Queens Park Rangers vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. Sky Bet Championship.
Loftus Road StadiumAttendance16,004.
Sunday 29 October 2017 21:09, UK
QPR substitute Matt Smith headed a late winner to earn his side a surprise 2-1 victory over high-flying Wolves at Loftus Road.
Conor Washington put Rangers ahead with four minutes left in the first half, only for Wolves striker Leo Bonatini to level almost immediately with his eighth goal of the season. Both sides had further opportunities to secure all three points, but Smith's 81st-minute header proved decisive and denied Wolves the chance to regain top spot in the Sky Bet Championship.
QPR, who went into the contest on the back of a seven-match winless run, looked the stronger side in the first quarter of an hour without manufacturing any clear scoring chances.
Their only real sniff of goal came when Washington stretched to reach a knock-down from Jake Bidwell, but the Northern Ireland international was unable to connect with sufficient power.
Wolves gradually began to find some holes in the Hoops defence, with the influential Diogo Jota bursting past two challenges only to drag his shot wide of the post.
But they fell behind towards the end of the first half when Massimo Luongo slid in to win possession from Romain Saiss and the ball rebounded for Washington to beat goalkeeper John Ruddy and tuck away his finish.
However, Rangers' lead lasted barely two minutes as Jota stormed down the left flank, outpacing Alex Baptiste and cutting the ball back for Bonatini to thump a volley into the roof of the net. The Brazilian might even have put Wolves ahead before the break following a slip by Jordan Cousins, but Joel Lynch scrambled the ball clear in time.
It was QPR who almost regained the lead early in the second half when Luke Freeman pounced on a defensive slip and unleashed a 25-yard drive that took a deflection and crashed off the crossbar.
But Bonatini should certainly have made it 2-1 in the visitors' favour shortly afterwards, bundling over from close range after an exchange of passes with Jota. It was Bonatini's final contribution as he made way for Bright Enobakhare, while QPR also rang the changes by sending on Smith, who almost made an immediate impact, heading Bidwell's cross wide.
Washington went close again as he hooked the ball goalwards with Ruddy stranded, but Conor Coady back-pedalled to head off the line. At the other end, Rangers goalkeeper Alex Smithies was his side's saviour, denying Jota with his legs after the Portuguese had turned Baptiste.
But the winner arrived nine minutes from time as Wolves half-cleared Freeman's free-kick and Lynch swept the ball back in for Smith to hold off Roderick Miranda and direct his header beyond Ruddy.
Ian Holloway: "I thought we looked as good as Wolves, if not better.Now we've got to play somebody else who's top of the league - and how many times have we had that this season? Just bring it on.
"It doesn't matter who's where (in the league), if we keep working like that I'm certain QPR will get stronger and stronger. That's (almost) 300 games I've managed this lot and that performance makes me as proud as any other performance we've given. Let's see if we can do the same against Sheffield United."
Nuno: "We were not the team that we should be, a team that wants to come to the pitch and play with high intensity and fight for every moment. We had good moments, creating chances, and we should be effective. I think in the second half we improved, we created better and enough chances to go away with the result.
"We are dealing with a tough competition and we have to be consistent in games. Each game you have to have 100 per cent motivation. We have to react immediately."
