Diabolical QPR are beaten again

QPR

0

Sheff Wed

3

5'

Iorfa

45'

Windass

78'

Murphy

QPR’s dire run continued with an absolutely appalling display.

Sheffield Wednesday cruised to victory at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, where Rangers have now conceded 39 goals this season.

Dominic Iorfa, Josh Windass and Jacob Murphy scored for the Owls in a totally one-sided game.

It was QPR’s third consecutive home loss and a fifth defeat in six matches since the season resumed.

Their defending was woeful and they fell behind following an early Wednesday free-kick.

After Windass’ strike was palmed away by keeper Joe Lumley, former Rangers man Massimo Luongo thumped the loose ball against the post, and Iorfa – whose father played for QPR in the early 1990s – scored from the rebound.

Alessio Da Cruz delivered the ball in for Windass to double Wednesday’s lead just before half-time.

Murphy scored with 12 minutes remaining, curling home superbly after Osman Kakay misjudged Barry Bannan’s ball towards the winger.

QPR concede early again

Conceding early goals has been a problem for Rangers since the season resumed.

They went behind after just seven minutes at home to Barnsley, when their poor run began, and conceded after 12 at Charlton.

This time their opponents were in front after just five minutes.

And with their lack of attacking options in the absence of Jordan Hugill, they rarely looked like finding an equaliser.

Hugill badly missed

The loss of Hugill, who injured his hamstring while scoring in the recent win at Middlesbrough, has been a big blow.

Reliant on the on-loan West Ham striker since Nahki Wells left in January, Rangers were always likely to struggle without him.

Youngster Aramide Oteh failed to make an impact in the midweek defeat at Wigan so was relegated to the bench.

So poor were QPR in the opening stages against Wednesday, boss Mark Warburton made a change just after the half-hour mark, bringing on Oteh at the expense of centre-back Conor Masterson.

It also involved a change of shape, with Warburton reverting to a back four.

He later sent on Jack Clarke and Ilias Chair in a double substitution in another attempt to breathe some life into the team.

However, regardless of how Warburton shuffled the pack, Rangers’ lack of a cutting edge was obvious.

The only real chance was created by Chair for Oteh, whose header was gathered by keeper Joe Wildsmith.

Tough day for Kakay

Kakay’s run of games in the starting line-up has been a rare positive for the R’s, but this was perhaps one of his most testing yet.

Kakay, who spent the first half of this season on loan to Partick Thistle, made his first league start for Rangers since August 2018 in the 2-1 defeat against Fulham. He has started three more games since then.

His brightest moment was a last-ditch block to deny Windass, although the Wednesday man later caught him off-guard during a counter-attack but guided his effort over the bar.

An errorr he will have to learn from, however, came when Murphy used him as a guide to whip Wednesday’s third into the top corner as Rangers faded without a trace.

Few expect him to be the finished article yet but his energy and runs to supplement the attack helped.

How quickly he learns from this spell in the team will determine how much of a role he plays next season.