Burton Albion vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Pirelli StadiumAttendance4,264.
Saturday 13 January 2018 19:15, UK
Second-half goals from Conor Washington and Massimo Luongo fired QPR to their second away win of the season as they beat Burton 3-1.
Northern Ireland striker Washington capitalised on some hesitant home defending in the 74th minute before Luongo sealed victory for Rangers with a late strike from inside the area.
Aramide Oteh's first senior goal had given the visitors the lead 11 minutes before half-time but Lloyd Dyer quickly levelled for Albion, who have now gone 10 home league games without a win and remain in the bottom three of the Championship.
The first half was lacking in any real quality and was only briefly lifted to any great heights by the two quickfire goals. Rangers, who had only scored in one of their last six trips away from Loftus Road, should have taken the lead in the first minute as 19-year-old forward Oteh raced on to a pass from Washington only to lift his shot over the target when one on one with Burton goalkeeper Stephen Bywater.
Albion almost broke through with their first attack, Rangers keeper Alex Smithies having to dart smartly off his line to save at the feet of Dyer after Tom Flanagan had picked out the winger's run.
Washington forced a good save from Bywater at his near post as QPR looked anything but a side devoid of confidence away from home. And they took the lead when Oteh bundled home Darnell Furlong's cross in just his third appearance for Ian Holloway's side.
Rangers' joy was short-lived, though, as Albion hit back immediately. Lone striker Lucas Akins was the creator, bustling his way into the box past Nedum Onuoha before sliding in Dyer to calmly tuck home his fifth league goal of the season.
The second half was a much better game of football and after a flurry of Burton corners at the start of the half it was QPR who took control.
Washington crashed a shot against the inside of a post after his original effort had been blocked. However, he was not to be denied the next time a chance came to him. He latched on to Luke Freeman's pass before rounding Bywater and slotting into the empty net.
Rangers continued to look threatening, with Matt Smith sent on to add his physical presence in place of the lively Oteh, and the former Fulham man forced an excellent fingertip save from Bywater with a rising left-foot volley. But there was nothing the goalkeeper could do to prevent Luongo making the game safe in the 87th minute.
Nigel Clough: "We didn't play well enough and QPR deservedly won the game. We were outplayed by better players but we came in 1-1 at half-time which we probably didn't deserve to be, to be honest, but we should have hung on and got something from the game."
"If we keep giving the ball away in certain areas of the pitch as we did today then any team in the Championship is going to punish you. It is difficult to explain when we have been so good in the last half a dozen games and yet we were nowhere near it today."
Ian Holloway: "I thought our performance was excellent. We raised a few eyebrows by playing Rem (Oteh) in the team. I felt it was about changing the balance of the team and I thought Conor has taken not playing in the team very well and he looked really sharp and I wanted to throw them (Burton) a different challenge.
"Burton had to change their shape because we were dominating things. Unfortunately we missed a couple of opportunities and then when we did score they scored far too quickly for my liking. It's really exciting with some of the young lads that we have and I need to make sure that we are moving forwards."
