Town 2-1 QPR - Match Report Saturday, 26th Dec 2015 17:28 Skipper Luke Chambers headed home an injury time winner as Town came from behind to beat QPR 2-1 at Portman Road. Junior Hoilett put the visitors in front in first-half injury time but Jonathan Douglas levelled on 77 before Chambers’s dramatic last-gasp winner. Mick McCarthy named an unchanged team for the sixth successive match, while Luke Hyam was on the Blues bench for the first time this season having been recalled from his loan spell at Rotherham. The visitors, who were without injured star striker Charlie Austin, included former Town man Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and ex-Blues loanee Massimo Luongo on the bench. Town were first to threaten in the fifth minute, Ainsley Maitland-Niles feeding the overlapping Chambers to his right and the Blues’ skipper sending over a low cross which QPR centre-half Grant Hall inadvertently diverted to his keeper Rob Green from the edge of the six-yard box. Four minutes later, Daryl Murphy out-battled Gabriele Angella from a Jonas Knudsen long ball down the left but the Irish international striker’s shot flew across the face of goal. The Blues continued to make most of the early running, winning a couple of corners which came to nothing, before Maitland-Niles just over-hit a through ball for Freddie Sears, then on 15 Murphy saw a shot deflect away from goal off Karl Henry. There was a scare for Town on 17 when QPR’s lone striker Sebastian Polter escaped behind the backline but lost his footing as he sought to turn inside Christophe Berra as the Blues defender chased back. Referee Darren Drysdale showed no interest in penalty appeals which mainly came from the crowd. The Scotland international was caught in possession by Hoilett before he could clear but the Canadian international took the ball out of play. Alejandro Faurlin forced Dean Gerken into his first save of the afternoon on 19, the Argentinian midfielder curling a freekick from 25 yards towards the keeper’s top left but the ex-Colchester man claimed. Five minutes later, Berra required treatment after a clash of heads from a corner but was OK to carry on, albeit while sporting a bandage. Town weren’t too far away from the game’s opening goal in the 38th minute when Sears’s cross from the left reached Murphy, whose shot was blocked. The ball ricocheted to the one-time West Ham trainee, whose subsequent effort was diverted over the bar by Hall. As half moved into injury time Chambers went close, nodding Maitland-Niles’s corner from the left wide at the far post with keeper Green nowhere. The Blues captain clearly thought he should have scored. The half, which had never really burst into life, seemed set to end goalless until the fifth minute of injury time when Leroy Fer whipped over a cross from the right and Hoilett got in front of Chambers to head past Gerken from a couple of yards at the near post. There was no time for Town to hit back before referee Drysdale blew his half-time whistle. The Blues had had the better of a not overly enthralling half until conceding the late goal - another Town will feel they ought to have defended - however, without QPR keeper Green having been forced to make any serious saves. Until the goal, Gerken had similarly been under-employed, aside from Faurlin’s freekick. Goalscorer Hoilett scraped the second half’s first shot well wide two minutes after the restart. The visitors went closer on 52 when, after Sears had been caught in possession midway inside his own half, Matt Phillips crossed from the right and Tommy Smith did well to get to the ball ahead of Hoilett. Town were inches away from getting on terms in the 55th minute when Chambers crossed from the right, Douglas flicked it on to Brett Pitman, whose curling shot struck the outside of Green’s left post. Two minutes later, Maitland-Niles hit the Rangers wall with a freekick from 25 yards that the on-loan Arsenal winger had won himself. As the game approached the hour mark, Berra made an important challenge ahead of Polter as Hoilett whipped over a ball from the left. Soon after, Ryan Fraser took over from Maitland-Niles. Cole Skuse prevented the visitors from doubling their lead in the 66th minute when he cleared off the line from Fer. The former Norwich midfielder had been played in by Phillips and had rounded Gerken but had taken the ball wide and allowed a number of Town players to get back. The Blues quickly broke and Paul Konchesky tripped Sears as the Blues striker took the ball between the former England man and another defender, the full-back picking up the game’s first yellow card. After the freekick had been somewhat wasted, Tommy Oar replaced Pitman with Sears moving up front with Murphy. On 70 Sears cut the ball back from the right to Fraser, who slid in but his effort was blocked. The loose ball ran to Oar but his strike was similarly snuffed out. The Blues had spent the half pushing for an equaliser, not always convincingly, but had started to get closer and in the 77th minute the leveller came. Sears’s deflected cross from the right fell to Murphy, whose shot was diverted off target by a defender to Douglas, who acrobatically hooked his third Town goal across Green and into the net from close range. It was the Blues’ first home goal for 293 minutes. As the game moved into its final scheduled 10 minutes Hoilett hit a 20-yard strike straight at Gerken, then on 84 Fraser smashed a low effort wide of QPR keeper Green’s right post from the edge of the box. On 88, with QPR by now putting the Blues under pressure, Oar was booked for a foul on Konchesky and from the freekick the visitors almost regained the lead. Faurlin sent the ball over towards skipper Nedum Onuoha, whose header Gerken did superbly to tip past his left post. But two minutes into injury time, it was the Blues who would claim a dramatic winner. Sears whipped over a right-footed cross from the left and Chambers steamed in at the back post to power a header past Green and into the corner of the net. The skipper was mobbed by his team-mates as Portman Road went wild, while the QPR players stood around disconsolately. There was was no time for them to hit back and referee Drysdale’s whistle confirmed that the three points were Town’s. Having been a touch unfortunate to be behind after a drab first half, Town took the game to the visitors in the second half with Pitman unlucky not to have equalised when he hit the post. The Blues had gone close again through Fraser just prior to Douglas reacting quickly and acrobatically to grab his goal. If anything QPR had appeared more likely to claim a late winner until skipper Chambers - who had been at fault for the visitors’ goal - arrived at the far post to thump home his second goal of the season and to send the large Boxing Day crowd home happy. The result - only Town’s second home win in 10 and their fourth successive victory on Boxing Day - sees the Blues stay sixth but now only a point behind fifth-placed Burnley, who lost 3-0 at Hull City. Town are next in action on Tuesday when they travel to fourth-placed Brighton, who drew 0-0 at Brentford. Town: Gerken, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Douglas, Maitland-Niles (Fraser 60), Sears, Murphy (Varney 90), Pitman (Oar 68). Unused: Bialkowski, Malarczyk, Hyam, Bru. QPR: Green, Onuoha (c), Angella, Hall, Konchesky, Henry, Faurlin, Hoilett, Phillips (Chery 83), Fer (Sandro 70), Polter. Unused: Smithies, Hill, Emmanuel-Thomas, Luongo, Tozser. Referee: Darren Drysdale (Lincolnshire). Att: 23,615 (QPR: 974).
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