QPR boss Julien Stephan felt it was difficult for his side after conceding after just over a minute of the second half as they were beaten 4-1 by Town at Loftus Road, having done exactly the same at the beginning of the first.

George Hirst headed the Blues in front after 68 seconds and the Frenchman was pleased with the way his team reacted with Rumarn Burrell levelling on 21.

But he thought his side was unable to deal with Marcelino Nunez netting his first for the club with a brilliant free-kick 68 seconds after the start of the second period, Hirst and Nunez, via another free-kick, went on to score another apiece to secure the Blues their first away win of the season by a 4-1 margin.

“When you concede one goal in the first minute of the first half and when you concede one in the first minute of the second half, mentally it’s difficult after that,” he said.

“I enjoyed the reaction after the first goal in the first half because my feeling at half-time I said to the players that we were in the game and I felt that we could do something in this game.

“The reaction was good and we stuck to the game plan in the first half. It was OK, collectively, defensively, with the ball it was OK. All was OK, in fact.

“Their goal at the start of the second half mentally was tough, my feeling is that after that we tried to react but the third came too quickly and the fourth killed us.

“After that, for the last 20-25 minutes, it was not good and they were better than us and they made the difference.

“During 60 minutes, my feeling was that we were very close for 60 minutes, but at the end, it’s a question of consistency and we were not consistent enough in the game.”

Both Hirst’s goals came down the QPR right flank with Sindre Walle Egeli and ex-Rangers man Darnell Furlong crossing for the Scotland international striker.

“The first and the third, for me, it’s two different goals,” Stephan said when quizzed on his team conceding two goals from the same area. “The first one is one-v-one on our defensive left side and it’s a good chip to the far post and they finish well.

“The third one is a big tactical mistake from us in the high press at the beginning of the situation.

“We didn’t respect in this situation what we wanted to do collectively to recover the ball, so it’s completely different even if at the end, good chip, good cross and good finishing. It’s more the beginning of the situation for me for the third one.

“Two set pieces today and two crosses coming from the left side and finished in the right side, a chip to the far post. We need to learn from that, we need to correct some things, of course, because four goals is too many at home. Impossible to imagine having a good result when you concede four goals.

“In our good period, we were collectively and defensively very strong, so we need to recover that very quickly if we want to recreate a positive momentum.”

Stephan admitted that there will be few better free-kicks scored this weekend than Nunez’s.

“Beautiful goals today,” he said. “Sometimes you say congratulations to the opponent because the second goal, fantastic shot. The fourth one, a very good shot as well.

“It’s a question of quality. When the opponents have quality, you have to congratulate them.”

The former Rennes manager agreed that the 4-1 scoreline was a little harsh on his team.

“I think so, but the end if it’s 4-1 that means it something as well, it means we made some mistakes and we have to correct the mistakes,” he continued.

“They were clinical, in the first 60 minutes, very clinical and I think we had in the first half the same kind of situations offensively, even at the beginning of the second half.

“But they were more clinical than us and the last pass or the last move they did very well, and it was a big difference between them and us today.”

Photo: TWTD

ChingShady added 22:16 - Nov 1 To be fair can't disagree with any of those comments, a pretty accurate reflection on the 90 minutes.
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Gforce added 23:43 - Nov 1 An honest assessment from the opposition manager for a change. Nice to hear him praise the quality of our goals, so fair play to him.
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howsey51 added 00:50 - Nov 2 That’s a nice assessment and very gracious. Just nice to see some joy from the right side of the pitch rather given how unbalanced things looked in recent games. Hopefully finding a settled team now.
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