The lowdown on QPR 2 Luton 1 – Rangers make it five wins in a row at Loftus Road

A fortunate second-half goal from Morgan Fox helped QPR see off Luton to earn a fifth consecutive home win.

Here is the lowdown on the match.

QPR: Nardi, Ashby (Colback 69), Dunne, Fox, Paal, Morgan (Clarke-Salter 88), Varane (Edwards 61), Field, Chair, Frey (Lloyd 69), Smyth (Saito 61). Subs not used: Walsh, Dixon-Bonner, Madsen, Kolli

Luton: Kaminski, Walters (Clark 85), McGuinness, Holmes (Hashioka 85), Bell, Nelson (Brown 77), Nakamba (Adebayo 74), Walsh, Chong, Fanne (Woodrow 85), Morris. Subs not used: Krul, Andersen, Krauss, Mpanzu

QPR beat Luton at Loftus Road to earn a fifth consecutive home league win and move up to 13th in the Championship table. After Michael Frey had been denied by Thomas Kaminski, and the Luton goalkeeper had then turned a Jimmy Dunner header onto the bar, Frey finally opened the scoring when he reacted quickly to nudge home a deep Kieran Morgan cross at the second time of asking.

QPR were unable to build on that deserved lead though and Luton came back into the contest. Sam Field cleared off the line when an Amari’i Bell shot led to a goalmouth scramble and, just as Rangers thought they had made it to the interval ahead, Mark McGuinness headed in a corner in first-half stoppage time.

Luton were the better side following the equaliser, but a moment of fortune ultimately decided the game as an Ilias Chair shot deflected into the net off the heel of Morgan Fox.

Substitute Alfie Lloyd passed up two great chances to seal the result, and QPR were grateful that McGuinness could only head over when he met a corner in second-half stoppage time.

Marti Cifuentes stuck with the same team that had impressed in the New Years’ Day win against Watford, and it looked a smart move as QPR started brightly.

However, the momentum of the game greatly changed once Luton had equalised, forcing Cifuentes to turn to his bench.

Koki Saito made a significant impact after replacing Paul Smyth on the right wing, and the decision to switch Frey for youngster Alfie Lloyd also greatly helped Rangers see out the win once they had taken a fortuitous lead.

QPR fans also got a first glimpse at new signing Ronnie Edwards. The Southampton loanee initially replaced Jonathan Varane in central midfield before dropping into centre-back later on.

Ilias Chair. He put in a number of great deliveries from the left in the first half – at least one of which should have been rewarded with a goal. Managed to complete just his second 90 minutes of the season and is starting to look back to his best. Almost capped the performance with a late curling effort at the end of a breakaway.

Fox’s winning goal. It was exactly the sort of moment that goes your way when you are in the form that QPR currently are. The ball deflected off the defender’s heel from a weak Chair effort and left goalkeeper Kaminski stranded. It is only Fox’s second goal for Rangers, and it would be fair to say he knew nothing about it until the goal music started playing.

The cold. This game would have been played at a low enough temperature if it had taken place on Saturday as originally scheduled. Save the Monday night kick-offs for the bright evenings in early Spring.

What can QPR achieve this season? Although it’s too early to say Rangers will definitely avoid a relegation battle, they now sit nine points clear of the bottom three and there are a host of teams in far worse form below them. The play-offs are surely beyond them despite the gap to sixth place being down to eight points. A season of consolidation following consecutive campaigns where they have flirted with the drop would surely put them in a place to start dreaming big over the summer.

“An important win for us. I would say despite some challenges and suffering at the end I think it was deserved. I think we started the game really well, we have been talking a lot about being able to produce in the beginning [of games] to create this atmosphere and set the standards which I think the team has been doing lately at home.

“We took the lead and it was very disappointing to go in at half-time conceding a goal from a set-piece but we know that Luton is one of the best teams at this in the league.

“It was a very good response after a poor first 15 minutes of the second half. [It was a] bit lucky if you want, but if I look at the amount of chances we created before and after that goal, I think we deserved to take the lead.

“At the end, we had to suffer because we didn’t score the third goal, but I’m happy because of the bench impact, happy because of the togetherness and happy because I see a team that really believes in what they are doing. Credit to the players because they are working at a really high level.”

PICTURES: ROB AVIS