Well, we finally did it. This was our sixth opportunity since 29th September 2023 to climb out of the relegation zone by winning a match – yes, we’ve been down in the mire since 29th September – and we finally took it. That shouldn’t be that surprising. After all, Rotherham are bottom of the league and haven’t won away since October 2022. If we couldn’t grab this lifeline, we really were doomed. But, boy, did we make it difficult for ourselves.
My friend Sean Macaulay was in town from LA so I took him along. (That’s him on the right.) He’s an Arsenal fan and said watching a Championship six-pointer was like watching a B-movie: down and dirty, no frills, bunch of guys battling their way to victory against the odds. More fun in many ways than a Premier League game. (He was heading to the Emirates to watch the Gunners play Newcastle later.) But he got lucky on this occasion. I don’t think he would have said the same thing if he’d been at the Bet365 stadium 10 days ago.
Martí Cifuentes made three changes to the starting line-up: Michael Frey, Isaac Hayden and Joe Hodge all came in, with Lyndon Dykes, Sam Field and Lucas Andersen dropped to the bench. That meant we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as follows: Asmir Begović in goal; Jimmy Dunne, Steve Cook, Jake Clarke-Salter and Kenneth Paal in defence; Hayden and Jack Colback in front of them; an attacking trio of Chris Willock, Hodge and Ilias Chair; and Frey up front.
Some were surprised to see Chair in the starting line-up, given he’s just been given a two-year jail sentence (with one year suspended). (You can read the Mail’s account of that here.) The sentence was handed down by a Dutch court and it remains to be seen whether the Moroccan international will have to spend a year in prison and, if so, when. But you can understand why Martí included him in the starting line-up. He’s probably our best player, scored the winning goal against Bristol City last Saturday and got an assist here. If he has to leave before the end of the season to serve a 12-month sentence that will be a serious blow to our prospects of staying up.
At first, it didn’t look like such a smart move. The Millers’ goal in the 7th minute came from a mistake by Chair, who tried to clear the ball only to mishit it and present Sam Nombe with an opportunity to flick it on for Tom Eaves, who chipped it over Begović. Like many people, I was worried we’d lose this fixture 0-1 because that would be so typical of us after beating promotion chasing Bristol last week. But I didn’t expect the visitors to score so quickly! What hope did we have of staging a comeback, given that QPR hadn’t won after conceding the opening goal since 7th October 2022?
In fact, we nearly scored in the 15th minute when Frey got his head on the end of a cross from Colback, but the Millers’ keeper, Viktor Johansson, got down smartly to keep it out. We had another chance to equalise 10 minutes later when Cook got his head on a ball whipped in by Chair, but Johansson made another good save. Chair got a shot off in the 37th minute, following a short corner routine, and that, too, needed saving. It felt like we were getting closer, but in spite of 67% possession in the first half and five shots on target it wasn’t to be.
Cifuentes made two changes at half time, replacing Hayden and Hodge, both of whom had picked up yellow cards, with Field and Paul Smyth. That last substitution proved pivotal, with Smyth getting the equaliser in the 61st minute. The Northern Irish international took his chance well, but Willock deserves at least half the credit for some great approach work on the right hand side, twisting this way and that, before rolling in a perfectly weighted ball for Smyth to run on to. He then nutmegged Johansson to level the score.
With 30 minutes left on the clock, and the momentum now with us, the game was there for the taking and take it we did. We almost scored straight after the restart, with Chair getting in behind on the left, only to hit the ball straight at the keeper. We had to wait another 15 minutes for the winner and it was that man Willock again. Chair found him in space about 20 yards from goal and he had enough time to set himself before blasting the ball into the right-hand side of the goal. Johansson got nowhere near it. Cue pandemonium in a sold-out Loftus Road stadium. This capped a fantastic, man-of-the-match performance from Willock – if only he played like this every week (although to be fair he had a good game at Ashton Gate too).
Cifuentes made three more substitutions after that, throwing on Ziyad Larkeche and Lyndon Dykes for Paal and Frey in the 83rd minute, and replacing Chair with Anderson in the 92nd. The fresh legs helped us see the match out, particularly as six minutes were added.
After the game, when I’d had a chance to look at the other results, I realised we’d only made it out of the drop zone on goal difference. Millwall, who were one point above us going into the game, beat Southampton 1-2, and Huddersfield, who were two points above us, beat Watford 1-2. Even Sheffield Wednesday took all three points, meaning we’d now be level with them if we’d lost this afternoon. Happily, Stoke lost 2-1 to Cardiff, so we’ve leapfrogged them with a goal difference of 13 to their 17. But if we lose to table-toppers Leicester next Saturday – which we probably will – and Stoke get at least a point from their game against Middlesborough, we’ll be back in the bottom three. It’s in our hands, but three of the five games we’ve got next month are against clubs in the top half of the table. We’re very far from home and dry.
You can watch the highlights on Sky here.
Great game today I was always confident we would win
I sat in your Stan Bowles stand and not my west paddock seats. I forgot how rough this end was, seats really cramped facilities almost Dickensian
I think I’m getting old and seeking more home comforts