Debutant sub Tom Hitchcock scored in the final minute to consign the Blues to a 1-0 defeat at QPR. Town had gone close to going in front before the break when Robert Green saved from Daryl Murphy, but it was all Rangers in the second half with Clint Hill and Charlie Austin both hitting the bar prior to Hitchcock’s last-gasp goal.

Boss Mick McCarthy named an unchanged side with midfielder Cole Skuse fine to keep his place despite suffering a minor hip problem in training in midweek.

Academy second-year scholar Michael Crowe, 17, was named on the bench for the senior side in the competitive fixture for the first time with second-choice keeper Dean Gerken ruled out with the dead leg he suffered in a collision with Frank Nouble in training.

QPR included former Blues keeper Brian Murphy amongst their substitutes, while ex-Town loanee Danny Simpson started.

Rain fell steadily as the game got underway and within seconds of the start Aaron Cresswell and Shaun Wright-Phillips required treatment after a nasty-looking clash of heads. Both players were eventually fine to carry on.

On five Richard Dunne was on hand to dispossess David McGoldrick inside the box after Jay Tabb had crossed from the left, then Joey Barton took the ball from Luke Hyam as the Blues midfielder looked to shoot from the edge of the area.

The Blues had enjoyed the better of the first quarter of an hour and after skipper Carlos Edwards had broken down the right, McGoldrick just couldn’t get a touch on Cresswell’s low ball from the right. Moments later, Daryl Murphy shot over from distance.

After a 25th minute Joey Barton freekick had caused a few moments of panic inside the Town box, the Blues threatened again at the other end, Hill clearing Tabb’s cross from the left.

There was more danger for the Blues in the 28th minute when Dunne knocked down a Barton corner from the right and Wright-Phillips’s strike was blocked. Soon after, Charlie Austin saw another effort from inside the area blocked by Skuse.

The former Burnley man, who almost joined the Blues under Paul Jewell’s management, went close again a minute later, Loach saving to his left. From Barton’s corner, Hill’s header reached Nedum Onuoha on the edge of the six-yard box but he nodded the ball over.

Rangers were by now on top but in the 36th minute Town ought to have gone in front. Cresswell crossed from the left, McGoldrick and Dunne challenged and the loose ball fell to Murphy just inside the box.

The striker struck a low shot towards the corner of the net but Green did superbly to get down to his left to save. At the other end, Bobby Zamora lashed over after good work from Junior Hoilett.

Town weren’t far away again in the 39th minute when Edwards played the ball to Elliott Hewitt to his right and the Welshman hit a low cross-shot just beyond both the post and his waiting strikers.

Green was almost sold short by Dunne’s backpass in the 44th minute but the former Canary showed quick feet to take the ball away from McGoldrick and avert the danger.

Either manager could have made a case for their sides deserving the lead at the break after an entertaining half in which both teams had had spells on top and chances. But Murphy’s opportunity, which was very well saved by Green, was probably the nearest either side had come to a goal.

Ryan Tunnicliffe replaced Skuse in the Blues midfield at the break, the former Bristol City man having required treatment for an ankle injury during the first half.

On 55 the home side lost the dangerous Hoilett to what appeared to be a hamstring injury, Gary O’Neil replacing him.

Tabb got his name in referee Michael Naylor’s book for a foul on Simpson in the 61st minute, although the Blues’ midfielder appeared to have won the ball.

From the resultant freekick taken by Barton, whose set pieces had been a threat throughout, Hill — who scored his last goal against Town in February 2011 — headed against the bar. Dunne hit the sidenetting with the rebound. The Blues swapped Murphy for Paul Taylor.

Austin shot low to Loach in the 67th minute with the home side continuing to dominate the second half and the Blues only making the occasional foray forward.

On 72 Loach saved well from Austin after the striker was found at the far post by Simpson but the flag had already been raised.

Tunnicliffe cut out a Simpson cross from the right in the 74th minute with Town largely under the cosh and unable to keep hold of the ball. From the resultant corner, Hill headed well over.

QPR spurned a golden opportunity to go in front in the 78th minute when Wright-Phillips floated the ball over Chambers leaving both Austin and Zamora in on goal. The former Burnley striker seemed certain to score but somehow slammed his shot from 10 yards out against the bar.

There was a rare chance for the Blues soon after, the ball falling to Tunnicliffe on the edge of the area after Town’s first corner of the half but the on-loan Manchester United man scraped his strike wide.

A Dunne error allowed McGoldrick to bring the ball in from the right in the 84th minute but the striker’s shot from a tight angle was blocked by Green. His rebound deflected out to Hyam, but the ball caught the midfielder’s hand.

Two minutes later, sub Taylor was replaced by Frank Nouble and went straight down the tunnel, presumably having picked up a knock.

In the final minute of scheduled time, the goal which had been on the cards for most of the second half finally came.

