QPR vs Swansea match report: Substitute Wilfried Bony breaks Rangers' hearts as Swans manager Garry Monk 'loses faith' in referees

QPR 1 Swansea 1: Leroy Fer had scored for the home side

Wilfried Bony applauds the Swansea fans as he leaves the pitch (GETTY IMAGES)

If this happens to Queen’s Park Rangers many more times this year, they will be ending 2015 playing in the Championship. They were leading Swansea City 1-0 in the second minute of added time here, desperately close to what would have been three invaluable points. But then in the 92nd minute, Ki Sung-Yueng dribbled across from the right and passed to Wilfried Bony, thrown on as a late substitute by Garry Monk. In one movement, Bony span inside and stabbed the ball, with little backlift, beyond Rob Green and in.

It was desperately deflating for Rangers, leaving them with a festive haul which now looks very paltry indeed.

From the three games since Boxing Day, Rangers have two points, having drawn at home first with Crystal Palace and now with Swansea. Given the state of Rangers’ away form – played nine, lost nine – these winnable home games are absolutely indispensable to their hopes of staying in the Premier League.

“Obviously it’s a big blow for us,” Harry Redknapp said. “I could not have asked for any more from the lads, we just needed to see the last few minutes out. These were two vital points, that we deserved and needed, but we could not quite hang on for them.”

Up until Bony’s goal, Rangers had looked like grinding out a crucial win. This was not a particularly good match – it was the third game in seven days for both teams – and the only moments of any real quality were the two goals. Rangers had taken the lead after 20 minutes through a goal so spectacular it felt slightly out of place. QPR had barely strung anything together before Clint Hill hit a diagonal ball towards Charlie Austin, which bounced back towards Leroy Fer. It sat up perfectly and he drove an unstoppable shot from 25 yards out, hard into the roof of the net.

From there, QPR needed to kill the game but they could not. Bobby Zamora headed a good chance wide from an Eduardo Vargas cross, soon after the goal. Joey Barton’s header, from a similar position, was saved in the second half.

Leroy Fer celebrates after putting QPR in front (GETTY IMAGES)

Swansea knew that they were always in the game, and, with better luck, they could have won it. Green handled outside his box early on but it went unpunished. That upset Monk but not as much as the fact that Wayne Routledge was sent off with five minutes left for reacting to a bad tackle from Karl Henry.

“It is a leg-breaking tackle, everyone knew apart from the officials,” said Monk, who will appeal the red card. “I hope justice is done, not just for us but for football itself because I am beginning to lose a little bit of faith. I don’t know what more I can say in terms of these situations happening with us. We seem to be on the wrong end of nearly all of them.”

Monk chose to start Bafétimbi Gomis ahead of Bony – which he put down to freshness, rather than transfer speculation – but it was not until the Ivorian came on that Swansea looked truly threatening. And Rangers could have been forgiven for thinking that they had secured the three points, but Bony made sure they were wrong.