Blackburn Rovers vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Ewood ParkAttendance14,315.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Blackburn Rovers and QPR at Ewood Park as Lewis Travis scores the winner in Jon Dahl Tomasson's first game in charge on the opening day.
Saturday 30 July 2022 20:04, UK
Jon Dahl Tomasson enjoyed a winning start to his Blackburn reign with an impressive 1-0 win over QPR in the Championship.
The Dane's new captain Lewis Travis settled a tight contest with a stunning strike in the 34th minute after Rovers endured a nervy start against another side playing under the guidance of a new head coach in Michael Beale.
QPR rattled the woodwork early on and manoeuvred the ball around confidently, but once Rovers went ahead they rarely looked back, outrunning and outworking the visitors in a game that saw little in the way of clear-cut opportunities.
Blackburn's Ben Brereton Diaz tested Seny Dieng without joy while Ilias Chair struck the side netting early in the second half, but Beale's men did not hit the target during the 90 minutes and former Malmo coach Tomasson will have been encouraged by this start.
Callum Brittain made his Rovers bow while Jack Vale was handed a first senior start. QPR gave debuts to new signings Jake Clarke-Salter and Kenneth Paal.
The early exchanges were cagey but the visitors almost broke the deadlock in spectacular fashion 18 minutes in when the ball fell to Osman Kakay 25 yards out and he hammered a ferocious shot goalwards that cannoned off the crossbar.
This started a spell of dominance for QPR who may have felt hard done by in the 27th minute when John Buckley escaped a second yellow card for pulling back Olamide Shodipo when he was set to propel an attack.
Rovers made the most of that fortune. Brereton Diaz's first-time shot was deflected wide but the hosts went ahead after the resulting 34th-minute corner was cleared and found Travis, who controlled and whipped an unstoppable 25-yard effort over Dieng.
Tomasson's men came alive and Brereton Diaz saw his thunderous drive tipped over by Dieng.
QPR almost equalised in the first minute after the restart as Thomas Kaminski's pass found Chair but he fired into the side netting from 12 yards, while at the other end Brereton Diaz charged into the area before seeing Dieng produce a smart save to repel his effort from a narrow angle.
Chances were at a premium but Rovers looked fitter and pressed the visitors, whose passing game deserted them and they ran out of ideas.
George Thomas's wayward strike 10 minutes from time summed up QPR's second half and though Brereton Diaz lashed just wide late on, one goal was enough to get the Tomasson era up and running.
Blackburn's Jon Dahl Tomasson: "Very pleased. I think we need to show the passion as players, need the fans to show the passion as well. They did that, got behind the team. We need to create a togetherness if we should be successful, so it was a great feeling. I think we played against a decent side. First half, we should have been sometimes better in our organisation, had issues in our defensive organisation.
"We scored a great goal. Trav, he hit that ball tremendously. For him, (a) very special feeling when you're the captain for the first time and hitting the ball like that. We should have been a little bit better in the transition moments because there were a lot of transitions where we made a bad decision. But it was great to see, especially the second half, first 20 minutes, we were very dominant at keeping the ball in the opponent's half and should have scored one more goal for sure. It was a great win, great start. Points are great but I think the most important thing is the togetherness we showed today, that spirit."
QPR's Michael Beale: "I thought we started the game well. I knew that Jon Dahl Tomasson, with the team he picked - very front foot, very energetic - their movement in the final third would be good. It was but I thought for the most part, we defended extremely well. We had from the second phase of a set play a 30-yarder from Kakay that didn't go in, and Travis has a very similar situation at the other end that goes in the top corner.
"I thought it was a harsh result. We had lots of passages of possession but the last 25 yards of the pitch, we had to be better. Maybe one or two of the boys not here will bring that to our squad, but I still felt we had enough here today to create more. Our last cross, our last pass, was poor all day. To lose 1-0 away from home to a good team to a set play is extremely disappointing."
