We needed a reaction after our 2-0 loss to Millwall on Boxing Day and we got it. This was one of QPR’s best performances since Marti Cifuentes took over, earning a very creditable point from the promotion-chasing Tractor Boys who have yet to be defeated at Portman Road this season. Indeed, we had two good penalty shouts in the second half, one for a foul on Paul Smyth and the other for a blatant handball in the 98th minute. If we continue to play like this we should pick up some points from our four league games in January, all of which are at Loftus Road.
Cifuentes made five changes to the previous starting line-up, replacing Osman Kakay, Jimmy Dunne, Ziyad Larkeche, Paul Smyth and Lyndon Dykes with Reggie Cannon, Steve Cook, Elijah Dixon-Bonner, Chris Willock and Sinclair Armstrong respectively. That meant we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as follows: Asmir Begovic in goal; Cannon, Cook, Jake Clarke-Salter and Kenneth Paal in defence; Andre Dozzell and Sam Field tucking in behind Dixon-Bonner, Ilias Chair and Willock in midfield; and Sinclair Armstrong as the tip of the spear.
It was obvious from the get-go that this back four are a more solid defensive unit – Cook, in particular, was missed at the Den. Although having said that, the hosts had three decent chances in the first 10 minutes, two of which needed saving. Luckily, Begovic was up to the task and generally put in a much better performance than he did against Millwall. Cifuentes must have had a word about not distributing the ball quickly enough as the former Chelsea man got it out much faster than he has done in previous games and caught the hosts off guard at least twice. More like this, please Bego.
Sinclair Armstrong, too, put in one of his better performances. He used his strength to bat away an Ipswich defender and win a corner in the third minute after a good run down the left-hand channel and got off a decent shot in the 20th that stung the goalkeeper’s gloves.
Our best chance of the first half came from a corner taken by Kenneth Paal in the 31st minute. Cook got his head to it and flicked it on to the far post, where it then bounced back teasingly across the goal line. Unfortunately, Dom Ball, formerly of this parish, managed to hook it clear.
I was relieved the referee only added a minute at the end of the first half, given that we’ve conceded in time added to the first 45 in our previous two. That meant we only had to cling on for another 60 seconds to get to the whistle with a clean sheet. A good omen.
The restart was delayed due to a medical emergency in the Sir Alf Ramsey stand and Charlie and I debated whether that was good or bad for us. Would it give Cifuentes more time to use his tactical nous to develop a second-half game plan? Charlie thought it was just as likely to benefit Kieran McKenna, the Ipswich manager, who he rates as one of the best in the Championship. Judging from the Tractor Boys’ second-place position in the league – above two of the sides relegated last season, balloon payments and all – he’s surely right.
We were even better in the second half than we were in the first, denying the hosts any shots on target and attacking with more aggression, purpose and belief. That may partly have been because Willock was replaced with Smyth at the beginning of the half, creating more chances on the right. Willock seemed nervous about taking on other players, perhaps worried about aggravating the knock he picked up in the Millwall warm-up. Smyth, by contrast, was his usual, terrier-like self and in his best moment of the game managed to weave through two defenders in the 68th minute, only to be shoved to the ground as he was winding up to shoot. Should have been a pen.
Two minutes before that, Smyth had another great chance thanks to a well-positioned cross from Andre Dozzell, who also had a good game. Dozzell ran down the left-hand channel then put a ball in across the goal which Smyth was about to stick in the back of the net when the keeper managed to get a hand to it, forcing the Northern Irish international to put it just wide.
Having travelled to this game convinced we were going to lose, I changed my mind in the 63rd minute when Cifuentes replaced Dixon-Booner with Dykes – a good attacking substitution – and put £10 on QPR to win. “You’re a fool dad,” said Charlie, and he was right of course. But we were definitely the better team in the second half, with five shots to their three and an xG of 0.28 to their 0.21.
The only dark spots were two injuries: one to Cook in the 69th minute, forcing Cifuentes to replace him with Dunne – who was much better here than he was against Millwall – and one to Chair in the 73rd, who went down clutching his hamstring. The latter is worrying, obviously, given how important the Moroccan is to our hopes of survival. But he did at least walk off, seemingly without limping. Let’s hope he’s fit for our game against Cardiff on Jan 1st.
The referee added eight minutes at the end of the 90, which I thought would be squeaky bum time, but in fact we came closer to scoring than the hosts, with a handball in the penalty area inexplicably waved away by the ref in the last minute of the game.
All in all, a really good performance by the R’s and I didn’t regret the five-hour round trip. Huddersfield lost 1-2 to Middlesbrough yesterday, meaning we’re now four points from safety, but Sheffield Wednesday beat Preston 1-0, so they’re now just one point behind us. Our performance in the next four home league games will probably decide our fate.
You can watch the highlights on Sky Sports here.