Hello and welcome to Sports Mole's live text coverage of the Saturday lunchtime Championship clash between Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest.
Both these sides have been in the top third of the table for much of the season but their respective ambitions of automatic promotion and a playoff finish have tailed off recently.
QPR are now looking to secure a spot in the playoffs while Forest are trying to get back in the top six after a dismal run of form.
Morning all! The football season is into crunch time now and the first game of a super Saturday comes at Loftus Road as QPR welcome Forest to West London. Team news on the way...
FOREST XI: Darlow; Halford, Lascelles, Wilson, Fox; Peltier, Jara; Mackie, Lansbury, Derbyshire; Cox
FOREST SUBS: De Vries, Harding, Gomis, Osborn, Greening, Vaughan, Henderson
QPR XI: Green; Simpson, Dunne, Onuoha, Assou-Ekotto, Hoilett, Jenas, Carroll, Benayoun; Morrison; Austin
QPR SUBS: Murphy, Kane, Yun, Hughes, Kranjcar, Henry, Zamora
It's four changes for Forest from Tuesday night's end-to-end 3-3 draw against Sheffield Wednesday. Jamie Paterson, who has been Forest's best player in the second half of the season and scored a late free kick to equalise on Tuesday, is missing with illness and replaced by Simon Cox. Elsewhere, Danny Collins is suspended after his red card against Wednesday so Kelvin Wilson returns in defence. Greg Halford and Danny Fox also come in.
The big news for hosts QPR is the return to the starting lineup of Charlie Austin. The club's top scorer has been fit enough for the bench in the last two games but now returns to the starting lineup for the first time since January.
He is one of three changes for QPR, with Nedum Onuoha and Jermaine Jenas back in the starting XI.
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REMEMBER, all English league and cup games this weekend kick off seven minutes later than usual in remembrance of the Hillsborough disaster. So we'll be underway in 20 minutes' time at 12.22pm.
As mentioned above, the ambitions of these two clubs have changed in the past couple of months. QPR are now 13 points adrift of the top two and surely know that they can only get promoted via the playoffs now.
As for Forest, they're now without a win for two months and a day. That's 11 games they've gone without a maximum and have dropped down to 10th in the table. They're still just four points off the top six and can still reach the playoffs if they sort themselves out in the final five games of the season.
It's a weird situation at Forest at the moment. Gary Brazil is in interim charge of the team and the recent announcement that Stuart Pearce will be taking over at the end of the season makes it look like they have given up on this current campaign. Pearce is at Loftus Road today to inspect the team that he'll be in charge of next season.
LAST TIME OUT! When these two last met back on Boxing Day, goals from Andy Reid and Greg Halford helped Forest to a 2-0 win.
REFEREE WATCH: The man in charge today is Oliver Langford.
A perfectly-observed minute's silence by Loftus Road and we're now ready for kickoff in the capital. It will be Derbyshire and Lansbury to get us underway.
KICKOFF! Forest, all in red, get things going.
GOAL! QPR 1-0 FOREST (BENAYOUN)
Goodness me, that didn't take long for the home side. Forest's already-difficult task of getting anything out of this game is made so much worse as Carroll's shot from the edge of the box is palmed straight to Benayoun at the back post and the Israeli nods home. Dodgy goalkeeping.
QPR continue to dominate since that great start, with Benayoun seeing a lot of the ball.
Forest win a corner that Lansbury curls towards the near post. It's a decent delivery but there's no-one making that near-post run so it's easy for QPR to clear.
CHANCE! Completely against the run of play, Forest have a chance to level as Lansbury cleverly reverses the ball into Derbyshire. The forward should shoot, but looks to prod it on into Cox and is tackled.
Lovely one-two between Jenas and Benayoun before the former's low cross into Austin is excellently defended by Lascelles.
SHOT! Lansbury is pulling the strings right now and unleashes a 20-yard riser towards the near post that Green athletically tips over the bar.
QPR SUB: Harry Redknapp is forced into an early change as Jenas hobbles off with an injury. Karl Henry replaces the former Tottenham man.
CLOSE! Almost a second for the home side as Hoilett's shot from a tight angle zips across the face of goal and wide of the far post. Been a very open game so far, which is rare at Loftus Road this season.
Great shot of Benayoun celebrating his opener inside 70 seconds:
CHANCE! Fabulous cross from the left wing by Assou-Ekotto that Austin can only get the faintest of toes to. An inch closer to the striker and he would have made better contact and surely put QPR two up.
It's been a great start by QPR, who have had 58% possession and five shots on goal. Forest have just had two.
As things stand, QPR are going above Derby and into third place. The Rams host floundering Huddersfield, without a win in eight, later so you'd expect them to reclaim third spot.
Great inswinging free kick from Fox towards the back post. Former Ranger Mackie is up challenging but it's superbly defended at the back post by the home side.
After the dominant start by QPR, things have settled down and it's now pretty even. The early goal means that Forest will have to eventually start throwing more men forward, and when they do the pace of Hoilett and Morrison could be lethal on the counter-attack.
Usually so reliable, Dunne makes a mess of his header back to his keeper to gift QPR a corner.
GOAL! QPR 1-1 FOREST (LASCELLES)
Dear me, what a nightmare couple of minutes for Dunne! First, he gifted Forest a corner and then allowed Lascelles to get in front of him and head the resulting set piece home. We're all square at Loftus Road.
QPR have responded well to conceding that equaliser, with Hoilett just dragging a shot wide.
