Ten-man Everton deny QPR elusive win

QPR 1 Everton 1

Ten-man Everton held on after the 61st-minute sending-off of Steven Pienaar to leave QPR rooted to the bottom of the table and still without a league win this season.

Rangers took an early lead when Junior Hoilett’s shot went in after a wicked deflection off the unfortunate Leighton Baines.

But David Moyes’ side levelled when Sylvain Distin’s header from Pienaar’s right-wing free-kick hit the post before rebounding off keeper Julio Cesar and into the net.

Having sloppily conceded early goals in their previous two matches, this time the R’s found themselves ahead after only two minutes.

Following Cesar’s punch clear from a corner, Hoilett got the better of Phil Neville deep inside his own half and galloped towards the Everton penalty area.

After opting not to put Adel Taarabt through on goal, the Canadian benefited from a huge slice of luck when his shot struck Baines, completely wrong-footing Everton keeper Tim Howard.

Slightly hampered by the non-availability of various players prior to the international break, Rangers manager Mark Hughes was able to ring the changes.

Out went Alejandro Faurlin, Anton Ferdinand and Clint Hill, with Stephane Mbia partnering Ryan Nelsen at centre-back, Armand Traore starting at left-back, Samba Diakite returning to the midfield and Ji-sung Park reverting to his preferred right-wing position.

Taarabt played from the left, with Hoilett supporting Bobby Zamora in the middle.

And after Hoilett’s opener, Hughes’ struggling team appeared to grow in confidence.

But they were pegged back by a mixture of bad luck and all-too familiar shoddy defending, with the unchallenged Distin able to meet Pienaar’s 32nd-minute delivery.

Everton then took control, appealing in vain for penalty after Nikica Jelavic went down under a challenge from Mbia, and then going close to taking the lead when Baines’ corner was headed against the bar by Phil Jagielka.

The visitors continued to threaten in the second half – even after Pienaar was harshly dismissed for a second booking following a challenge on Jose Bosingwa – and Jagielka was denied at close range by Cesar.

Djibril Cisse coming on as a substitute helped Rangers finish the match strongly, but they were unable to find a way past Howard.

He produced two good saves to deny Hoilett, who also had a claim for a penalty waved away after being stopped in his tracks by Seamus Coleman.

QPR (4-4-1-1): Cesar; Bosingwa, Mbia, Nelsen (Ferdinand 83), Traore (Onuoha 72); Park, Diakite, Granero, Taarabt; Hoilett; Zamora (Cisse 70).
Subs not used: Green, Wright-Phillips, Mackie, Faurlin.

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