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QPR 3-0 Ipswich Town - Match Report
Wednesday, 26th Dec 2018 16:59

Goals from Pawel Wszolek, Joel Lynch and Nahki Wells saw QPR to a comfortable 3-0 victory over the Blues at Loftus Road. Wszolek profited from Town mistakes to open the scoring on the half hour, Lynch headed the second on 34 and Wells added the third on 74 as the bottom-of-the-table Blues slipped back to seven points from safety.

Town boss Paul Lambert made two changes from the team which drew 1-1 with Sheffield United on Saturday with Flynn Downes and Grant Ward coming into the side for Andre Dozzell and Gwion Edwards, who dropped to the bench.

Ward played in the wide right role Edwards occupied against the Blades, while Downes came into the centre of midfield. The home side made one change with Lynch replacing Jordan Cousins, who was among their subs.

QPR struck the game’s first shot, Ebere Eze cutting in from the left and hitting a low effort which Dean Gerken claimed comfortably, while ex-Blues loanee Massimo Luongo was in their midfield.

In the fifth minute Blues skipper Luke Chambers was yellow-carded for colliding with Darnell Furlong just outside the area, the central defender feeling he was the man fouled.

Luke Freeman curled the resultant freekick just under Gerken’s bar and the keeper turned it over with little fanfare.

QPR enjoyed much the greater share of the ball in the opening minutes without threatening further, but on 10 Downes won the ball in midfield and fed Ward, who in turn played it to Jon Nolan to his right. However, the ex-Shrewsbury man’s cross was too long for Downes, who had broken into the box.

Moments later, Ellis Harrison was played on on the left but the Welshman sent the ball in before any of his team-mates had made a run.

But it was still QPR for the most part and they could well have gone in front in the 17th minute. Freeman rode a couple of tackles down the left before cutting back but slightly behind one-time Blues trialist Wells and the ball ricocheted off his heels and away from goal.

The Blues, with owner Marcus Evans watching from the stands, threatened again in the 20th minute when Matthew Pennington flicked a header from a corner on the left towards the far post but no one was able to apply the final touch.


Town’s best passage of play of the half led to a Nolan chance in the 23rd minute. After good work from Sears and Harrison, Downes played a clever ball for Nolan to chase and, with no options in the centre, the midfielder hit a low shot from an angle on the left which QPR keeper Joe Lumley palmed away to safety.

The Blues were beginning to get more into the game and in the 26th minute, shortly after skipper Luke Chambers had been treated for a head injury, Nolan played a delightful ball over the QPR backline for Harrison. The former Bristol Rovers man looped the ball towards goal from a tight angle on the right but just over.

However, right on the half hour the home side took the lead with Town playing a major part in their own downfall.

Nolan tried to play the ball back to his central defenders from wide on the right but only found Wells. The Bermudian brought it forward before hitting a low shot which Gerken could only paw away to his left and Wszolek was the first to react to hammer the rebound home from close range.

Four minutes later, it was 2-0. Freeman sent a freekick over from deep on the left and Lynch got ahead of Pennington to nod to Gerken’s right and into the net of the keeper’s despairing right hand.

The Blues looked to get back into the game after QPR’s quick-fire double. On 37 Pennington headed well over from a corner on the left when he will feel he ought to have done better.

Goalscorer Wszolek was booked for wiping out Nolan in the 43rd minute with neither team going close to adding to the goals before the break.

Having remained resolute in the early part of the half which QPR had dominated, the Blues started to make some headway and created a couple of chances before gifting the home side their opener.

Nolan presumably didn’t see Wells when he made his pass while Gerken will feel he ought to have bundled the ball away from goal if he wasn’t going to keep hold of it.

The second goal two minutes later came from a well-taken freekick but boss Lambert will believe it should have been defended far better.

Town needed a big second half if they were to take anything from the game but it was the home side who started the period brightest, Freeman hitting an early low effort towards the near post which Gerken claimed at the second attempt. On 49 Jordan Spence was booked for a foul on Lynch.

Following a 52nd minute Blues corner, Nolan stabbed the ball out to Trevoh Chalobah, who hit a 20-yard shot which looked goalbound until Lumley got across to palm it wide.

Ten minutes later, Ward was replaced by Jack Lankester having suffered a knock in a challenge moments earlier and been carried to the tunnel on a stretcher.

