Bobby Thomas scored a winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time as Coventry beat QPR 1-0 at the CBS Arena.

The game looked to be heading for stalemate when Thomas nodded in from Jack Rudoni’s corner to earn Frank Lampard’s men a fifth win in six league outings.

The Sky Blues had won four matches in a row until their run was halted abruptly by Leeds, before they were thrashed 4-1 by Premier League Ipswich in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Only the top four sides had taken more points than Rangers and the Sky Blues over the last 20 games, as both sides turned around their early-season woes.

They came into the clash locked on points, with only four goals between them.

Michael Frey had the best chance of the evening for Marti Cifuentes’ men when he was picked out by Kenneth Paal’s wonderfully-weighted cross, but his effort was thwarted by the sprawling Oliver Dovin in the Coventry goal.

Ilias Chair had a heavy hand in the move when his improvisation set Paal away down the left and the Moroccan then forced Dovin to turn his effort round a post when he cut in and took aim at goal.

It was a busy night for Dovin, who also acrobatically beat away Paul Smyth’s effort in the first half.

Jack Colback made his first Hoops start since September having scored the winner last time out against Blackburn and he fired an effort wide following a well-worked corner.

Matt Grimes forced QPR goalkeeper Paul Nardi into his best stop of the evening before the Frenchman was up quickly to smother Ellis Simms’ follow-up.

Rudoni should have done better when he was picked out by Victor Torp’s cutback, while Torp’s deflected effort had to be dealt with by Nardi with Simms lurking for a rebound.

Coventry did have the ball in the net with under 10 minutes to go, but Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s celebrations were cut short by the linesman.

But they were not to be denied when Thomas lept highest to meet Rudoni’s hanging corner and secure Coventry three valuable points in their quest for the play-offs.