A BRAVE QPR rearguard action counted for nothing when ref Gavin Ward gifted Reading a penalty inside the last six minutes to seal the points.
Matt Hill was adjudged to have leaned on Gylfi Sigurdsson in the box - and the ref decided that on top of letting Sigurdsson smash the ball home for the winner - he would book Hill and sub Peter Ramage for good measure.
But what Hoops boss Neil Warnock said to Damion Stewart afterwards had better stay in the confines of the Rangers dressing room.
The central defender's red card for impeding keeper Adam Federici as he tried to clear the ball was daft in the extreme considering Stewart was on a yellow already - and there were only 20 seconds left of normal time in the first-half.
That said, there was a gang of Royals haranguing referee Gavin Ward to make sure the official sent Stewart on his way.
The busy ref also cautioned Alejandro Faurlin as the home fans bayed for blood. But for all the early pressure the best two chances of the first-half fell to the team in red-and-black hoops.
Kaspars Gorkss rose at the back post to head down and into a throng of players before Tamas Priskin under pressure skied his effort over the bar from a couple of yards.
And then Adel Tarrabt's clever turn and sublime pass using the inside of his boot curled on to the toe of Jay Simpson, but the striker had neither the space nor the guile to beat Federici from 12 yards.
The striker was out of luck in the second-half as well when Hogan Ephraim's speculative effort had the Reading keeper scrambling - only to see Simpson firing over from an acute angle.
It looked good for a point apiece before the official decided matters.