Town were seeing a lot of the ball and competently passed it around but rarely in dangerous areas and without creating a chance, while QPR were happy enough with their two-goal lead and didn’t looked particularly concerned about adding to it. On 70 Nolan was replaced by Jordan Roberts as the Blues moved to 4-4-1-1, while Ilias Chair took over from Eze for Rangers.

The home side completed what was a victory won at a canter in the 74th minute when sub Chair was somehow allowed to cut the ball back from the byline on the right to Wells, who had time to hit a shot on the turn across Gerken and into the corner of the net.

Having netted their third, QPR loosened the shackles and went looking for a fourth. Wszolek was thwarted by Gerken, then Chambers blocked Wells from the rebound, before Roberts curled a shot just over at the other end.

Rangers sub Bright Osayi-Samuel saw an effort blocked from close range moments after coming on, just prior to the fourth official indicating three additional minutes.

The final whistle confirmed a thoroughly disappointing afternoon for the Blues who had begun to make some headway when they conceded QPR’s two first-half goals, the first of which was seasonally gift-wrapped for Steve McClaren’s side.

In the second half, although Town saw more of the ball and moved the ball around well at times, they rarely did so in dangerous areas and never laid a glove on the visitors who were given another late Christmas present to cement their lead with 16 minutes remaining.

A bad afternoon all round for the Blues with results elsewhere seeing the sides above them move away and the gap to safety stretch back to seven points plus goal difference ahead of a difficult trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday.

QPR: Lumley, Furlong, Leistner, Lynch, Bidwell, Wszolek, Scowen, Luongo, Freeman (Osayi-Samuel 88), Eze (Chair 70), Wells (Oteh 84). Unused: Ingram, Hall, Cousins, Smith.

Town: Gerken, Spence, Chambers (c), Pennington, Knudsen, Chalobah, Downes, Nolan (Roberts 70), Ward (Lankester 62), Sears, Harrison. Unused: Bialkowski, Edwards, Jackson, Dozzell, Kenlock. Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire). Att: 14,584 (Town: 1,288).


Photo: Pagepix



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cartman1972 added 17:05 - Dec 26
Pathetic performance by pathetic players
7

thechangingman added 17:06 - Dec 26
Oh dear. Just when I was starting to hope again...
7

never_lose_the_faith added 17:06 - Dec 26
I wish I could stop caring
14

Nobbysnuts added 17:07 - Dec 26
Pathetic, embarrassing. To all you lot on here getting over excited that we managed to scrape a point at home to Sheffield Utd. This is the worse town side I have ever had the displeasure of watching. They would struggle in league one. They don't deserve to pull on the shirt. We are going down so get used to it. We are bottom because we are the worse team in the league.simple. RIP this once great club.
9

Bluearmy_81 added 17:08 - Dec 26
When are people going to stand up to this owner killing the club with his miserly joke investing?!! At least put him under pressure, fight for your club!! I live too far away. If I lived in Ipswich I'd be all over it.
1

Kirbmeister added 17:08 - Dec 26
We were relegated before this game so just grim and bear it till the end of the season then a massive clear out again.
0

Kirbmeister added 17:10 - Dec 26
....grin and bear it.
0

blueboy1981 added 17:10 - Dec 26
Please don't make any kind of excuse for this - QPR didn't have to get out of 1st Gear, or take the handbrake off. An absolute stroll for them.
PL - could do no worse than put Harry Wright in goal, and play the Under 23's for the rest of the season.

What chance have we got of attracting any quality in on loan, or otherwise, without costing a fortune - for what ... ?
We deserve no more than League 1 - not just the ability, the application / ownership from players is just not there, as could be seen today.

Genuinely feel for Paul Lambert to be honest.
19

RobITFC added 17:10 - Dec 26
Awful performance made worse by giving them the first two goals, what was Nolan doing? He had made a similar giveaway ball a few minutes before! We then spent most of the game passing thew ball backwards or hoofing it!
7

DurhamTownFan added 17:11 - Dec 26
Can't think of any positives from this one. Anyone?
3

TimmyH added 17:12 - Dec 26
Sounded like an easy win for QPR who have surprisingly improved under McLaren, our players should be fighting for their lives as if every game is a Cup Final to survive, seriously disappointing after the Sheffield game.

