Queens Park Rangers’ first home victory over Rovers since 1993 aggravated a lacklustre away performance at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium which saw the home side run away with the tie, as Rovers helplessly limped into the second international break of the season on the back of numerous injury concerns which capped off a disappointing winless week for the side.
The side that lined up down in London saw two changes to the side that were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening. Lewis Travis was withdrawn from the side after picking up a hamstring tweak earlier on in the week and was replaced by Corry Evans, who is set to feature in the international break for Northern Ireland. The second alteration for the game saw Sam Gallagher dropped to the bench after a string of uninspiring performances, as fan favourite Joe Rothwell took his place. Adam Armstrong, who was on target in midweek, was included for his 200th career appearance as he was bidding to notch his 50th career strike and make it three goals in his last four games, whilst fellow forward Danny Graham was also in search his own 50th strike – this time for Rovers.
Kick-off was soon taken by Bradley Dack as the 1,076 Rovers fans in the corner, including those who had appeared on Sky Sports’ Soccer AM this morning, were hoping that their side could halt their recent drop in form and capitalise on an inconsistent QPR side, who fell to a 3-0 defeat in midweek against Cardiff City.
The game started evenly with Rovers looking to press their southern opposition high up the field, which was epitomised by the game’s first booking, which fell on the head of Corry Evans after only six minutes, following the Northern Irishman’s foul on Burnley loanee Nakhi Wells.
On the 11th minute Greg Cunningham did extremely well to deny Bright Osayi-Samuel putting in a cross that could have caused Rovers’ centre-backs some problems. Unfortunately for the Blues and for Cunningham – who had been called up for the Republic of Ireland squad last week – the full-back emerged from the challenge worse for wear, as after trying to carry on for several minutes, he was finally hauled off on the 18th minute, as Amari’i Bell came on to replace him, as Rovers’ first change of the tie.
The first real chance of the game fell to Rovers on the 22nd minute as Rangers’ debutant goalie Liam Kelly lost possession from a wayward pass which fell to the feet of Adam Armstrong. The 200th appearance maker wasted no time in dwelling on the ball as he sent in a cross towards Danny Graham, who tried to combine with Bradley Dack using a knockdown, however German centre-back Toni Leistner managed to crucially intercept Graham’s assist, before clearing the danger.
The deadlock however, was soon broken after half-an-hour of the game had been played, and unfortunately for the travelling contingency, the goal came in favour of the hosts. Ryan Manning broke free down the left-wing to hit in a deep cross which Osayi-Samuel got on the end of. The former Blackpool winger did well to get above his man and knock the ball down into the path of Wells, which allowed the lethal forward to cleanly volley the ball past the flailing Christian Walton, to give Mark Warburton’s side a 1-0 lead.
The game then fizzled out with the hosts doing all they could to frustrate Tony Mowbray and his side. This controlling of the ball led to the R’s second opportunity of the half as Ilias Chair and Osayi-Samuel combined for the latter to try his luck. Chair picked up the ball and drove at the Rovers backline before feeding Osayi-Samuel, who took no time in striking from just inside the box. Whilst the idea was good, however, Osayi-Samuel saw his effort hit the back of the tight ground’s stand, as Rovers were awarded a goal-kick.
As the break approached, Rovers had the final say of the half, as Armstrong tried his luck from the edge of the area, but saw his shot deflect into the feet of substitute Bell, who – like Armstrong – tried to level the scoring, but the full-back’s shot was again, well blocked by the home defence.
As three minutes of added time were called for by referee Simon Hooper, the official was also busy handing out a booking to Darragh Lenihan, in the half’s final ‘highlight’, after the commanding centre-back had infringed the Bermudan, Wells.
Not long after the booking, time was called upon a first-half of little opportunities, despite the home side clinically being ahead at the break after Rangers’ on-loan hotshot bagged his 6th league goal of the campaign after half-an-hour of play.
During the half-time speeches, the thought processes of each respective managers would have differed variously, due to the predicament their respective sides found themselves in.
