QPR 1-2 Wolves: Paul Lambert secures first win

Paul Lambert secured his first win in charge of Wolves as they beat 10-man QPR 2-1 in the Sky Bet Championship on Thursday night.

James Perch picked up two yellow cards early on to leave QPR a man down at Loftus Road, and Wolves capitalised after the break thanks to goals from Dave Edwards and Helder Costa.

Joel Lynch then bundled one home in the 90th minute for QPR, but Wolves held on to secure Lambert a much-needed victory in his third game in charge, that lifted them away from the drop zone and up to 19th. 

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For Ian Holloway, however, it was a second-straight defeat after he began his QPR reign in such positive fashion with a home win over Norwich a fortnight ago. They stay 15th in the table.

Wolves may have had the first big chance of the game when Alex Smithies did well to keep out Costa's well-struck low volley after 21 minutes, but it was QPR who dominated for most of the first half.

That was at least until the 34th minute and Perch's dismissal. The defender had been booked for dissent early in the half, and he was given his marching orders by referee Tim Robinson for a rash, late tackle on Matt Doherty.

Holloway opted to switch his formation rather than making a change, and QPR saw out the first half well, aside from a Edwards header which went close six minutes before the break.

The QPR boss did, however, opt to make a change for the second half as Yeni Ngbakoto replaced Conor Washington but the numerical disadvantage weighed heavily on them as Wolves started to pile on the pressure. 

Eventually, though, they did make the breakthrough just before the hour mark. Dominic Iorfa played a one-two into the box with Doherty before pulling the ball back to Edwards from the byline, and he slammed it into the top corner from 12 yards. 

Just seven minutes later it was two as Costa picked up the ball out wide before slaloming into the box and firing low past Smithies to cap off a fine solo goal.

Lynch's goal in the 90th minute gave some hope to QPR, but the away side resisted any late pressure to hold on for all three points.

QPR boss Ian Holloway:

"[The referee's decisions] were probably the most bizarre thing I've seen in quite awhile. He gave himself no leeway, he blew up for everything when it didn't look like there was anything. I think he's made a mistake [with the first booking]. Perchy then made a mistake with his second challenge. But the first one was ridiculous.

"Funnily enough we played better 10 men at the start of second half than we did with 11. But then we let a goal in which knocked the stuffing out of everybody."

Wolves boss Paul Lambert:

"The second one [Perch's tackle] was a yellow card but I didn't see what happened with the first one. 

"We were delighted to win the game. We lost against Sheffield Wednesday who I think will be in or around the top six this season, but it's four points from two away games now [since I arrived]."

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