Queens Park Rangers ended their freefall towards the Championship drop zone with a victory which deepened Leicester City’s own relegation fears.
The Foxes had hoped that the midweek win over Bristol City, their first in 11 league games, would herald the start of a revival at the King Power Stadium, and Jordan James’ brilliant opening goal further reinforced that optimism.
Gary Rowett’s side, however, fell victim to the defensive weaknesses which have dogged them all season as Ben Nelson allowed Harvey Vale in for a simple equaliser and then turned the same player’s innocuous cross past his own goalkeeper.
The defeat was sealed as QPR defender Ronnie Edwards was given a free header from a corner to secure a win which halted a run of four straight defeats.
The victory against the Robins on Tuesday was Rowett’s first since he took charge last month, but any Foxes fans believing their team had turned a corner were in for a shock after a bright opening.
The return of James after a month out injured had further fuelled the belief that things might be on the up, and the 21-year-old midfielder showed why as he picked up the ball near halfway, drove at the QPR defence and curled a superb shot past Joe Walsh to put the home side ahead after 14 minutes.
Against a team which had lost its past four matches, conceding 13 goals and failing to score, the home fans were rightly anticipating back-to-back wins.
Hamza Choudhury poked the ball wide as the Foxes looked comfortable, until the kind of defensive collapse which has typified their season saw them concede three times in 15 minutes either side of half-time.
Edwards’ hopeful punt out of defence should have been dealt with but Nelson, a goalscoring hero in midweek, erroneously left it for goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk to collect. Vale spotted his chance and nipped in to push the ball wide of the keeper and stroke it into the empty net.
Things got worse for 21-year-old Nelson five minutes after the break as Vale’s cross, which would have rolled harmlessly out of play, was turned past Stolarczyk by the defender, sliding in out of control.
Leicester tried to respond as Abdul Fatawu’s cross was touched onto his own bar by Walsh, but the defensive calamity was not over for the Foxes.
Paul Smyth’s 25-yard shot was turned round the post by Stolarczyk but from the resulting corner Edwards was left unhindered to rise and head the ball home.
Again Leicester tried to fight their way back into the game but they were lacking invention and penetration and the Rs defence, itself extremely poor of late, closed the game out.