Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Luton Town and Queens Park Rangers at Kenilworth Road on Friday night; Jimmy Dunne's own goal had given the Hatters the lead but Rob Edwards' side have now taken just one point from four games
Friday 30 August 2024 22:32, UK
QPR stunned Luton Town with a quickfire second-half double as they earned a first league victory of the season with a 2-1 success at Kenilworth Road.
Having knocked the Hatters out of the Carabao Cup on penalties in midweek, the R's made it two wins in the space of a few days as goals from Nicolas Madsen and Michael Frey turned the contest on its head.
Jimmy Dunne's own goal had given Luton an 18th-minute lead but Rob Edwards' side have now taken just one point from four games since being relegated to the Sky Bet Championship.
The visitors made a bright start, Frey picking out the unmarked Karamoko Dembele who fired wide.
Luton took the lead when a corner ran through to Shandon Baptiste. His cross was met by Mark McGuinness, whose header was parried by Paul Nardi, only for the rebound to hit team-mate Dunne and bounce into the net.
Luton almost had a second, Elijah Adebayo just unable to reach Alfie Doughty's low ball, while Jordan Clark's first-time shot from the edge of the box was too close to Nardi.
There were some glimmers for Rangers in the closing stages of the opening 45 minutes, Frey having a snapshot deflected behind, with Alfie Lloyd's attempt also rebounding off a home defender and away.
It was Town who looked the more likely at the start of the second period, Baptiste's volley hammering into a defender, while he then picked out Adebayo with a terrific through ball that sent the forward clean through only to be denied by the onrushing Nardi.
Luton were made to pay for not taking their chances as Rangers hit them with a double strike in the space of three minutes.
First, a long ball by Steve Cook was badly misjudged by McGuinness, which allowed Frey to steal in and outmuscle the defender before poking the ball across for Madense to tap in.
It got worse for Luton after 62 minutes as a deep cross by Kenneth Paal picked out Frey completely unmarked to slam his volley beyond Thomas Kaminski.
The hosts tried to mount a fight back, Baptiste finding Adebayo in the area, who was once more unable to beat Nardi, the keeper palming his cross-shot away.
Dembele wasted a real chance to put the result beyond doubt, sending a free-kick into the stands behind the goal from a good position, while Kaminski clawed away Dunne's free header with two minutes left.
Luton should have rescued a point in stoppage time but Nardi saved brilliantly from Carlton Morris and sub Joe Taylor glanced over from close range.
Luton's Rob Edwards:
"It's on me, and it's on us, there's no doubt about it. We put ourselves in a great position to win the game, 1-0 up and I thought playing really well in the first half, I thought we were still in really good control until their first goal.
"I thought we should have gone 2-0 up, we had a big, big chance, but that can happen. The goals were really disappointing, I've been saying that for too long and again, it's on me, I'm not blaming anyone.
"People can make mistakes, but then there's got to come a point where we've got to deal with the better.
"It's too easy for them to score the first goal which rocked us for a minute or two, I don't think we should have thrown the ball into Shandon (Baptiste) for the second goal and then we didn't defend the cross."
QPR's Marti Cifuentes:
"They're a very physical side, they scored, that was the first moment and six or seven minutes of the second half they were very dominant.
"Nardi made a great save to keep us in the game, and after that we made some adjustments, but against a team that pressed so high and being so dynamic, it's about getting the right combination.
"We got to 1-1 and that was the case. We got in behind them, we managed to get the goal which was exceptional and then we were very good.
"We got the second goal, we had good control, the last four or five minutes we came under pressure, but it was a good shift."
