HUGE PROBLEM FOR WARNOCK!
Jordan piles pressure on hometown club
MIDDLESBROUGH 0
QPR 1 Hugill 32
MIDDLESBROUGH-BORN JACK-TRICK Jordan Hugill delivered a hammer blow to Harrison squeezes his hometown club’s Championship home Leeds’ third survival hopes on beyond his Rodak latest Riverside return.goal
Hugill’s stunning first-half strike – the on-loan West Ham striker’s 15th of the season – secured QPR’s first win since the restart to leave Neil Warnock facing an uphill task to steer a path to safety.
The new Boro boss admits his firefighting role on Teesside is the toughest of his career. And it was hard to disagree as the league’s lowest scorers drew another blank to stretch a seven-month winless home streak and keep them in the relegation zone.
Wigan’s impending 12-point deduction for entering administration could yet be Boro’s saviour but Warnock said: “We can’t rely on what others do, it’s down to ourselves.
“Jordan has taken their goal really well but I can’t fault my lads’ effort. We created plenty of chances, but didn’t take them, and that’s mainly about confidence. We just need something to drop for us and we’ve got to fight tooth and nail in these remaining five games.”
To be undone by one of their own simply twisted the knife for Boro, whose last home victory was way back on Boxing Day.
Teessider Hugill slipped through the academy net, and combined a job pulling pints in his local pub with scoring a hatful of goals in non-league, to be handed a chance by Port Vale and then made his name at Preston.
The 28-year-old found the net seven times for Boro in a loan spell last season – but it’s his latest return which could have more far-reaching ramifications for his boyhood heroes.
Hugill had spurned a chance to break the deadlock when delaying to allow George Friend to block his shot. He made amends in the 32nd minute, sending a stunning first-time effort over keeper Dejan Stojanovic from 25 yards after latching onto a pinpoint Ryan Manning pass.
It proved to be Hugill’s final act as he limped off with a hamstring injury sustained while scoring as Rangers hung on to secure the points.
Boro had their chances, with Ashley Fletcher wasting two first-half openings. After the break, Britt Assombalonga sent a diving header inches wide and Ravel Morrison fired narrowly off target.
And with stoppage time approaching, Assombalonga was pulled-up for diving in the box when Warnock was convinced it was a penalty.
Rangers boss Mark Warburton said: “We took Jordan off as a precaution after he felt his hamstring.
“I was going to go berserk because at first I thought he’d been injured in the goal celebration.”
BORO: Stojanovic 6, Howson 6, Fry 6, Friend 6, Johnson 4 (Coulson 80, 6), Moukoudi 6, Roberts 7 (Tavernier 80, 5), Morrison 6 (McNair 65, 6), Saville 5 (Wing 65, 6), Fletcher 5 (Nmecha 66, 4), Assombalonga 5
QPR: Lumley 8, Kakay 8, Cameron 9, Barbet 9, Kane 8, Amos 8, Ball 8, Manning 9, Eze 7 (Oteh 70, 7), Osayi-Samuel 8, Hugill 8 (Chair 35, 7)
MOTM GEOFF CAMERON (QPR)