Daily Mail

Darel Russell's freak 68th-minute goal all but put paid to QPR's fading play-off hopes and threw secondbottom Norwich a vital lifeline in their battle to avoid relegation.

Rangers are still to win a home game this year and the difficult conditions ruined the passing game that head coach Paulo Sousa prefers, with too many passes being over-hit.

But surprisingly Sousa insisted he was happy with his team's performance, saying: 'I'm proud of them all as they kept their heads up and kept trying to play good football.'

Norwich are just a bunch of honest toilers and their winner came after blunder by QPR's Czech Republic goalkeeper Radek Cerny.

Russell did not get much power into his shot from Wes Hoolahan's pass but the ball seemed to go right through the keeper's hands and into the net.

Norwich will claim justice was done as rookie referee Graham Scott had awarded them a penalty after a Jordi Lopez challenge on Lee Croft in the 32nd minute, only to take away the spot-kick and award a corner instead following talks with an assistant.

Norwich boss Bryan Gunn said: 'I asked the players if they had thrown the towel in after Saturday's home defeat by Coventry. The response I got tonight has certainly answered that.

'A lot of people have written us off, so we'll develop a siege mentality. The referee got the penalty reversal wrong as he will see when he looks at the video.'

Daily Telegraph

They may exist at the other end of football's financial spectrum to QPR, but Norwich proved more than a match, on the pitch at least, for the cash-rich west Londoners, claiming a crucial win.

Norwich, £20 million in debt and forced to deny last week that they are on the verge of going into administration, can only dream of the type of security owners Bernie Ecclestone, Lakshmi Mittal and Flavio Briatore have provided to QPR.

Their situation, both on and off the pitch, is becoming more desperate with each passing week, and if they are to avoid becoming football's latest victim of the global credit crisis, Championship survival must be a necessity.

Having picked up seven points from a possible 33 prior to kick-off, Norwich did little to suggest they would improve on that during an uninspiring first half, in which Heidar Helguson and Dexter Blackstock both came close to giving QPR the lead.

The hosts, also in desperate need of a win to aid their ailing play-off challenge, spurned a host of chances, with Helguson the guiltiest party, heading wide from six yards out in the 48th minute.

In a game devoid of any real quality, Mikele Leigertwood's brilliant curling 30-yard effort came as a welcome - if temporary - relief, but Norwich goalkeeper David Marshall acrobatically palmed it around a post. It was a pivotal moment. With both clubs' defences struggling with the wind and rain, it was QPR who cracked as Wes Hoolahan took advantage of a slip by Kaspars Gorkss to set up Darel Russell, who drove home from the edge of the area.

Despite their increasingly desperate forays forward, QPR could find no way through a resolute Norwich backline, who valiantly held on to record a victory that breathes new life into their battle against relegation.

Year two of Briatore's four-year plan to restore Rangers to the Premier League shows no signs of reaping the rewards its billionaire backers crave.

The Sun

Paulo Sousa refused to blame calamity keeper Radek Cerny for scuppering QPR's play-off dreams.

The Czech star gifted Norwich their first win in eight games when he allowed Darel Russell's 68th-minute shot to slip through his hands.

Yet chief Sousa insisted: "When a team has one shot and scores everyone has to take the blame because we should've done better for that goal."

Norwich boss Bryan Gunn said: "I'm proud of my players because they didn't let their heads drop."