Redknapp rues worst moment

QPR 1 Wigan Athletic 1

The reality, however, was that his side had contributed to their own downfall despite their commendable response to the loss of Zamora, who will no doubt spend some time wondering just what went through his head when he launched a head-high challenge on Wigan midfielder Jordi Gomez.

Desperate times require cool heads and, having coped after going down to 10 men, Rangers were found wanting after Loic Remy had given them an 85th-minute lead. Instead of shutting the game down, they contrived to allow Wigan back, when Stephane Mbia fouled Maloney on the edge of the box and Adel Taarabt turned his back on the winger’s free-kick, allowing the ball to fly into the top corner of Julio Cesar’s goal.

It was agonising for Rangers, especially given their plight, and they now sit second bottom, seven points adrift of safety with just six games remaining. Wigan are hardly in a healthy position, lying behind fourth bottom Sunderland on goal difference but the manner in which Rangers threw away two points left Loftus Road devastated.

Little wonder Redknapp described the moment as one of the worst of his career.

“Was that the toughest one to take all season? All season? No, in my football career, never mind all season,” he said. “We didn’t deserve that. We deserved to win. We played with 10 men all game nearly and deserved to win the game today. It was a fantastic performance from every one of them. It was criminal.”

Redknapp had no complaints about Zamora’s dismissal although he may have been less generous to the player had Rangers not reacted so positively after referee Phil Dowd had been left with no action but to act.

“I thought it was a sending off. It was a rash challenge,” said Redknapp. “He’s sorry, of course he is. Bobby’s a good lad. It was a rash challenge. But even with 10 men I thought we deserved to win.”

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez was less forgiving, pointing out his player was fortunate to escape serious injury.

“It’s a shocking challenge. It is a red card. It’s unfortunate because I know Bobby Zamora is not a dirty player but Jordi Gomez is very fortunate — he could have been majorly injured,” said Martinez. “His studs were at his eye level and unfortunately it was a red card. Jordi is okay. He was lucky the stud didn’t catch him in his eye.”

The incident appeared to galvanise Rangers while Wigan appeared to freeze.

Remy was the most effective forward on display and he could have put the home side ahead on two occasions — striking the woodwork and heading wide from a good position — before he produced an stunning finish after Mbia had led a breakaway move five minutes from the end of normal time.

Martinez could have no complaints with the way his side responded then and their late pressure brought reward in the form of Maloney’s equaliser. The true significance of that goal will not be felt until the end of the season but Redknapp admits it is looking bleak for his side.

“It’s going to be hard now to stay up. Of course it is,” he said. “Three points would have made a massive difference. The players that have come in in the window have done great. But maybe the window came too late for us.”

Martinez has every reason to be more confident but is bracing for a tense end to the season with next weekend’s FA Cup semi-final with Millwall providing some relief.

“Nobody has been talking about the semi-final because they know the priority is our position in the league,” he said. “The pressure was on them before the game because it was a must-win game but that changed after the sending off and we didn’t do enough. I think the points tally has gone up after last week and this week. People were talking about 36, 37 but it will be more and anyone not on 38, 39 has a job to do to escape relegation.”