Compounded yet again by Norwich scoring more late goals...how do they keep doing it?
5

blueboy1981 added 17:14 - Dec 26
So, so annoyed - How can we be so inadequate wearing the ITFC Shirt .... ???

We literally gift games away - perfect example today.

No doubt the normal excuse makers will hit the minus button .... roll up!
7

midastouch added 17:14 - Dec 26
The only 2 good things about today...
Leeds and West Brom winning, that's it!
1

hucks216 added 17:16 - Dec 26
Every season one or two teams go on a good run and escape from the trapdoor. This season it will be Hull (13 points from the last 15) and Millwall - not us, not by a long way.
0

budgieplucker added 17:17 - Dec 26
I want to believe and I think Paul Lambert could be one of the best appointments for us for along time. The club generally has a great supply of young talent that will hopefully eventually come through, but the table doesn't lie, we are currently the poorest team in this league as we lack experience, the experience we have continues to make poor mistakes and we have no Championship quality strikers (maybe Sears can prove me wrong). Letting 40 goals experienced Championship players go without adequate replacement is nothing short of suicidal.

Nothing short of spending 5 million in January on loan deals to get 4 proven experienced players at this level including someone of Gestedes nature will give us the feintest of chances of turning this around.
7

Bluearmy_81 added 17:19 - Dec 26
Evans needs to f&k off already. Sell the club for a quid if it's not about the money and you don't want it back. Oh right, it's all about the money
3

Swn98 added 17:27 - Dec 26
The unfortunate thing about it all is for the first time in 45 years I don't really care,
0

Erics_size_5s added 17:30 - Dec 26
Bluearmy81. Don't worry. As I write this Evans is on the phone, securing 2 CBs, a DM, a couple of wingers with flair and creativity....oh....and sponsorship with Viagra.
1

ShropshireBluenago09 added 17:31 - Dec 26
A lot of stating the obvious here tonight. QPR were bottom 3, first 6 games, but used the loan market well ; Wells, Hemed, etc. We opted not to take up the loan or fee market when we should have done. Roll on January and let's hpoe we get some Premier quality; CCV, Jenkinson, Crouch,Adam...
3

blueboy1981 added 17:33 - Dec 26
......... blaming Evans is just another excuse, he wasn't on the pitch today in yet another abject performance- however, his ownership overall hasn't exactly seen us move in the right direction - for that of course he has to be the bearer of such responsibility.

In our current plight, he has done well to get Paul Lambert in, in fairness many Managers would be well pleased that he allows managers to manage, which he has, and does.

It has to be a 'clear the decks' process now, and of course suitable investment from Evans in doing so.

This squad is limited in ability for sure, but the concentration, effort, and application was yet again our failing today. These players, could and should have done MUCH better - some were so lethargic today, they wouldn't have been missed, had they not turned up.

In so doing we could only have lost - which we did.
8

brendanh added 17:33 - Dec 26
The Evans era is an abject failure. Sir Bobby and Sir Alf rolled in their graves when we sold Jack Marriott and Jordan Rhodes without them making a single senior start. It's not about the money, this fool hasn't a clue what makes ITFC great.
12

blueboy1981 added 17:35 - Dec 26
Swn98 ...... that's not true, as much as I try I cannot do that. Neither can you .... !! - and you know it.
6

Gilesy added 17:39 - Dec 26
bluearmy81....your over simplistic, almost fanatical hatred for Marcus Evans really is clinically fascinating. Even if someone did come along and buy the club off him for £1, would they fork out the £5m a year needed to keep the club afloat? Yes, his tenure has been a huge disappointment and seen the club go backwards, but to use every post to tell anyone who doesn't want to see him hanged from the nearest lampost reminds me of those who, when asked why they were going to vote leave reply that they wanted their country back. Meaningless populist twaddle with no thought of the consequences or future planning.

I think we get your point.
5

blueboy1981 added 17:39 - Dec 26
.......... after this lot today - start with a completely clean sheet Paul Lambert, you've been great with the players, but they certainly didn't reciprocate that today.

Be ruthless - some of the players obviously aren't behind you - BUT WE ARE, whatever you have to do.
8

dukey44 added 17:39 - Dec 26
Lambert has changed players everywhere apart from changing the sad rubbish back 4.. Why?
4


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