Any hopes of pulling off the greatest of great escapes faded quickly after Queens Park Rangers suffered a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Fulham in their English Premier League clash Monday.
After going down to fellow relegation battlers Aston Villa in their previous outing, QPR needed nothing short of three points to keep their slim hopes of staying in the Premier League alive, but a brace from Dimitar Berbatov put paid to those hopes quite quickly.
The Fulham striker continued his rich vein of form, scoring from the penalty spot before calmly slotting his second - both off mistakes from QPR's record signing Christopher Samba -- with a Clint Hill own goal making it 3-0 in 41 minutes.
Adel Taarabt gave QPR some hope with a late goal in the first half, with Loic Remy missing a penalty and then immediately making amends with a goal of his own early in the second half.
Harry Redknapp's side tried their utmost to find the equalizer, but despite a late sending off of Steve Sidwell, Fulham kept the scoreline intact.
QPR remain seven points adrift of safety, with just seven games left in the season.
"A disastrous first half cost us, they were the worst goals I've seen in my life," Redknapp told Sky Sports. "They were scandalous goals. It was an absolute disaster.
"We came out in the second half and murdered them. We missed another penalty which has cost us again.
"We had enough possession in the second half, when it went 3-2, I thought we would win the game.
"We had twice as many shots as them. I was disappointed with the last 10 minutes. We suddenly started lumping balls up, we opened them up by passing the ball."
Fulham manager Martin Jol was relieved to come away with the three points. "It was a great game for the spectators," the Dutchman said. "Overall it was a bit disappointing at 3-0 up and then you make it difficult for yourself.
"The Sidwell sending off I thought was a bit harsh, that was difficult for us. It was a bit unfortunate.
"Hopefully 39 will be enough (to stave off relegation), but it is tough you can still go down. Hopefully we can go a bit higher, but first we will celebrate the three points."
