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Blackburn Rovers captain Lewis Travis (left) gave the home side the lead in his 200th career appearance Blackburn Rovers maintained their 100% home Championship record with a 2-0 win against 10-man QPR at Ewood Park. An uneventful game was turned on its head in first-half stoppage time when Jonathan Varane was sent off for a late challenge on Danny Batth to reduce the visitors to 10. Rovers captain Lewis Travis - making his 200th career appearance - and Batth scored for the home side in a dominant second-half performance after John Eustace introduced the impressive Todd Cantwell at half-time. Paul Smyth had a goal back chalked off as Blackburn comfortably saw out the win. The victory extends Blackburn's unbeaten start to the Championship season while QPR have won just once in the league this term. Blackburn came into the match on the back of two clean sheets but were almost behind inside the first few minutes, with Koki Saito flashing a shot wide and Smyth narrowly missing after getting on the end of a good cross from the Lommel loanee. The rest of the first half contained little goalmouth action with the scores level, but that all changed with Varane’s sending off. The Frenchman overran the ball in the midfield and lunged in and caught Batth on the ankle with his studs, with referee Craig Pawson showing the red card. Both managers made changes at the break, as Rs boss Marti Cifuentes replaced Karamoko Dembele and Hevertton Santos with Nicolas Madsen and Harrison Ashby, while John Eustance introduced the creativity of Cantwell for Harry Pickering. It proved decisive as Cantwell and his team-mates exploited the extra space – somehow not scoring from a sequence of four shots in one move from the former Rangers midfielder, Tyrhys Dolan and Yuki Ohashi. But Travis soon opened the scoring, firing past Paul Nardi via a Steve Cook deflection and Batth then met a Cantwell cross at the back post to double the lead. Smyth had the ball in the net in a rare journey forward for the visitors but referee Pawson pulled the game back for a foul by the winger on Batth in the build-up. Rovers now have 15 points from their opening seven games, with QPR on seven. Blackburn boss John Eustace: "I thought we were very good. First half, QPR frustrated us, but we played some good progressive football. Had a couple of half chances, kept the ball really well. "Obviously going down to 10 men, it was more evident that we could play around them and hurt them on the sides, and it was pleasing to get the two goals. " On Lewis Travis: "He's an outstanding leader. He's a leader of men. He's got the respect of the whole building. "All the fans love him. I couldn't wait to start working with him when he came in. " QPR boss Marti Cifuentes: "I think it was a decent first half of football, with two teams trying to play positive football. "I think we started the game actually pretty well against a team that has done really well at home. We didn't concede more than one action, and got a clear one with Smythy [Paul Smyth] at the beginning of the first half. "It's disappointing because we had some ideas on how to improve in the second half, we were almost ready to go to the changing room, and yes, a red card is definitely a game-changer. " Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 28th September 2024 at 16: 58 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: John Eustace Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Martí Cifuentes Formation: 4 - 1 - 4 - 1 Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Blackburn Rovers have lost just four of their 22 league games against QPR this century (W12 D6), failing to score in just four of those matches. QPR won this exact fixture 2-1 last season and will be looking to record victory in successive away league games against Blackburn Rovers for the first time since September 1970 (run of three). Blackburn are unbeaten in each of their last eight league games (W4 D4), they haven’t enjoyed a longer such run since January 2022 (10 games). QPR have drawn four of their last five league games (W1), while on the road they’ve lost just two of their previous 13 such games (W6 D5). Michal Frey’s three league goals for QPR this season have been worth four points in the Championship, only Josh Maja’s goals have been worth more in the competition in 2024-25 (6 goals, 7 points). Match ends, Blackburn Rovers 2, Queens Park Rangers 0. Second Half ends, Blackburn Rovers 2, Queens Park Rangers 0. Attempt blocked. Lucas Andersen (Queens Park Rangers) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Zan Celar. Attempt blocked. Zan Celar (Queens Park Rangers) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Lucas Andersen. Attempt saved. Danny Batth (Blackburn Rovers) header from very close range is saved in the top centre of the goal. Corner, Blackburn Rovers. Conceded by Nicolas Madsen. Corner, Blackburn Rovers. Conceded by Kenneth Paal. Attempt blocked. Amario Cozier-Duberry (Blackburn Rovers) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Attempt saved. Paul Smyth (Queens Park Rangers) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom left corner. Assisted by Daniel Bennie with a headed pass. Fourth official has announced 4 minutes of added time. Attempt saved. Joe Rankin-Costello (Blackburn Rovers) right footed shot from the left side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Tyrhys Dolan (Blackburn Rovers) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Foul by Tyrhys Dolan (Blackburn Rovers). Lucas Andersen (Queens Park Rangers) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Tyrhys Dolan (Blackburn Rovers) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Harrison Ashby (Queens Park Rangers). Attempt missed. Makhtar Gueye (Blackburn Rovers) right footed shot from more than 35 yards misses to the left following a fast break. Foul by Joe Rankin-Costello (Blackburn Rovers). Paul Smyth (Queens Park Rangers) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Substitution, Queens Park Rangers. Daniel Bennie replaces Sam Field. © 2024 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.