Home boss Mark Warburton would have been actively encouraging his side to keep their performance and effort levels as high as possible in order to, not only continue the good work that they had done during the first-half to find the back of the net, but to also contain the potential Rovers onslaught that was to occur, due to Rovers wanting to try and get back into the tie.
Away boss Tony Mowbray’s team-talk would have no doubt been a commanding one, especially after Rovers had failed to register a single shot on target during the first period, despite the undoubted quality Rovers possess within their forward ranks. Whilst, the injury to Greg Cunningham may have slightly altered the way Rovers had played and their cohesion within the backline, Mowbray, however, would have been calling on his players to ‘give the fans their money’s worth’ by putting in a second-half performance that would turn the game on its head and send the travelling supporters home happy with three crucial points.
Before Simon Hooper allowed the second-half to begin, Rovers made their second change of the day, at the break, as Danny Graham remained in the dressing room, allowing Lewis Holtby to take his place for the next 45 minutes.
After the change, the second period was soon begun by the unchanged home side who were looking to see out this game and secure a victory that would see them return to their early season form, and avoid them taking a third consecutive defeat, following knocks at home to West Bromwich Albion and, as mentioned, away at Cardiff City.
QPR had seemingly began the second period on top, just as they’d finished the first. Despite some early encouraging signs of Rovers in possession, the ball was soon lost in the attacking third, which allowed QPR to counter-attack and take advantage of Rovers’ defensive frailties. Eberechi Eze picked up the ball around 30-yards out, after linking up with Josh Scowen and stormed towards the Rovers goal, as he luckily skipped past Derrick Williams courtesy of a few deflection, before coolly slotting home, underneath the onrushing Walton to give the hosts a 2-0 advantage after only four minutes of play had elapsed in the second-half.
After 52 minutes, QPR again tried to extend their lead as Manning again pulled the strings. Yoann Barbet – who returned to the Rangers side after seeing red against West Bromwich Albion which ruled him out of Wednesday’s defeat to Cardiff – tried his luck form the edge of the area with a volley that flew over the bar.
Rovers upped their ante and found the back of the net only three minutes after Barbet’s attempt, however their celebrations were soon cut short after the linesman had deemed Derrick Williams to be offside. A low ball by Lewis Holtby, in the aftermath of a corner, saw Williams turn the cross home, however his celebrations were cut short after the officials deemed, he had moved too early.
Rovers’ disappointment soon turned to elation, only a minute later, as Bradley Dack’s skilled footwork and precise movement saw Barbet hack the playmaker down and concede a penalty which Dack himself stepped up to take, after Barbet was shown a booking by Hooper, the official. After the penalty area was cleared, Dack managed to expertly dispatch the spot-kick into the bottom-right hand corner of Kelly’s goal to give Rovers a fighting chance at 2-1, with half-an-hour of the game remaining.
Moments after the restart, Rovers’ first substitute, Amari’i Bell became the third Rovers player of the afternoon to fall into the referee’s notebook, after he hauled down Bright Osayi-Samuel.
It didn’t take long however, for QPR to find another gear, as they pulled away from Rovers, on the hour mark, with a third goal of the afternoon after Osayi-Samuel capped off a fine possessional Rangers move. The home side did well to play within the lines and skip past several Rovers players as Scowen threaded the ball into Osayi-Samuel who swivelled and shot after turning Lenihan in order to restore his side’s two-goal lead at 3-1.
Before Rovers could restart the game for a fourth time, Mark Warburton made his first substitution of the game, as Bright Osayi-Samuel was withdrawn to a standing ovation, with West Ham United loanee, Jordan Hugill, taking his place.
On the 65th minute, Rovers’ afternoon went from bad to worse, as they were again forced into making their final change which saw the booked Darragh Lenihan hobble off, with Tosin Adarabioyo replacing him.
After Adarabioyo’s introduction, Rovers were awarded a free-kick after Geoff Cameron fouled Holtby on the edge of the area. The free-kick was taken by Stewart Downing from 25-yards but frustratingly deflected wide for a corner which the home side easily cleared.
After 72 minutes had passed, QPR made their second change as Ilias Chair departed, with Marc Pugh, formerly of Bournemouth, taking his place.
