Queens Park Rangers vs Millwall. Sky Bet Championship.
Loftus Road StadiumAttendance17,184.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Queens Park Rangers and Millwall at Loftus Road on Saturday | Ilias Chair and Sinclair Armstrong seal a win for QPR to boost their survival hopes.
Saturday 20 January 2024 18:54, UK
Goals from Ilias Chair and Sinclair Armstrong gave relegation-threatened QPR a vital 2-0 win over Millwall at Loftus Road.
It was Rangers' first victory in eight Sky Bet Championship matches and lifted them up a place, to third from bottom.
And it means they will move level on points with Huddersfield, the team immediately above them in the table, if they beat the Terriers in another crucial game next weekend.
In a feisty London derby, both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances before Chair put Rangers ahead in the 27th minute with his third goal of the season.
Lyndon Dykes, usually a striker but currently operating in a withdrawn role, played a big part in the build-up.
Dykes controlled the ball nicely and laid it to the right to Chris Willock, who turned away from Joe Bryan and delivered a left-footed cross to the far post, where Chair bundled home from close range after getting in front of Millwall's on-loan Arsenal youngster Brooke Norton-Cuffy.
QPR continued to threaten after the goal and Willock fired over - again after turning away from Bryan - before Dykes' side-footed effort flashed narrowly wide.
Millwall's first real sight of goal came a couple of minutes before half-time, when Billy Mitchell sent a first-time strike over the bar after being found by Zian Flemming's cross from the left.
Rangers were back on the front foot after the interval, with Dykes heading wide from Willock's cross and then testing keeper Matija Sarkic with a low shot which was well saved.
And the hosts appealed in vain for a penalty when Wes Harding blocked Dykes' shot with his hands.
Rangers then had a let-off of their own when keeper Asmir Begovic allowed Mitchell's shot to squirm through his legs and was rescued by Reggie Cannon's clearance off the line.
Cannon took a heavy knock in the process and as he lay on the ground the defender appeared to be struck by a number of objects thrown from the away fans' section of the ground.
That was the closest Millwall came to an equaliser - and there was no way back for them after Armstrong's 85th-minute goal.
Chair teed up Jack Colback and, after Sarkic failed to hold the veteran midfielder's left-footed shot, Armstrong was on hand to tuck away the loose ball.
Millwall, who recently won three matches in a row under new boss Joe Edwards, have now suffered back-to-back defeats.
QPR's Marti Cifuentes:
"We need to keep on working. Today we are very happy, but we know that we have a very important game next week here again.
"We need to be very focused on the task. The next target is to win against Huddersfield.
"Enjoy the victory today - it was very important for us - and from tomorrow start to prepare for a massive game against Huddersfield at home. Feet on the ground and keep on working.
"I'm aware that no matter what the result next week it is going to be a huge task. It's an important game but, step by step, we need to get a lot of victories, not just next week."
Millwall's Joe Edwards:
"In pretty much every department we were not good enough and that's incredibly frustrating.
"It can be really frustrating when it feels like there's a lot of good work going on, good performances, progress and signs we're building, and then today out of nowhere you have a performance like that.
"QPR are in a difficult position and they came out fighting, particularly in the second half, and we couldn't match it.
"The flow of our attacks in recent weeks - we've been ripping through teams and today we didn't do that.
"Today we became predictable very early on and I'm not sure why. QPR grew into the game, whereas we just got stuck in our half and played predictable football, which was absolutely not our plan.
"QPR didn't start well and we settled quickly, but it was like that lulled us into a false sense of security. We were then unable to break into any kind of intensity."
