The last time Burnley came to Loftus Road, it was a Sunny April Saturday, and the then-promoted Clarets blitzed a sorry Queens Park Rangers side 5-0 to go top of the league. Fast forward 18 months, and on a cold, dark November evening, things could not be more different.
That day in April, the Clarets were the dominant force - now it was the R’s who dominated proceedings, with QPR having 17 shots to Burnley’s 4.
Burnley’s first and only shot on target all evening opened the scoring, with Largie Rammazani scoring from just outside the D - QPR’s pressure eventually paid off, and Jonathan Varane equalised.
Fabio Celestini named an unchanged side from the 0-0 draw with Portsmouth on Saturday. Jaydon Banel and Aaron Ramsey both kept their place on the bench after returning from injuries - as did Club Captain Josh Cullen, who returned from an ACL Injury after 300 days.
Josh Laurent was booked shortly before the two-minute mark, with the resulting free kick going just wide of Greg Coudert’s goal.
The hosts certainly had the better share of the opening exchanges, with Burnley seemingly lacking control - both Jamie Vardy and Hjalmar Ekdal giving the ball away cheaply in dangerous positions.
Marcus Edwards had the first real effort of the night; he couldn’t finish a promising through ball from Reo Hatate.
In what can only be described as undeserved fashion, Burnley took the lead with an impressive long-range half-volley from Large Ramazani, which was Burnley’s first shot on target.
The Clarets’ next shot on target would come soon after, with Andreas Hountondji converting from close range - yet the linesman had his flag up for an offside. This sent a near-silent away end into near pandemonium.
Half-time came and went; neither side made changes at the break - the Clarets seemingly came back lacking discipline - both Josh Laurent and Kyle Walker were lucky to escape without punishment.
QPR continued to dominate proceedings; Ilias Chair nearly made an immediate effort, seeing a devastating counter-attack ballooning over.
Aaron Ramsey had a golden effort, seemingly running into an open goal - yet the promising ball from Jamie Vardy went past everyone and out for a QPR goal kick.
The goal, which had really been coming all evening, came on the 63rd minute, with Jonathan Varane converting from just outside the D, not without help from a massive deflection from the hand of Greg Coudert.
QPR’s dominance was clear all evening, and the goal certainly didn’t change that - Richard Kone had a golden chance to seal all 3 points, finding himself 1-1 with Coudert with just minutes to go.
Overall, the Clarets can count themselves lucky for the point amid a wave of QPR Pressure.
Next up is another away trip, this time to the Welsh capital to face Cardiff City.