QPR suffer defeat in Gareth Ainsworth’s first game in charge

BY MOHAMUD AHMED 

QPR’s dismal form continued on Saturday afternoon as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Blackburn Rovers in Gareth Ainsworth’s first game in charge.

Sam Gallagher’s early strike for Rovers was cancelled out by Tim Iroegbunam before Sammie Szmodics popped up on the stroke of half-time to restore the away side’s lead.

Gallagher then got his second and Blackburn’s third in the 60th minute to secure all three points.

It leaves QPR, who are 18th in the table and eight points clear of the relegation zone, without a win in the Championship since mid-December.

Blackburn’s strong start rewarded them with multiple opportunities to take the lead, and the breakthrough came in the 14th minute.

Smart play from Tyrhys Dolan saw the attacker cut in from the left and his deflected shot fell right onto the head of Gallagher, who nodded the ball from close range to make it 1-0 early on.

Although it only took the Rs 10 minutes to respond after Iroegbunam latched onto a poor clearance by Hayden Carter as the midfielder rifled the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-1 in the 24th minute.  

However, the west Londoners failed to capitalise on their strong response as they suffered a dagger right before the whistle for half-time with Lewis Travis’ dinked ball finding Szmodics, who slotted past Seny Dieng.

A slow start after the break saw the hosts punished for it. 

Neat play by Joe Rankin-Costello saw the right-back drive to the byline before cutting it back to Gallagher, who tapped it in to make it 3-1 and score his second of the day, wrapping up all three points.

The remainder of the game was comfortable for the away side, and a lacklustre performance by QPR translated to aggravated groans by the faithful at Loftus Road, who have not seen a win at home since November.

On their run of form and a potential scrap with teams at the bottom, an optimistic Ainsworth said: “I’m only looking up at the moment. I want to see how many points we can get on the board to catch the teams above us.

“It’s going to be a real quick end to the season, these last 12 games will come thick and fast, and I want to make sure we are competitive in every single game, giving us the best chance to win.”

Reflecting on the game and his players, Ainsworth added: “Blackburn’s first goal was quite fortunate – the deflection landing on Gallagher’s head. They were definitely the better team.

“In that second half, with the chances we created, we’ve got to get better at that [defending in the box], but I’m pleased with the turnaround in two days of training with me. I thought I saw plenty of stuff I could work with.”

While on Ilias Chair’s injury and players returning from injury, Ainsworth said: “He [Ilias] has been sensational for this club. I’m not sure [on his injury] – I will have to speak to the medical team.

“The mental wack the boys took losing their most influential player was hard, but we’ll have to check [his injury] that out on Monday.

“We do hopefully have some big names coming back for us and that will make a big difference to this football club.”

PICTURES: ROB AIVS