Queens Park Rangers vs Millwall. Sky Bet Championship.
Loftus Road StadiumAttendance15,350.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Queens Park Rangers and Millwall at Loftus Road on Saturday | Michael Frey earns point for Marti Cifuentes' QPR side against the Lions.
Saturday 21 September 2024 16:12, UK
QPR and Millwall drew 1-1 in an uninspiring London derby at Loftus Road.
Rangers target man Michael Frey struck five minutes before half-time to cancel out Duncan Watmore's goal and both teams laboured after the break.
Watmore put the visitors ahead on 34 minutes with his fifth goal of the season.
Summer signing Macaulay Langstaff, making his first Championship start for Millwall, sent the ball in from the right and George Honeyman cleverly let it run to Watmore, who slotted past keeper Paul Nardi.
Millwall had looked dangerous early on, with Romain Esse seeing a strike saved at the near post by Nardi, while Langstaff fired into the side netting before Watmore's well-taken opener.
Rangers had offered little and were under pressure before hitting back with a counter-attack.
Karamoko Dembele darted forward and steered the ball through to Frey, who drifted away from defender Jake Cooper and netted his third goal in his past four league appearances.
The equaliser came against the run of play and Millwall continued to the threaten after the interval, with George Saville firing over from a free-kick, Honeyman shooting wide and Esse bringing a save from Nardi with a low strike.
QPR almost went ahead when Jimmy Dunne's far-post header from Kenneth Paal's left-wing cross was cleared off the line by Japhet Tanganga.
Honeyman then missed a glorious chance for Millwall when he inexplicably failed to connect with Esse's low cross.
Had Honeyman been more alert, his side would probably have left west London with all three points.
Boss Neil Harris will be hoping that striker Mihailo Ivanovic is able to provide Millwall with more firepower this season - and the Serbian was brought on with 15 minutes remaining for his debut following his summer move.
He looked sharp and Nardi needed to palm away a cross from Femi Azeez to prevent it reaching Ivanovic at the far post.
And in stoppage time, Nardi saved from Azeez at point-blank range to deny Millwall a late winner.
The result leaves QPR still waiting for their first home win of the season. Their home results were poor during the previous two seasons and manager Marti Cifuentes is looking to address the problem this term - but the early signs have not been good.
QPR's Marti Cifuentes:
"I'm not happy about the way we played. We could have played much, much better.
"We had spoken about how important it would be during the phase of play where we are building up, because Millwall usually play very narrow and compact.
"The first half was a very slow tempo. We improved a little bit in the second half but it was not good enough to really challenge them in the last third.
"We were simply not good enough to impose the way we want to impose, especially at home."
Millwall's Neil Harris:
"Glass half-full; a dominant display, really good with the ball and created numerous chances.
"We're disappointed not to win the game, obviously, and frustrated would be the right word as well, but glass half-full because notoriously it's been a tough venue for us.
"It's just another game where I thought we were better than the opponent. Disappointing not get all three points, for sure.
"The positives are that we are making the chances. We looked like a proper Millwall team. We've just got to make sure we turn that into wins."
