QPR held to draw by nine-man Plymouth
QPR remain without a Championship win this season after being held by Plymouth Argyle, who played most of the match with 10 men and ended it with nine.
After Michael Frey gave Rangers an early lead, Morgan Whittaker equalised just before the half-hour mark only for Plymouth’s Adam Forshaw to be sent off less than a minute later after picking up a second yellow card.
Argyle defended well as the home side tried in vain to find a second goal.
And they played out the final couple of minutes two men short after teenager Freddie Issaka was red-carded in stoppage time for a crude challenge on Kenneth Paal.
QPR made a blistering start to the game and went ahead after just three minutes through target man Frey’s second goal of the season.
Nicolas Madsen, handed a debut only 24 hours after his move from Belgian club Westerlo was finalised, was immediately involved in the action. Koki Saito’s left-wing cross was just too high for the Danish midfielder, whose glancing header drifted wide.
Moments later, Karamoko Dembele played in Paul Smyth, who was denied by Argyle keeper Conor Hazard.
From the resulting right-wing corner, Frey opened the scoring with a near-post header from Dembele’s left-footed delivery.
The goal was almost a carbon copy of Jimmy Dunne’s header from Dembele’s corner in Rangers’ 2-2 draw at Sheffield United last weekend.
The lively Dembele continued to trouble Plymouth and almost doubled the lead when his 20th-minute effort from near the edge of the penalty area brushed the top of the crossbar.
Having been on the back foot, the visitors equalised on 29 minutes courtesy of a combination of brilliance and good fortune.
After Whittaker cut in from the right and his misplaced pass was mis-controlled by R’s midfielder Sam Field, the Plymouth forward reacted in a flash and sent a first-time long-range strike past keeper Paul Nardi.
But Forshaw got himself sent off straight afterwards. Booked for an early foul on Dembele, he needlessly tripped Dunne and was promptly dismissed.
Field almost atoned for his error when his header five minutes into the second half was tipped onto the post by Hazard, and Dunne headed narrowly wide as Rangers kept up the pressure.
Field also set up substitute Zan Celar, who fired wastefully over – and the striker did so again shortly afterwards after a scramble in the box.
The inspired Hazard produced two late saves in quick succession, pushing away Steve Cook’s thumping volley and Field’s header.
QPR: Nardi; Dunne, Cook, Clarke-Salter, Paal; Field, Madsen (Varane 80); Smyth, Dembele (Lloyd 90), Saito (Celar 45); Frey (Kolli 80).
Subs not used: Walsh, Morrison, Santos, Dixon-Bonner, Talla.
