Queens Park Rangers vs Luton Town. Sky Bet Championship.
Loftus Road StadiumAttendance16,186.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium
Saturday 14 September 2019 18:25, UK
QPR held off a second-half fightback to beat Luton 3-2 and clinch a third consecutive Sky Bet Championship win.
Nahki Wells scored twice as the west London side raced into a three-goal lead within 28 minutes at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, where Ebere Eze also scored - and was twice denied by the woodwork.
However, Luton were gifted a way back into the game when Rangers keeper Joe Lumley inexplicably played the ball straight to Harry Cornick, who helped himself to a goal nine minutes before half-time.
James Collins pulled another back for the Hatters early in the second half but QPR held on.
Eze netted after just three minutes, collecting Ilias Chair's pass and unleashing a right-footed shot from 25 yards which keeper Simon Sluga should have kept out but could only palm into the net.
Toni Leistner's 20th-minute long ball set up Rangers' second for Wells, who controlled on his chest and fired into the far corner.
As the home side continued to dominate, Sluga pushed Eze's thunderous left-footed strike on to the bar.
And the bar was rattled again soon afterwards - this time by Eze's header from Ryan Manning's left-wing cross.
The outstanding Eze then threaded a pass through to Wells, who slotted past Sluga for his fourth goal in seven appearances since returning for another season on loan from Burnley.
At that stage it was one-way traffic, but Lumley got his attempted pass to Manning all wrong and Cornick simply lifted the ball into an unguarded net.
Collins' goal - his fifth of the season - three minutes after the interval further raised Luton's hopes of pulling off an incredible comeback.
Andrew Shinne swung the ball in from the left and Cornick at the far post nudged it back to Collins, who applied the finish.
QPR's worry was not helped by Jordan Hugill making a mess of glorious chances to extend their lead.
The on-loan West Ham striker twice scooped the ball over the bar, first after being set up by Eze and later by Manning.
Hugill had been in fine form, scoring four times in his previous three outings, but this was a performance he will want to forget.
As Luton searched for a late equaliser, Izzy Brown sent a shot narrowly wide, Yoann Barbet's last-ditch challenge denied Collins and Lumley was down quickly to keep out a low shot from substitute George Moncur.
Mark Warburton: "As a team we gave a soft goal away. We're all human and we all make mistakes. That happens. To give them a glimmer of hope like that, we shot ourselves in the foot. Then they scored early in the second half and suddenly the whole dynamic of the game changes.
"You can't say to someone 'Be brave, get on the ball and play from the back - don't make a mistake!' You can't do that. We're all humans, otherwise we'd be machines. We made a mistake. How do we respond? I want the team not be reckless, but to be brave and get on the ball and when we do that we look a good team."
Graeme Jones: "We took a few risks and could easily have got something from the game. It was a mountain to climb at 3-0 down.
"Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn. Today I'm afraid it's time to learn. It's a learning curve. We started a little bit sluggish and naive. We'll look at it and we'll analyse ourselves. We'll face it. Sometimes it's tough but we will learn from it, I assure you of that."
