Poor refereeing decisions cost QPR – McClaren

QPR manager Steve McClaren felt two questionable refereeing decisions cost his team in the 2-1 defeat at home to Sheffield United.

Billy Sharp appeared to be offside when tapping in an equaliser after being set up by Kieron Freeman.

And Rangers were incensed by the decision to award a penalty after Jake Bidwell was adjudged to have pushed David McGoldrick, who had just come on as a substitute. McGoldrick tucked away the resulting spot-kick.

“We’ve lost the game because of two poor decisions,” said McClaren, who has lost both his matches as Rangers boss.

“The first goal was offside because Sharp was in front of our defenders when the ball was crossed.

“I can’t understand the penalty. We feel McGoldrick is handling Joel Lynch and Bidwell is behind, just ducking to get out of the way. There’s no contact.

“It’s cost us the game. There’s no doubt about that. In terms of the performance I was delighted.

“I asked the players to go out and be brave and I felt they did that.”

A definite positive for Rangers was the performance of teenage forward Ebere Eze, who scored with a thumping strike just before the half-hour mark following a counter-attack led by Luke Freeman.

Eze went close on a number of other occasions and was a constant threat to the visiting defence.

“We’ve got that special player in Eze who can create something out of nothing,” McClaren said.

“He’s got self-belief now and you can see that when he plays. This boy will get better and better.

“I came in here and I knew it was a young squad. The message is to be patient. That includes myself, because I’ve got no patience.

“The players will grow and develop in terms of how we want to play. This team will get better. The results will come.”