The lowdown on QPR 1 Luton 1 (QPR win 4-1 on penalties) – Rotated Rangers progress in the cup courtesy of perfect penalties

QPR are through to the third round of the EFL Cup after seeing off Championship rivals Luton Town on penalties.

Here is the lowdown on the match.

QPR: Walsh, Dunne (Lloyd 59), Cook (Clarke-Salter h/t), Morrison, Paal, Varane, Colback (Madsen 71), Santos, Dixon-Bonner (Dembele 71), Saito (Smyth 59), Celar. Subs not used: Nardi, Field, Frey, Kolli

Luton: Kaminski, Walters, Burke (Andersen h/t), Bell (Holmes h/t), Doughty, Nelson, Clark (Baptiste 63), Nakamba (Walsh h/t), Chong, Adebayo, Morris (Woodrow 74). Subs not used: Shea, Mpanzu, Taylor, Johnson

Despite making seven changes from the team that played out Saturday’s frustrating draw with Plymouth, QPR beat a full-strength Luton side on penalties in the second round of the EFL Cup.

Rangers took the lead at Loftus Road when Hevertton Santos turned home after an Elijah Dixon-Bonner shot had been saved on 11 minutes.

Luton were level not long after, as youngster Zack Nelson scored a brilliant goal from the edge of the box when a corner was only half-cleared.

Neither side could find a winner in an entertaining second half, but it was QPR who took the victory courtesy of four well-taken penalties in the shootout.

Zan Celar, Kader Dembele, Jake Clarke-Salter and Kenneth Paal all found the net for Rangers while Joe Walsh saved from Luton’s Cauley Woodrow and Tahith Chong hit the crossbar with his effort.

Despite the personnel changes, Marti Cifuentes stuck with the 4-2-3-1 formation that he has been using so far this season.

The only slight surprise was that summer signing Santos started as a right winger rather than at full back, but it paid dividends when he found himself in the right spot to score from close-range early on.

Fellow new arrival Jonathan Varane was also back in midfield after a tough afternoon on his full Championship debut against Sheffield United, and he got better as the game went on.

Rangers were forced to defend a number of corners and free-kicks against a physical Luton side and stood up well to the challenge.

They also became more threatening in attack after the break when Cifuentes switched up his wide players by introducing Alfie Lloyd and Kader Dembele from the bench.

Jonathan Varane. Not a perfect performance from the French midfielder but was a marked improvement on what we saw at Brammall Lane. His physicality should help him to carry his own in the Championship but he also showcased some fantastic technical skills on more than one occasion.

Paal’s winning penalty. The disparity in the strength of the two teams selected meant this looked like it could have been a grim night for Rangers but the lesser-seen squad members acquitted themselves well and put in a performance worthy of taking the game to spot-kicks. The confidence shown by all four takers was impressive, and Paal’s was greeted with the excitement that only the potential of a glamour tie in the third round can bring.

Luton’s starting XI. Of the team that the visitors started the game with, nine players were regular starters for the Hatters in the Premier League last season. This made them strong favourites to progress, and there was a clear rhythm about Rob Edwards’ side that can only come from playing together regularly.

However, it completely goes against what the early rounds of the Carabao Cup are all about! Starting such a strong may well end up backfiring twice on Edwards with the two teams meeting again in the Championship at Kenilworth Road on Friday night.

Who Rangers will get in the next round. QPR have only progressed to the third round of the EFL Cup on three occasions in the past 10 seasons, and this is of course the part of the competition where all of the teams playing in Europe enter.

Cifuentes has shown he is capable of getting his team to compete against the best that the Championship has to offer but a big tie either at Loftus Road or one of the traditionally glamorous Premier League venues would be just reward for Rangers fans after years of misery in the cups.

“I’m definitely happy about going through. The performance was a bit mixed. A lot of good moments, some moments with a lower level than we would have liked.

“It’s part of the process of where we are with a lot of new faces at this moment of the season.

“I’m happy with contribution of all the players, I wanted to introduce fresh legs. It’s nice to see that everybody wanted to contribute and responded well.

“Against a difficult team, who had their moments and their chances, I’m quite satisfied while being aware that football is about small edges.”

PICTURES: ROB AVIS