Having been found on the left by a fantastic Barton pass, Wright-Phillips cut the ball back from the by-line and Austin’s mis-hit shot was tapped in at the far post by sub Tom Hitchcock, -the son of QPR keeper-coach Kevin - seven minutes after coming on to make his Rangers debut.

In injury time, Austin hammered a shot over, then at the other end Cresswell’s 30-yard strike deflected narrowly wide. Smith’s header to Green from the resultant corner was the last action before referee Naylor blew his final whistle.

After an evenly-balanced first half, Rangers took control after the break and should have been ahead prior to Hitchcock’s goal with Austin’s miss as glaring as they come.

The Blues battled bravely, rode their luck and created the odd opening, but overall the home side deserved the points, despite the timing of the goal being harsh on Mick McCarthy’s men.

QPR: Green, Simpson, Onuoha, Dunne, Hill, Barton, Henry (Jenas 77), Wright-Phillips, Hoilett (O’Neil 55), Zamora (Hitchcock 83), Austin. Unused: Murphy, Suk-Young, Ehmer, Shariff.

Town: Loach, Hewitt, Chambers, Smith, Cresswell, Edwards, Skuse (Tunnicliffe 46), Hyam, Tabb, McGoldrick, Murphy (Taylor 62 (Nouble 86)). Unused: Crowe, Veseli, Berra, Anderson. Ref: Michael Naylor (South Yorkshire). Att: 17,075 (Town: 1,789).

Photo: Action Images

suffolkpunchdrunk added 22:24 - Aug 17 ....and if we had held out for a little more time and got ourselves a draw MM would be being lauded as a tactical genius. Instead we miss out at the last minute to get beaten by one of the league's top three teams and MM is a muppet from 'the sky is falling on our heads' brigade! Get a grip on yourselves!
0

JWM added 22:28 - Aug 17 Timmyh what the hell are you spouting on about? Do you actually know anything about football? Big whoop! We have narrowly lost against the most fancied two teams to win this league away from from home FFS! I am amazed and astonished with the level of angst surrounding these two results. Nothing is decided in August as far as I know. Only three weeks into the new season and I am already totally fed up with SMS of the negative garbage that I have been reading on here tonight.

0

neillrumsey added 22:38 - Aug 17 I did say at the start of the season that we will struggle to score goals and clearly that is the case. In McGoldrick we have a quality striker but we still lack width and pace. For me Tunnicliffe has to start the next game as he will get on the end of chances with those late runs and he has pace to burn. A point would have been good but a team has to concentrate for the entire match. Taylor incident is baffling tho....

0

Goughie added 00:01 - Aug 18 So many pairs of panties bunched up in this thread! Folks bitching about (narrowly) losing (shock horror) games of football and not being content with 3-0 wins because we forced two own goals (OMG, do these not count as much as goals scored by our players?) What I see here are Tractor Boys desperate for the team to do well - we all are. The realities of it are we're three games into the league season and we're mid table. We could be in November with 7 points on the board, awaiting a miracle to get us out of the brown stuff. We are in debt to our majority shareholder to the tune of £72m - it's amazing philanthropy from Mr. Evans. We have FFP rules to comply with and we don't have a parachute payment. Rather than becoming slaves to the media-driven insanity that is modern day football coverage, how's about we al see what ME, MM, TC & the boys can do over the course of a full season, give them our full support and let's look for a final league position improvement? Remember last season when we got battered five and six in MM's first few games? We still showed play-off form despite those defeats. Remember how insanely tight the Championship was last season? Of course you don't, because this is a whole new season and we all deserve our place in Valhalla. I'm off to ask Thor if he'll loan us his brother Loki to add a bit of steel up front...

0

mutters added 00:07 - Aug 18 Moan moan moan. Our supporters sucks. Get behind the team people. We've lost to two relegated teams. We are not at that level yet. We will be. Believe and we will be fine,,,
0

fifeblue added 00:23 - Aug 18 Pretty good in defence until the last minute. Midfield solid but there is no creativity in it. At the moment there are no goals in this team. But QPR played as well as they can. Ipswich will improve. And overtake them in due course. Impressive away support again from Town fans. QPR's ground is awful, even worse than Selhurst Park and that is saying something.
0

Keaneish added 08:24 - Aug 18 It's pretty bewildering to be honest! I can only assume those early comments were from those who went to neither of the away games. What I've seen in both away games is a tight, controlled Ipswich side with good movement, work rate and possession of the ball, who have dominated periods of the game and carved out good chances in both matches against excellent opposition! Look at the core of that QPR side yesterday: Green, Dunne, Barton and Zamora - all English or Irish internationals. You attack too much you leave yourself exposed and to leave yourself exposed against either of these sides the way they use the ball could have seen us on the end of a couple of hidings at the start of the season. Keep calm and carry on is the expression isn't it? We'll do we'll this season...

