Reading 0 QPR 0: In the end Reading and Queens Park Rangers conspired to put each other out of their misery.
This goalless draw, which was every bit as bad as the scoreline suggests, condemns both clubs to relegation and a return to the Championship.
Even if QPR and Reading win their final three matches it would not be enough to catch Wigan Athletic or Aston Villa, one of whom is guaranteed to reach 35 points because they meet on the final day of the season.
The financial fall-out will be severe for QPR, for whom the numbers fail to stack up on and off the field. Four league victories on the back of huge investment in the summer and another spending spree in January, when they twice broke their transfer record, makes for grim reading.
As for Reading, this was a Championship team trying to compete in the Premier League, as Jimmy Kebe pointed out four months ago. Their relegation was inevitable.
It was certainly easy to see why both teams have spent so long knocking around in the bottom three. The opening 45 minutes was more like a pre-season friendly in terms of the tempo. As for the quality of the football, there were times when it felt as though the game should have been kicking off on Sunday morning rather than Sunday afternoon.
Christopher Samba had expected it to get underway 24 hours earlier – "Morning people hope we get the 3points we need," the central defender tweeted yesterday, before later saying: "I woke up so excited to play I forgot it was 2mo,sorry my mistake.' As it happens, the club's record signing was not even among the substitutes here.
Chances were at a premium before the interval. For QPR, Esteban Granero's whipped free-kick clipped the top of the crossbar, Jay Bothroyd lobbed the ball over Alex McCarthy and wide and Adel Taarabt, rather comically wearing gloves, flashed a right-footed half-volley past the post.
At the other end, Pavel Pogrebnyak was thwarted by the combination of Robert Green and Jose Boswingwa as he tried and failed to stab the ball over the line, before Jobi McAnuff, shooting from distance, drew a routine save from the QPR goalkeeper.
While the game opened up a little after the restart, there was no improvement in the standard of the finishing. Taarabt, who was predictably withdrawn on one of those afternoons when he is at his infuriating best, wasted two decent chances, the first served up on a plate for him after a next exchange with Loic Remy.
Pogrebnyak was also guilty of profligacy, the Russian failing to hit the target with a free header from Chris Gunter's centre, seven minutes after he had slipped past Bosingwa only to curl wide. Adam Le Fondre later headed wide at the far post and Sean Morrison was denied by Green's fingertips.
Guardian Service
