Typical bloody QPR. Lose to Stoke who hadn’t won at home since October and had lost their last four, but win at Ashton Gate against a Bristol City side that had just beaten Southampton 3-1. Only a point now separates us from Millwall in 21st place and a win against bottom-placed Rotherham next Saturday will almost certainly see us clear of the relegation zone. So, we’ll lose that one, obviously.
Martí Cifuentes made four changes to the team that started against Stoke, which was probably wise given that this was QPR’s third match in seven days. Jimmy Dunne, Sam Field, Lucas Anderson and Lyndon Dykes came in for Reggie Cannon, Jack Colback, Joe Hodge and Sinclair Armstrong. That meant we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as follows: Asmir Begovic in goal; Jimmy Dunne, Steve Cook, Jake Clarke-Salter and Kenneth Paal in defence; Field and Isaac Hayden in midfield; Chris Willock, Anderson and Ilias Chair in front of them; and Dykes leading the line.
For the first 20 minutes, this line-up felt like a downgrade, with the R’s barely able to get out of their own half. We didn’t manage to put an attack together until 13 minutes in and that fizzled out pretty sharpish. The Robins, by contrast, looked confident and dangerous, and came close to scoring in the 22nd minute. Indeed, they came so close – just grazing the right-hand post – that the home fans thought they’d scored and started celebrating, prompting much piss-taking from the 2,500 visiting supporters.
Nahki Wells was in their starting line-up, as was Rob Dickie, and when they won a free kick on the edge of the area in the 36th minute, Wells prepared to take it. It was in such a good position I thought he was bound to score, but I don’t recall him ever scoring from a set piece for us so I shouldn’t have been surprised when he walloped it straight into the visiting fans.
Our goal came in the 42nd minute and was against the run of play. City were keeping a high line and that had worked pretty well, keeping us penned into our half. But after another attack came to nothing, Willock advanced on the right-hand flank, travelled about half the length of the pitch, then laid it off for Anderson. Up until this point, the Dane had been unimpressive – a bit laggy, losing duels, misplacing passes. But having received the ball in space on the right of the goal, he put in a diagonal pass to Chair that took out all the Robins’ defenders. Chair, who was much better here than he was at Stoke, didn’t bother taking a touch, but fired it straight into the bottom right-hand corner. Great composure. One-nil to the visitors.
I was watching from a box, the guest of a friend whose company is a Bristol City sponsor, and it’s a safe bet that Charlie, Freddie and me, along with Charlie’s friend Sergio and my wife Caroline, were the only QPR fans in that part of the stadium. That meant we couldn’t celebrate too openly – at least, not without embarrassing my friend – so we sat there trying to suppress our glee. Watching us trying to contain our joy, clutching our legs to stop them bouncing up and down, Caroline said it looked like we were all having seizures.
Having gone in at the break one-nil up, we came back out looking much more up for it. Even the wary QPR fans were in an optimistic mood, chanting: “Dickie, Dickie what’s the score? Dickie, what’s the score?”
There wasn’t much drama in the second half – it was remarkable how deflated the home side were compared to the first 45 minutes. In the first half, their xG was 0.49 compared to our 0.24 and they had eight shots to our two. In the second half, by contrast, their xG was 0.11, whereas ours was 0.66, and we had nine shots to their three, six of which were on target.
Cifuentes managed the remainder of the game well, with all the substitutions strengthening the side, unlike at Stoke. Hodge came on for Anderson in the 69th minute, adding a bit of venom to midfield, and Colback and Michael Frey replaced the flagging Hayden and Dykes in the 78th. There was a great passage of play around the 86th and 87th minutes, with Chair, Willock, Hodge and Colback passing it around effortlessly in front of the penalty area. It should have ended in a goal, with Willock getting in behind, but his shot was just the wrong side of the near post. That capped a fine performance from the 26 year-old, almost back to his best here. Smyth replaced him in the 90th minute and did better as a power sub, adding some attacking threat in the four minutes of added time, than he had as a starter on Wednesday.
Cifuentes needed a reaction after the abysmal performance at the Bet365 stadium and he got one. We didn’t look much better for the first 40 minutes, but it’s incredible how much difference a goal makes and we played with real flair and confidence after that. The second half performance was particularly pleasing. If we can maintain that level against Rotherham, given that they haven’t won a game this year and look nailed on for relegation, we should be able to finally get clear of the drop. But, then again…
You can watch the highlights on Sky Sports here.