Mighty Ryan is Rangers’ Mann of the match
UNSUNG hero Ryan Manning’s rare strike was an absolute belter – and it changed the game for 10-man QPR.
Before his curling shot, skipper Grant Hall had rubbed out Preston’s first-half lead from 11-goal attacking midfielder Daniel Johnson as North End looked set to end their run of two defeats away to West Brom and Fulham.
It looked even tougher for the Rs as Geoff Cameron was given a second yellow and his marching orders after bringing down Darnell Fisher with more than half an hour left to play.
But pepped-up Rangers – who were pretty woeful in the first half – stepped up to give their 613 followers a real lift.
The icing on the cake was an added, clinching goal from the mercurial Eberechi Eze, who curled in another fine goal for his 12th of the season.
It meant that Mark Warburton’s men chalked up their sixth league game without defeat.
Warburton said: “I’m delighted with my team’s reaction and second-half performance.
“The first half was as bad as it has been all season. There were heated words between us all at the break because we had let ourselves down. But you saw the reaction and the goals followed – all good ones too.”
Preston boss Alex Neil said: “We just didn’t move the ball well enough and had very little quality when we did.
“We gave their better players too much space and time in the second half, and we saw the result.”
Neil addded: “We’re going through a difficult moment with three defeats on the trot.
“Early in the season, we capitalised when we scored first but now expectation in the stadium is something we are not used to and we have to cope with it.”