Who knew Jimmy Dunne had that in his locker? The Irishman scored the winner this afternoon against Birmingham, the first time he’s scored since Neil Critchley’s managerial debut against Preston on 17th December 2022. He bundled it in from Kenneth Paal’s corner on that occasion, but this was an absolute screamer. On his weaker foot, too. It capped what has been a remarkable comeback for the 26 year-old defender under Martí Cifuentes and is emblematic of the revival in the club’s fortunes since the Spaniard arrived. We’ve only lost two in our last 12 and are 18th in the table. A couple more wins like this and we should be safe.
I’ve been in Prague this week, helping the Society for the Defence of Free Speech in Czechia publicise its Freedom of Expression Awards, but arranged to get an early flight this morning so I could be back in time for this must-win game. And must-win it was. If we lost this one and either Sheffield Wednesday or Huddersfield picked up three points, we’d be back in the relegation zone. Indeed, at one point during this match, when we were one-nil down and Wednesday one-nil up, that’s precisely where we were. Happily, four points now separate us from Huddersfield in 22nd place. Not the biggest of cushions, but things are beginning to feel more comfortable.
The atmosphere was buzzing at a sold-out Loftus Road, with Birmingham fans filling the top tier at the school end. Cifuentes made two changes to the team that started against Sunderland, with Sam Field and Michael Frey replacing Jack Colback and Lyndon Dykes. That meant we lined up as follows in a 4-2-3-1 formation: Asmir Begović in goal; Dunne, Steve Cook, Jake Clarke-Salter and Paal making up the back four; Isaac Hayden and Field in front of them; Chris Willock, Lucas Andersen and Ilias Chair as the attacking trio; and Frey up front.
We had the better of the opening few minutes, pinging the ball around in front of their goal, probing for an opening. But this short spell ended with a shot from Field that went nowhere. Even though the visitors had lost their last three games, they looked quite up for it, and their starting XI included three former QPR loanees – Ethan Laird, Dion Sanderson and Tyler Roberts – which ratcheted up the tension.
We nearly scored in the 11th minute, with Willock wriggling past a defender in the right hand corner and hanging the ball up for Chair, who headed it past John Ruddy in the visitors’s goal. But the 37 year-old, who looks more agile than our 36 year-old keeper, managed to get a hand to it and keep it out.
We had another chance in the 14th minute, with Paal putting in a decent ball from the left-hand side. Frey, who still looks slightly off the pace, couldn’t get a foot to it, but Andersen, who caught it nicely as he rushed towards the goal, clipped the bar.
Our failure to take these chances was a grim reminder that our goalscoring has dried up recently, with the R’s only two goals in the last three games coming from Field in the match against West Brom.
We had a let-off in the 27th minute when Jay Stansfield skipped past Bego, who’d been caught off his line, but couldn’t get a shot off when the goal gaped in front of him. Then another reprieve about 10 minutes later, when Roberts found himself in space about 20 yards from goal, in line with the penalty spot, but sliced it, sending the ball trickling out for a goal kick.
By the time the half-time whistle went, I was beginning to feel frustrated. We definitely had more goal scoring opportunities – an xG of 0.96 to their 0.19, and nine shots, of which three were on target. But no end product, which partly explains why we’ve only won four times at Loftus Road this season.
They came out of the stops a little faster than us in the second half, having apparently decided this was a winnable game, and put us under pressure for the first 15 minutes. This paid off with a goal from Juninho Bacuna in the 62nd minute, who steered it past Bego into the top right hand corner. Bringing on Sinclair Armstrong for Frey and Jack Colback for an injured Hayden in the 60th minute hadn’t done anything to improve our fortunes.
Could we come back from one-nil down? I certainly hoped so and immediately put £10 on QPR to win at 17/2. Three minutes later, when Steve Cook equalised, I was glad I’d taken advantage of that window to place my bet – and even happier when Dunne got the winner, obviously.
Cook’s shot was his second attempt, the first having been blocked, and it only went it because it got a lucky deflection. But no matter. Given how high the stakes were, I don’t think I’ve ever celebrated more passionately.
After that, the Blues decided that coming away with a point would be a good result for them and did their best to run down the clock at every opportunity, whereas we were desperate for the win. That made for a fractious final half hour, with several yellow cards being whipped out.
I was resigned to a draw, and after two more substitutions (Paul Smyth for Willock in the 76th mintue and Ziyad Larkeche for Paal in 87th) it looked as if it was headed that way. But happily Jimmy Dunne thought differently. He managed to trap the ball on his chest in the 92nd minute, then volley it into the top left-hand corner with his left foot. It was an absolute worldy, reminiscent of Bobby Zamora’s 89th-minute winner in the play-off final, and Loftus Road erupted like a volcano. After the initial wave of euphoria, the fans around me were turning to each other with expressions of awestruck wonder. Who would have believed it? Jimmy fucking Dunne? (You can see the goal on Twitter here.)
After that, it was just a question of seeing out the remaining five minutes of added time and victory was ours.
What a result! And what a way to get it! ‘Hey Ho, Silver Lining’ has never sounded better when it blasted out of the speakers at full time. The players did a victory lap, then, when it became clear the fans hadn’t finished applauding, came back out for a second. Everyone was celebrating as if we’d won the final game of the season, just escaping the drop, when in fact there are seven left to go. Nevertheless, it’s a huge three points and if we win against Swansea on Monday we could end up in 16th place! But I’m getting ahead of myself, obviously. We’re not home and dry yet.
I’m going to all seven of our remaining games. More like this, please.
You can watch the highlights on Sky Sports here.
Good bet too
I didn’t fancy us at evens at the start but put £20 at 9/1 bet fair 😎 great win rangers 🙏
Brilliant, thanks for the report.