QPR boss Mark Warburton: We had to respond to Owls defeat
Mark Warburton said his QPR team had to respond following their chastening defeat to Sheffield Wednesday as Queens Park Rangers earned a draw at Luton Town on Tuesday night.
James Collins’ early penalty meant Rangers had a mountain to climb but a strong second-half performance saw Dom Ball score his first goal for the R’s.
The draw also prevented QPR from suffering three consecutive defeats for the second time since coming back from lockdown, as they dealt a blow to the Hatters’ hopes for Championship survival.
Warburton said: “We had to respond [after the Wednesday defeat]. That was the most disappointing, frustrating and disheartening display I’ve seen from a team. We were very clear in our assessment of that.
“But they are a good squad of players, they’ve got professional pride and you saw the response. They were very keen to give a strong reaction. They put in some really big shifts.
“A lot of fatigue is kicking in for all players at all teams now. We saw Brighty [Bright Osayi-Samuel] with a cramp but I’m very proud of them. We wanted all three points, we didn’t get all three points but came very, very close to doing so.”
Rangers got their equaliser when Osayi-Samuel cut back from the byline for Ball to finish.
A young Rangers side, with an average age of 24 that afternoon, endured heavy criticism following their defeat to the Owls but Warburton believes their Luton display showed they reacted well to it. This was despite being without the injured Jordan Hugill, who is the only senior centre-forward at the club.
Warburton said: “Young Ilias [Chair], not a natural centre-forward obviously, but he did a great shift for us.
“I’m very pleased for the players. They quite rightly took the abuse after it [the Sheff Wed defeat] – and we all did, the players and staff – but that was a great response and reaction.”
QPR host Millwall tomorrow. Warburton’s side have lost their last three fixtures at Loftus Road. Their last victory there was on February 25.
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