GOAL! QPR 2-1 FOREST (HOILETT)
Big goal for QPR as they restore their lead just a couple of minutes before the interval. It's a lovely goal too as Hoilett plays a quick one-two inside the area before poking past Darlow at the near post. It's a clever finish, but you question whether Darlow should have been beaten considering how close he was to the ball.
HANDBAGS! Lansbury and Henry scuffle in the middle and you can tell that both men are closing to losing it before referee Langford intervenes. Three minutes of added time has been signalled, by the way.
A chance for QPR to score their third just before the half as Hoilett is left completely unmarked from a corner and tries an extravagant flick, but gets it wrong.
HALF-TIME: QPR 2-1 FOREST
QPR have only scored more than three goals at home three times in the league this season. They've never scored more than three but as things stand are on their way to four.
Here's what one Forest fan (@GaryMClarkson) has just tweeted to our dedicated NFFC Twitter account (@SM_Forest): "2 right backs playing at CDM & a centre back getting ripped apart at right back! What do you expect? Too much dead wood!"
QPR certainly deserve their lead and if you're only just joining us and want a quick recap on the first half, read our HT report here.
If Burnley fail to win today against Middlesbrough, a game we're also covering live from 2.30pm, then QPR still have a mathematical chance of getting promoted automatically. They need the Clarets to fail spectacularly in the final few games of the season though.
KICKOFF! We're back underway at Loftus Road, with neither manager making any half-time changes. Remember, Redknapp has already made one as Jenas had to go off injured early and was replaced by Henry.
Not much to speak of at the start of the second half. Today's attendance has just been confirmed as 17,220, with 1,654 travelling Forest fans.
SHOT! Decent stuff from the visitors as first Mackie's shot is well blocked by Simpson before Jara's 25-yard effort does clear the defence but is straight at Green, who saves comfortably.
QPR fans appeal for a penalty as Hoilett's floated cross is flicked onto Fox by teammate Wilson. The ball hit his shoulder so it's not handball, with Fox then doing well to react to the loose ball and prevent Morrison having a clear shot at goal.
Forest have a free kick near the right-hand corner of the penalty box that left-back Fox lines up. His effort curls over the wall and has enough dip to get on target where Green has anticipated the effort and saves easily.
Neat build-up on the edge of the QPR box but Derbyshire's chance to get in a quick cross or shot goes as he dilly-dallies on the ball.
QPR streak the other way through Austin, who almost loses his balance comically before feeding the overlapping Simpson. His cross into the middle is claimed by Darlow but then dropped as he collides with teammate Halford. Luckily for the visitors, a red shirt is on hand to clear.
FOREST SUBS: First changes from Brazil as he brings on Jonathan Greening and Ben Osborn, with Lansbury and Jara the two going off. A real blend of experience and youth coming on. Greening's 35, Osborn just 19.
OFF THE LINE! Forest almost score their second from a corner as Halford appears to nudge Onuoha out of the way before his header towards the top corner is headed off the line by Simpson.
Morrison crumbles pathetically when crowded out in the area by Greening and Peltier. Gladly, referee Langford isn't fooled and points for a goal kick.
Despite that unpleasant dive, Morrison is beginning to have more of an effect. He's dropping deeper to get the ball and isn't afraid to run at defenders. His latest shot has just been blocked by Lascelles.
FOREST SUB: Brazil makes his final change, bringing on big striker Darius Henderson for Cox, who has done very little today.
GOAL! QPR 2-2 FOREST (DERBYSHIRE)
It's another goal from a corner for Forest as Osborn whips over a fantastic delivery that Derbyshire meets powerfully. It's straight at Green, but he can only push it into the roof of the net. Shoddy marking from Simpson, who lazily allowed Derbyshire to pull off him for a free header.
QPR SUBS: Redknapp brought on Bobby Zamora for Austin just before the corner and now he makes his final change by taking off Hoilett for Niko Kranjcar.
OFF THE POST! Oh so close to a third for QPR as Morrison gets inside the box down the left before dinking to the back post when Zamora meets it at a tight angle and can only sidefoot against the outside of the post.
CLOSE! QPR are piling on the pressure here and again threaten as Kranjcar's shot takes a deflection and dips over Darlow and onto the roof of the net.
GOAL! QPR 3-2 FOREST (ONOUHA)
Brilliant finish from Onuoha inside the box. He hit it first time and gave Darlow no chance. Fantastic and hardly the finish of a centre-back.
CHANCE! Forest should be level! It's another corner that Derbyshire meets and this time he can't beat Green, who gets down low to save. Redknapp will be so annoyed at how his side have defended set pieces today.
GOAL! QPR 4-2 FOREST (MORRISON)
GOAL! QPR 5-2 FOREST (ZAMORA)
Two goals in quick succession for QPR as they seal the three points. First, Morrison cleverly finished in the area before then setting up Zamora to make it five. It's a flattering scoreline, but QPR certainly deserve the win. It's the first time they've scored more than three at home this season.
FULL-TIME: QPR 5-2 FOREST
A massively important three points for QPR as they move up one place to third and apply a bit of pressure to Burnley in second. Third spot could be crucial come the end of the season as you'll be playing the side which will have exerted most to finish sixth.
For Forest, they're now without a win in 12 and is that their playoff chances gone? Depending on other results in Gameweek 42, they could be seven points adrift of the top six with just four games remaining.
Anyway, that's us out of time here. Look out for live updates on Burnley-Boro in a few minutes. We also have plenty more live coverage from the Premier League and more today. Enjoy!
