By MARK IRWIN
HARRY REDKNAPP tore up his football blueprint and parked the bus to ambush weary Chelsea at the Bridge.
And the manager renowned for his attacking philosophy was making no apologies for the safety-first methods he used to snatch this most unlikely of victories.
Shaun Wright-Phillips’ stunning 78th-minute strike was enough to bring his former team-mates crashing back to earth and end any Chelsea thoughts of re-entering the title race.
Wright-Phillips was little more than a bit-part player during his three years at Chelsea following a £21million move from Manchester City back in 2005.
But he finally proved his point last night when he stroked home a magnificent late winner from the edge of the penalty area.
And that goal might just be the spark Rangers have been waiting for as they secured their first away win since November 2011 and their first at Stamford Bridge since 1986.
Now Redknapp will believe that he has found the way to escape relegation and it will be a case of substance over style for QPR for the rest of the season.
And if they can upset the soccer sensibilities of their bitter west London rivals along the way… so much the better.
Chelsea were convinced they were denied a perfectly good goal when Lampard was incorrectly ruled offside before firing home midway through the second half.
But the brutal truth is that they simply did not do enough against a QPR team who barely crossed the halfway line for an hour before striking out to grab all three points.
Redknapp had bullishly declared after Sunday’s home mauling by Liverpool that he was still confident of keeping Rangers up.
But that optimism was not shared by many of his team’s followers who recalled the 6-1 hammering they suffered on their last visit to the Bridge in April.
This promised to be every bit as one-sided but at least we were spared the spite of recent west London derbies, with the absence of John Terry and Anton Ferdinand from the starting line-ups.
So it was left to the unlikely figure of Marko Marin to open hostilities in his first Premier League start for Chelsea.
The German was lucky to escape with just a yellow card for an horrendous over-the-top challenge on Stephane Mbia which caught the QPR midfielder full in the shin.
Marin was one of five changes to the Chelsea team which had won at Everton on Sunday as boss Rafa Benitez tried to give his jaded squad a bit of a breather.
For this was Chelsea’s 33rd match of an already gruelling season and it was clear that some of their stars were starting to feel the effects of such a draining schedule.
Not that QPR showed much interest in taking advantage of their opponents’ fatigue as they focused on keeping everyone behind the ball.
But it was enough to frustrate Chelsea and it was a full 43 minutes before either team managed a shot on target — that came when Oscar’s deflected effort was saved by the leg of Julio Cesar.
Chelsea should have broken the deadlock just after the interval when Victor Moses stuck out a foot to Marin’s fierce drive across the face of goal but could only steer the ball wide.
Branislav Ivanovic brushed the top of the bar with a header and Fernando Torres was denied by a Cesar save. Yet without Juan Mata’s influence, Chelsea were short of ideas.
Ryan Nelsen and Clint Hill might not be the quickest centre-back pairing in the business but what they lack in agility they more than make up for with heart.
And it just that fighting spirit which Rangers are going to need in bucketloads.
For history shows that only one team in Premier League history has started the New Year in 20th place and not been relegated.
But at least they can now see some light at the end of the tunnel
And that is more than can be said for a Chelsea team who can now wave goodbye to yet another trophy.