0

FenboyBlue added 09:39 - Aug 18 Very proud of our boys yesterday. Things have improved since Reading, taking QPR even closer. Obviously there's a few things to gel before this team starts moving through the gears, but I thought our relatively young side coped admirably with a QPR side with some experienced Premiership individuals in it. We had the better of them first half, but I think Skuse not returning for the second half was key and maybe general fitness led to us tailing off in the last 10 minutes (a later tail off than Reading so fitness is building, give it a bit longer). I now see the class that Skuse is - composure under pressure and some sweet simple passes out of trouble. I'm not going to panic about McGoldrick & Murph not scoring, they were up against some class defenders and they kept them occupied. Maybe our midfielders should have taken some more chances as our strikers were drawing 2-3 QPRs players at a time to themselves. We lick our wounds and carry on.

0

tallguy6767 added 11:48 - Aug 18 I think peoples expectations are a bit unrealistic. You look at our squad its average at best so were not going to go to places like reading and q.p.r and get a result . The best we can hope for is a outside chance of a playoff spot and that's a long shot in my opinion but it would be seen as progress all be it frustrating for the fans.
0

hogster1970 added 12:10 - Aug 18 well as said before lets all calm down a bit, yes we have lost two away games to two of the best teams in the division and we have wigan to come aswell, we will see how we are over the next few weeks against the like of leeds derby birmingham ect if we can get some wins and draws here then we can push on. for me im not bothered if we get into the playoffs just a good steady season and finish in the top 10 is relistic, how ever as said we need some pace and width and get some quality passes to the front two, then if they keep fluffing there chances then you will know if we need some new strikers, you can have the best strikers in the world but wont score much if they get no service, i still believe edwards has last alot of pace and the killer crosses what are forwards need, will anderson do this i dont know, i think hewitt can and has put in some quality ball to the box on the few occasions i have seen him play, but with big mick mac we will improve and its were you are at the end of the season that counts and not now, just look at middlesbough up there for atleast half a season then just folded and we over took them in the end, so chin up team and onwards and hopefully upwards

0

Morgan added 12:21 - Aug 18 Thought our defence was fantastic overall yesterday. Murphy was vital for retaining the possession and giving us an outlet, yes maybe a fox in the box for finishing is our weakness but against the strongest side in the league the way we set up was right and we were unlucky. Good day out and to leave feeling disappointed not to have snatched a result makes me think we are continuing to improve.

0

TimmyH added 13:27 - Aug 18 @JWH - Ok mate calm down, just saying if we are going to play the leading contenders it is best to play them at the start of the season when they haven't had time to settle in the league after being recently relegated - not rocket science! And yes you are correct nothing is settled in August but disappointing in my eyes we haven't got a point from one of those trips (not angst as you put it) which gives a signal of intent, and yes I do know football as I've been supporting this club since the mid-70's!

0

runningout added 20:09 - Aug 18 not a point lost.. 3 points blown.. that's nothing against the likes of QPR.. it's looking like last year, we are lacking a clinical edge 'thought Taylor may be the answer, but no sign as yet.. Loach has not convinced me totally as a number 1 either..
0

bugledog123 added 20:48 - Aug 18 Early days - we'll be fine, and as we all know anything can happen in this league. Up the town!
0

Jonox123 added 22:33 - Aug 18 Looking at the QPR squad with Zamora, Wright-Phillips and hoilet etc, its no wonder we lost. QPR will likely win the league in my mind.
0

ormey75 added 00:18 - Aug 19 we aint spent a quid all summer and let chopra go, unless marcus gets his fairly large wallet out it will be another boring season and big mick will go to another club where he will be backed. money out marcus you tight sod or sell up, wheres the ambition? FFP and all that garbage, yawn yawn yawn
0

Blaine96 added 01:08 - Aug 19 I agree that we need a proven goalscorer in our team and Cole Skuse is a top player i would have him in the team every week but sadly Hyam can't play along side him as there is no creativity, Wordsworth must sit there and think thats were i fit in. Marcus Evans hasn't made money available because he wants to stick to this FFP S**T. I understand why but he needs to realise if he wants to achieve as much as the fans and the players and manager do then he needs to invest in someone. We go out again against Leeds on Saturday and hopefully Murph and McGoldrick can find a goal because i think it will lift them alot.

0

RegencyBlue added 10:39 - Aug 19 I don't think MM is that far away from a good side. Having said that you can only go so far without spending money. The fundamental problem we have is that Evans made considerable sums available for players but Magilton, Keane and Jewell wasted it all between them. We now have the first 'proper' manager since Joe Royle. in my opinion at least, but there is nothing left to spend. I've seen all three league games and whilst we will not concede many goals over the season we are not going to score many either, on the evidence so far anyway. Obviously its early days and things can change but I think we will do well to get anywhere near the top six.

0

Blogs 297 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls