Team: Smithies, Perch, Caulker, Onuoha, Lynch (Hamalainen), Borysiuk, Cousins (Gladwin), Luongo, Washington, Chery, Sylla (Polter)
Subs Not Used: Ingram, Henry, Wszolek, Shodipo
Attendance: 12,552 (including 1,083 visiting fans)
Until he scored, you wouldn’t have known Sylla was on the pitch. Ditto Cousins when he went off injured. The goal gave Sylla a lot of confidence and he looked really good for the last 15 minutes or so.
BUT Luongo and Smithies were superb. Good supporting performances from Borysiuk, Caulker, Washington and Lynch.
With Hall side-lined I hope Lynch isn’t out for long. I also hope that he isn’t plagued with injuries as he’s been injured twice already in 7 appearances. He also got injured against Groningen pre-season.
I think we just about deserved it on our second-half performance and the players deserve credit for not giving up. The goal was a brilliantly worked move with one of the best crosses we’ll witness all season.
One point outside the play-offs! Onwards and upwards.
ChrisPTenner
Idrissa Sylla’s second-half goal earned Queen’s Park Rangers a narrow victory over Bristol City at Loftus Road.
The Guinea striker slid home Massimo Luongo’s cross 15 minutes from time after the hosts had missed several chances to take the lead.
Northern Ireland forward Conor Washington fired against the bar and volleyed over as QPR had 21 shots.
England Under-21 striker Tammy Abraham went close for City in the first-half, but powered his effort wide.
Following an even first-half, which also included Lee Tomlin’s low strike for the visitors being tipped wide by Alex Smithies, QPR dominated after the break.
After only one win in their past seven league games, boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink made changes, and it was two of the men who came in – Washington and Sylla – who pulled the strings for the hosts.
Washington’s strike from 20 yards took a deflection before smashing against the crossbar, shortly after Tjaronn Chery’s shot was saved by Frank Fielding.
Bobby Reid almost put City in front after racing onto Tomlin’s through-ball, but his effort was blocked by Smithies. And moments later Sylla broke the deadlock, getting between two defenders, to poke in from close rage,
QPR manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink: “In the first-half we were the better team and should have scored.”
“It’s always difficult when you’ve played that well and are not in front at half-time, but we were persistent and did the same in the second-half.”
“We went for it. It was always going to be a battle in midfield and about winning the physical battle. Whoever won that could then create, and we did that particularly well.”
“We deserved the three points. It’s always important to win at home and obviously it was in the back of our minds. We have been unfortunate in the last few games but we cannot look back. What’s important is what is now in front of us.”
Bristol City boss Lee Johnson: “Bobby Reid is a good player but he missed a very good chance. But you have to say it was a very good save. Sometime you just have to give credit to the opposing goalkeeper.”
‘It was a key point in the match really because it got their tails up and made them believe they could go on and win it. It was a good game. It had quality in sporadic patches, and had aggression.”
“I’ve got a good group of lads and we’ve got a lot of players now back fit, so our squad looks strong and healthy.”
BBC Sport
I have to say firstly that there wasn’t a lot of optimism around before the game! But what a transformation it turned out to be!
Spearheaded by the likes of Massimo Luongo and Conor Washington, the R’s moved quickly through the gears.
Although there wasn’t much on target during the first-half, the most noticeable feature was the positive nature of our build-up play.
A goal looked more and more likely as Conor Washington hit the crossbar. The well-deserved breakthrough arrived around 75 minutes, when Chery played in Luongo on the right flank and his low cross was clipped in by Sylla.
Alex Smithies was in superb form again and he made a crucial wonder save after the break.
Introduced to the crowd at half-time were; John Hollins, Glenn Roeder and Mike Barber.
Not surprisingly Gary O’Neil received a very good reception from the home fans.
Overall it was a much-improved Rangers performance that was positive, refreshing and entertaining.
Steve Russell