliver on its brags. Loftus Road bears the mark of the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal's millions and a whiff of fresh paint while Neil Warnock's team lined up in a trendy 4-2-3-1 formation. In Warnock and Adel Taarabt Rangers have the Championship's manager and player of the month and an impressive squad behind them. Yet for much of the first half Rangers' threat remained latent, with the Middlesbrough goalkeeper, Jason Steele, equal to a fierce shot from Hogan Ephraim. Boro, meanwhile, looked stiff and discordant, but should have taken the lead when a corner fell to Kris Boyd, who sliced his shot wide of Paddy Kenny's left post. It was the kind of chance the Scot had been signed from Rangers to bury. Taarabt later forced an outstanding save from Steele, but the opening half was far more notable for Gordon Strachan's bobbing ginger mane and Warnock's peculiar commitment to shorts-wearing than any sense of urgency from either team. In the 49th minute Rangers were handed the initiative: when Barry Robson flopped on Heidar Helguson in the area, the Icelander rolled his penalty one way and Steele dived the other. If the first goal was functional, the second, four minutes later, was more befitting of a team destined for a higher plane. The outstanding Taarabt found time to arc a cross from the right hand side and Ephraim volleyed home on the run. Jamie Mackie then poached a third from close range, confirming the feeling that Rangers had pressed the fast forward button. The Middlesbrough manager for one was impressed with what he saw from Rangers in the second period. "They are a good side when they get in the lead," said a disappointed Strachan. "There is ability there, and they had a freshness and an enthusiasm, especially in the second half. That's what you get when you score goals, and we went the reverse." Strachan is unlikely to be sacked in the morning, as the jubilant home supporters had suggested once the third goal had gone in, but this was a performance the Scot would do well to forget.