London proved not to be a happy hunting ground for Blues as ten-man QPR received capital gain courtesy of a Samuel Di Carmine strike and put an end to the impressive unbeaten away record built up by Alex McLeish's side.

The visitors started well at Loftus Road and although they lost their way a little in wet conditions towards the end of the first half, the sending off of Mikele Leigertwood for a challenge on Lee Carsley must have given Blues renewed hope at the break.

But a moment of magic from Di Carmine - a rifled shot into the top corner from 25 yards on 54 minutes - was enough to pick up all three points, despite frantic efforts from the visitors at the death to try and salvage a point.

The disappointment was further heightened by not only injury to Garry O'Connor in the pre-match warm-up but also by the carrying off on a stretcher of Stuart Parnaby early on in the game.

Blues started in lively fashion and on five minutes Cameron Jerome came close to opening the scoring. Nafti carved open the QPR defence with a neat pace and the striker, after charging through the middle, tried a low curled round Radek Cerny turned away low down to his left.

Phillips then stung Cerny's fingertips with an angled drive as the visitors attacked with menace but in the tenth minute Blues were left facing adversity when, with just ten minutes on the clock, Parnaby went down injured out on the right touchline and was forced off on a stretcher.

The travelling faithful looked on concerned as the defender was carried past them and the door was open for 19-year-old Wilson to make his Blues debut.

Seconds before he entered the fray Nafti forced a corner with a scything shot before, at the other end, QPR created their first meaningful opportunity in the form of a 20-yard half volley that Lee Cook sent wide with Maik Taylor untroubled.

On 25 minutes QPR appealed for a penalty when Emmanuel Ledesma attempted to head a cross back across goal from the back post and the ball hit Queudrue. Ledesma led the clamour for a spot-kick but referee Stuart Attwell adjudged that the ball hadn't hit the Frenchman's hand.

McFadden forced a Blues corner with a surging run down the right on the half-hour mark but QPR broke and led an attack of their own, one which resulted in a Samuel Di Carmine shot being blocked by Lee Carsley 16 yards out.

As the rain poured down on Loftus Road once again QPR pressed and debutant Wilson went in the book on 40 for a foul on Cook six yards from the right touchline. Martin Rowlands lifted the resulting free-kick goalwards and Taylor was forced to tip behind as the ball headed for the top corner.

On 42 Dexter Blackstock flung himself along the turf and got a touch on a teasing low Cook cross but could only direct the ball two yards wide before Rowlands broke into the area from the right and forced a low save from the feet of Taylor at his near post.

Blues ended the first half in shaky fashion performance-wise but there was still drama to unfold with just less than a minute to go to the break when the Hoops' Mikele Leigertwood saw red for a late challenge on Lee Carsley after the Birmingham captain had moved the ball on.

QPR must have been fearing the worst in the second half, what with only having ten men due to the sending off but often teams are difficult to play against with a man less and particularly when someone like Di Carmine pops up with a thunderbolt of a drive from 25 yards like he did with his right boot on 54 to give the hosts the lead. McFadden had been guilty of giving away possession by trying to do much deep in QPR's half and after Tomassi had broken clear the ball fell to Di Carmine, who did the rest.

Blues responded almost immediately with Phillips turning and shooting from close range only for QPR sub Gavin Mahon - a Birmingham City fan - to clear off the line.

On the hour-mark Ledesma curled a left-footed free-kick into the arms of Taylor from distance and within minutes McLeish made a double substitution to freshen things up, bringing on Quincy for Nafti and Marcus Bent in place of Jerome.

With 66 minutes played a looping Wilson cross was headed out by a QPR defender right onto the left boot of Queudrue who let fly with a speculative 20-yarder that fizzed high over the goal and into the Blues fans.

With sub Bent putting pressure on his kick on 71 Cerny scuffed his clearance and presented Phillips with a chance, from a central position, some 45 yards from goal. On a wet surface it would have taken a sublime finish even by Phillips' high standards to hit the target and unfortunately his placed effort was too high and into the crowd.

The rain turned to snowflakes as the clock ticked towards full-time and Blues were left with just 15 minutes to get back into proceedings, something they very nearly did when Phillips' neat ball in behind the QPR defence found the marauding Wilson, who squared it across the face of goal - sadly however no visiting striker was on hand to knock into the back of the net and the Hoops escaped unharmed.

Queudrue picked up a booking for a foul on 82 as the night got worse for Blues but to their credit the visitors did set about attacking QPR in a bid to pick up a point, with the livewire Quincy a constant thorn in the home team's side.

Phillips thought he'd earned that point deep into injury time from close range after getting on the end of a low Quincy cross, but although the ball ended up in the back of the net the assistant referee flagged for off-side in what was to be the final piece of significant action in the game.

QPR: Radek Cerny, Damion Stewart, Fitz Hall, Mikele Leigertwood, Dexter Blackstock (Akos Buzsaky 69), Martin Rowlands, Matthew Connolly, Lee Cook (Gavin Mahon 46), Damiano Tomassi, Emmanuel Ledesma, Samuel Di Carmine (Hogan Ephraim 74). Unused subs: Jake Cole, Daniel Parejo.

Blues: Maik Taylor, Martin Taylor, Liam Ridgewell, James McFadden, Kevin Phillips, Cameron Jerome (Marcus Bent 64), Mehdi Nafti (Quincy Owusu-Abeyie 64), Kemy Agustien, Franck Queudrue, Stuart Parnaby (Jared Wilson 12), Lee Carsley. Unused subs: Colin Doyle, Nigel Quashie.

Referee: Mr S Attwell

Attendance: 13,594