QPR 3-1 Hull City: Rangers ease to victory at Loftus Road
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between QPR and Hull City at Loftus Road as goals from Ilias Chair, Ethan Laird and Chris Willock seal the win for Rangers on Tuesday night.
Tuesday 30 August 2022 23:04, UK
In-form QPR beat Hull 3-1 at Loftus Road after a superb first-half display blew away the visitors.
Ilias Chair, Ethan Laird and the fit-again Chris Willock scored for Mick Beale's side before half-time, as they followed up Saturday's win at Watford with another impressive victory.
Tyler Smith netted a consolation for the Tigers with five minutes remaining.
Hull have made a decent start to the season and were third in the Sky Bet Championship table coming into this game.
But they lost 5-2 in their previous away match, at West Brom, and were three down by the break against ruthless Rangers.
Chair set the ball rolling with a fine strike after 10 minutes - his third goal of the season.
After Stefan Johansen dispossessed Alfie Jones in midfield, Chair galloped towards the edge of the penalty area, cut in on his right foot and sent a fabulous effort into the far corner of the net.
On-loan Manchester United right-back Laird doubled the lead five minutes later with the first senior goal of his career.
Willock played the ball with the outside of his right boot to Kenneth Paal, who crossed from the left for his fellow full-back to apply the finish from close range.
And QPR added a third goal five minutes before half-time - again after skipper Johansen had won the ball.
This time Willock capitalised, rifling a low right-footed shot from the edge of the box past former R's keeper Matt Ingram and into the bottom corner.
The outstanding Willock has now scored in all four of his appearances this season.
The talismanic forward has been eased back in recent weeks, having suffered a hamstring tear in March. He was badly missed when unavailable and Rangers look a different team with him back.
They were by far the better side against City but had a scare just before half-time when Sam Field's poor back-pass fell to Oscar Estupinan, who has scored seven goals already this season but was unable to find a way past Rangers keeper Seny Dieng.
Lyndon Dykes should have added a fourth for the hosts early in the second half but contrived to miss an open goal, poking the ball wide of the target after being teed up by Chair.
Smith fired past Dieng after beating the offside trap to collect Regan Slater's ball over the top but it was nothing but consolation for the visitors.
What the managers said...
QPR's Michael Beale: "It was a gamble to throw the same team out there, but it's something I've been waiting to do. In every game I've had to make three or four changes. It was a gamble because of the amount of energy we put into the weekend and the lack of time to recover. The Championship is relentless. But they gave me everything that I wanted in the first half. That's more like what I want from us - especially here at home, playing on the front foot.
"After that we were a little bit unsure at times and Hull made a real good push of the game. Credit to them because their energy was big. But in the first 30 minutes I thought we were excellent with some of the football we played."
Hull's Shota Arveladze: "I don't know which minute it is better to start from; missing the first half an hour of the game or after 20 minutes when Oscar (Estupinan) could keep us in the game - twice - and he didn't, or to start from the kick-off. I don't blame Oscar or anyone else. I'm not picking up on one or two of the players. In general, we are looking and observing the opposition for too long sometimes and it has cost us the game."
"Leave the last year. It was last year and we should better now concentrate on this year. But it doesn't mean that I'm not counting or I don't know how to count. But like I say, sometimes we observe in matches too long. We have to react earlier."
