Team: Green, Onuoha, Angella, Hall, Konchesky, Henry (Fer), Faurlin, Phillips, Chery (Luongo), Hoilett (Mackie), Polter
Subs Not Used: Smithies, Diakite, Petrasso, Tozser
Attendance: 16,205 (including 976 Hull fans)
Queen’s Park Rangers gifted promotion-chasing Championship side Hull City a last-minute winner in a dramatic finale of two late goals at Loftus Road.
Keeper Rob Green collided with defender Grant Hall while trying to deal with a Sam Clucas cross and the ball ricocheted in off Adama Diomande. The goal came just four minutes after Sebastian Polter had headed QPR level.
Abel Hernandez had side-footed Hull ahead from 12 yards on the hour mark after good work from Mohamed Diame. The midfielder made a surging run, paused just outside the box to deliver a clever lofted pass chipped with the outside of his right foot and, without needing to take a touch, Tigers top scorer Hernandez steered home with his left instep from 12 yards.
It was one of only two moments of quality in a poor game. The other came when QPR responded with a finely worked move of their own on 86 minutes. Polter started the move that set Matt Phillips down the left before getting on the end of the cross to power in a superb header.
But, in the final minute of normal time, former England keeper Green came out to meet an in-swinging left-wing cross from Clucas, he collided with Hall, and the ball ricocheted in off the unwitting Diomande, who had been on the field just four minutes.
A first away win in two months for Hull moves them to within a point of second-placed Derby County.
It was only a second defeat for new QPR boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who is still looking for his first win after six games in charge.
QPR manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink: “It looked like we were going to get the three points after we scored. There was only one team in it at that moment. I think we were unfortunate to lose that game. It was not a game where they hammered us or we hammered them.”
“Of course it’s frustrating, but (getting the first win) is not the focus. If you are going to focus on win, win, win, you are not going to get the game right, and you have to get the game right to win. Today we got it right.”
Hull manager Steve Bruce told BBC Radio Humberside: “They got an equalising goal and we’ve gone straight up the other end and scored. I don’t know much about how it went in but it was a great ball from Sam Clucas.”
“It wasn’t a classic but at least we’ve seen a bit of resilience and we rolled our sleeves up. There’s been a few things said the last three games. We let ourselves down.”
BBC Sport
Two very costly individual errors, Karl Henry for the first goal and Rob Green for the second! Not surprisingly the atmosphere, as on the pitch, was mostly flat.
We had deteriorated significantly in the second-half, until Jamie Mackie had come on, letting the visitors dictate in midfield as we run out of ideas! Some of the Rangers players definitely lack confidence.
However, the R’s did find an equaliser in the 86th minute when Sebastian Polter headed home. Hull then missed a sitter from 8 yards but in the 90th minute they scored the winner in very fortunate circumstances!
Sandro had been named as one of the substitutes but this was amended closer to kick-off. The word after the game was that he had refused to sit on the bench? No doubt he will be disciplined in due course if this was the case.
Much of the talk before the game, and also on the train on the way home, concerned the role of Les Ferdinand and whether Chris Ramsey was still with the club? Many also wanted to know why Steve Gallen was on gardening leave and who had put him there?
Dennis Bailey was interviewed at half-time.
Steve Russell