Mark Warburton: My QPR players picked up a character-building three points at Millwall
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
QPR manager Mark Warburton felt his side passed a test of character in their 2-1 win at Millwall today.
Nakhi Wells scored twice for the west London club as they inflicted a first Championship home loss of the season on their opponents.
Warburton said: “It’s that type of league, if you can get a run together then you go from 18th to eighth very quickly – it works both ways though. It’s about one game at a time. All credit to the players.
“This is a really tough venue. We knew what we faced – I’ve got a lot of respect for Neil [Harris] and his team. Really pleased with the three points today.”
Wells’ second goal came via a poor mistake by Lions keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, a woeful first touch presenting a glorious chance for the on-loan Burnley man to respond almost instantly after Shaun Hutchinson’s equaliser.
“You earn your luck,” said Warburton. “We’ve given a couple of soft goals away ourselves in recent games. We got the luck today. We were the better team first half, missed a couple of good chances. We came out and got the early goal but it is a tough test here, a really tough test.
“People talk this nonsense about the right way to play – you play the way that suits your squad. They changed their formation, we take credit for that. It was an interesting one for us – we hadn’t prepared for three at the back. They were hard to break down and the posed a real aerial threat with their delivery.
“What we didn’t do well enough second half was stop the crosses. But what we did do well was that we defended the crosses really well. We stood up, to a man.
“Tough test, a real character-building three points for us. We defend from the front and we attack from the back.
“My message at the hotel was really clear – if we are not at it at Millwall, we will get hurt. You saw second half that if you don’t defend your box and your goal then you concede. It was a one today.
“We played some nice football last week. Today was a different test, a different challenge – one you have to respect and stand up to.”