City conceded another three goals in front of their own supporters
Queens Park Rangers defender Amadou Mbengue celebrates at Hull City(Image: Pro Sports Images)
QPR head coach Julien Stephan felt a “calm” mindset was the key factor behind his side’s 3-1 victory at Hull City which completed a league double over the wobbling Tigers.
Late goals from Daniel Bennie and Richard Kone earned the visitors three deserved points against the Tigers, who have now lost two Championship games on the bounce but remain in the play-offs.
Stephan, whose side had not won away from home since Blackburn on November 26 last year, was pleased with what he saw from a well-organised Rangers side.
“It was a great, creative performance,” he said. “I was very proud of the players from the very beginning. They showed a lot of quality from kick-off.
“But the most important thing is that we stuck to the plan and kept calm. We were calm at half-time and then in the second half we had big, big chances to kill the game before we scored a third.
“We wanted to push after half-time and press more. We did that well and we also showed a lot of ambition to attack and to create dangers.”
QPR had a clear game plan from the outset – to soak up pressure and hit below-par City on the counter-attack – and it was executed to perfection.
They opened the scoring after 21 minutes when Paddy McNair was credited with an own-goal off Harvey Vale’s wicked corner, which left goalkeeper Ivor Pandur flapping at thin air.
Sergej Jakirovic’s side equalised after 39 minutes when Joe Gelhardt seized upon Ronnie Edwards’ gaffe after a fine run from Yu Hirakawa, who later went off injured, but they did not deserve a thing against streetwise opponents and were left to face up to a third consecutive home game where they’ve been really poor and failed to win.
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Rangers made it 2-1 after 84 minutes when substitute Bennie struck from distance with his first touch of the game, after which Kone kept his cool with a neat finish in stoppage time, closing the gap on the top six to four points.
“It is impossible to manage every moment, but I thought we managed the game very well after a difficult start. This is the beginning of a very busy week so to win at Hull City and get three points is a great start.
“The table doesn’t mean anything at this stage of the season. Now it’s a question of consistency and keeping calm and to hope we have no bad injuries.
“Let’s see how the table looks with three or four games remaining. This is not the main thing right now. The main thing is how we reacted after a bad performance at home to Blackburn. It’s a crazy league – everybody can beat everybody – but it’s about adapting to circumstances.”
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