The 74th minute saw substitute Hugill try and find the back of the net, as he twisted and turned to find and angle before firing wide of the target, after Walton – who soon received treatment by the Rovers medical staff – closed the angle at goal.
Former Preston North End man Hugill however, was determined to go into the international break with a goal to his name against his former rivals, and he duly got one after he converted Manning’s cross with a powerful header to net Rangers’ fourth of the afternoon which compounded Rovers’ misery and lacklustre performance at 4-1.
Rangers did their best at trying to wind down the seconds as they made their final change of the game on the 82nd minute as they swapped one on-loan forward for another as goalscorer Nakhi Wells departed with Brighton and Hove Albion loanee, Jan Mlakar coming on in his place.
Mlaker’s introduction had seemingly given Rovers a license to get forward as the unlikely duo of Bell and Adarabioyo combined to craft a Rovers chance. Bell lofted in a deep back-post cross to Adarabioyo who climbed highest in the Rovers area to try and salvage a consolation, but was unable to turn his nod home, as it dropped behind for a goal-kick.
There was some cause for cheer for the travelling supporters, even if it was for seconds only as Adam Armstrong managed to pull a consolation back on the 86th minute, in order to keep up his goalscoring run of three in his last four games whilst also bagging two milestones in the process. Some good interplay by Rovers saw a low Elliott Bennett cross come in, which the Rangers defence completely missed, allowing for Armstrong to sneak in between them and notch his 50th club career goal, on his 200th career appearance as the arrears were reduced to 4-2.
As the clock ticked over to 90 minutes, referee Simon Hooper allocated an extra five minutes to the end of the game, which the Rovers fans would have been hoping would inspire an ‘Istanbul-like’ comeback in West London.
Alas, no such thing occurred as added time only brought petulance and bookings, as in the 91st minute, Ryan Manning – who had been a key figure for all of Rangers’ positive play – soured his display by picking up a booking for descent after knocking the ball out of Dack’s hands during a Rovers throw-in.
The 92nd minute of added time saw a double flurry of bookings as Jordan Hugill and Derrick Williams were both booked for separate incidents. Williams was booked for hauling down Mlakar, whilst Hugill was cautioned for a challenge on Adarabioyo.
After Simon Hooper was ‘trigger happy’ with his yellow cards, the official soon called time on a game that left more questions than answers from a Rovers perspective, but whilst it left Rovers in limbo, it concluded that Queens Park Rangers were a real threat to the division’s top six, despite their blip in the two games prior.
Whilst the previous two games against Luton Town and Nottingham Forest saw Rovers end the game in frustration of not winning despite dominating, there is little evidence to suggest that Tony Mowbray’s men can feel ‘hard done by’ in this game after they were steamrolled by QPR from start to finish. Although their task wasn’t made easier as the game wore on, with their enforced changes due to injury, the quality within the side merited more than a return of one point from a possible nine, over the course of this week. It seemed as if Rovers never really got out of their starting blocks, let alone ‘stumble’ out of them, as Rangers took the game by the scruff of the neck and continued – to borrow a Mowbrayian phrase – ‘to ask questions’ of Rovers’ backline, that had had a makeover following the enforced introductions of Amari’i Bell and Tosin Adarabioyo. As we head into the second international break of the season, here’s hoping that some rest and some in-depth scrutiny occurs at Brockhall, in an effort to wash away the negatives of this block of fixtures, despite a small minority – rightly or wrongly – calling for the manager’s head.
As of Saturday evening, after 11 games had been played, Rovers found themselves lumbered in 14th with 14 points and a -2-goal difference, with the playoff spots now a distant six points away.
Once the events of the international break end, Rovers return to Ewood Park in-front of the Sky Sports cameras to face struggling Huddersfield Town at 12:30pm on Saturday 19th October. After that, Tuesday 22nd October sees Mowbray’s men head down to Birmingham City to face Pep Clotet’s youthful side at 7:45pm. The third fixture after the break could potentially be a big one in terms of how each side’s season unfolds as Rovers head to high-flying, playoff chasing, local rivals Preston North End, on Saturday 26th October at 3pm, as the affair at Deepdale promises to be a feisty, yet crucial tie.
