Queens Park Rangers 4 Leeds United 0: Sloppy Whites hand Championship promotion initiative on a plate to Ipswich Town

A 4-0 win which keeps Queens Park Rangers in next season's Championship secured Leicester City's promotion but the most significant thing for a Leeds perspective is that it hands the Tractor Boys all the initiative in what has been a wonderfully tight Championship promotion race..

They have two games – at Hull City on Saturday and Coventry City on Tuesday – to build a lead ahead of the final matches of the season. Only one point behind at the moment, they could even render Southampton's trip to Elland Road a dead rubber.

Leeds have shown a strong jaw in this promotion race but since March's international break they have been nothing like their old selves, giving QPR players too much room for all four goals they scored.

"We want five!" sang the gleeful Rs fans, scarcely able to believe their eyes.

Momentum is all-important in the play-offs and Leeds are rapidly running out of time to regain it. They are not good at play-offs at the best of times. In fact, they are a lot worse than not good.

It was telling that the Championship player of the season, Crysencio Summerville, and their playmaker Georginio Rutter were withdrawn as Leeds desperately sought a route back into the game. It made little difference.

Just after they went, Joel Piroe – so effective in the first half of the season, so ineffective in the second – hammered a free-kick miles off target into the away end. That was them in a nutshell – short of ideas and even shorter of quality against a QPR who knocked the ball about crisply and effectively.

The tone was set in a poor first half featuring two really disappointing goals and a manager who is reluctant to make early substitutions was never able to pull it back.

Ilias Chair scored the first, dropping deep into space to pick up a pass from the back and driving forward to find the net with the aid of a deflection in the ninth minute.

The second was worse, the Rs unable to get the ball in after a throw-in, Leeds incapable of getting it away. Eventually the hosts picked out Lucas Andersen, in ample space, to glide past Ilia Gruev and curl in a second goal.

Leeds looked rattled, their passing sloppy, their body language agitated. Joe Rodon inexplicably cushioning the ball to Andersen was just one example of many.

When Leeds did calm themselves and get a tighter grip on the game, they were still not good enough.

Summerville forced a decent save after Sam Byram played Willy Gnonto in well at the right corner, but when Piroe – leading the line with Patrick Bamford injured – dropped deep to flick a nice ball to Rutter, his touch let him down.

Junior Firpo flashed over a good cross that went all the way out the other side for a throw-in.

The same 11 players re-emerged for the second half and played the same football.

Rutter, without a goal since mid-February, nodded a Byram cross wide and span on another chance created by Ethan Ampadu but dragged it wide.

As QPR realised Leeds were not carrying much threat, they began to venture forward more often themselves, Ampadu heading a Chair effort wide just after the hour and Jack Colback's effort deflecting wide when Leeds failed to deal with the corner.

Mateo Joseph came on as Leeds switched to a 4-1-4-1 formation, and Asmir Begovic had to beat him to a low cross shortly after.

But it just made Leeds look more vulnerable, Chair shooting wide as they gave the ball away again and Lyndon Dykes nudging the young striker away to give himself just enough room to nod in a 73rd minute.

At that point it looked all over but unfortunately for Leeds it was not, Sam Field climbing above a leaden-footed Ampadu to head in a free-kick.

A week or two ago this could be written off as simply a kick up the Rs but there is little if any time to rectify this slip-up – at least not in the automatic promotion race.

Queens Park Rangers: Begovic; Dunne, Cook, Clarke-Salter (Fox 80), Paal; Field, Colback (Hayden 80); Willock, Andersen (Smyth 58), Chair; Dykes.

Unused substitutes: Walsh, Cannon, Larkeche, Dixon-Bonner, Adomah, Armstrong.

Leeds United: Meslier; Byram (Joseph 63), Rodon, Ampadu, Firpo; Gruev (Kamara 88), Gray; Gnonto, Rutter (Gelhardt 78), Summerville (Anthony 78); Piroe.

Unused substitutes: Darlow, Cooper, Cresswell, Shackleton, Crew.

Referee: D Bond (Wigan).