Deadly Archer hits the bullseye
PRESTON .... 2 QPR .............. 1
CAMERON ARCHER’S second-half winner condemned misfiring QPR to a fifth straight league defeat.
The Aston Villa loan star sparkled with his seventh goal of the season as Preston proved too hot to handle.
Emil Riis Jakobsen’s 18th goal of the season set the home side on their way and Archer netted five minutes after the break with a sublime strike to give Villa boss Steven Gerrard plenty to admire from afar.
But Lilywhites boss Ryan Lowe was left “flat”, despite a fine victory.
He said: “I just thought our performance was flat.
“I wasn’t sure what I was watching for the first 20-30 minutes, we just kept giving the ball away.
“What I didn’t want to happen was for them to score or to give them an opportunity to score.
“But thankfully the players found a way.
“It’s back-to-back wins which I’m pleased with, but there were large parts of the game which I wasn’t pleased with.
“But then on the other hand we created some fantastic chances and we could have possibly scored more than the two goals.”
QPR substitute Andre Gray bagged a consolation penalty with virtually the last kick of the contest after Daniel Johnson had needlessly fouled Sam Field.
QPR boss Mark Warburton said: “It’s disappointing, but we need to stick together.
“The players are hurting, but there’s still a lot to play for.”
PRESTON: Iversen 7; Van den Berg 6, Bauer 6, Hughes 7; Whiteman 6; McCann 6, Browne 6, Johnson 5, Cunningham 7 (Murphy (70th) 5); Archer 8 (O’Neill 90th), Riis 7 (Maguire (45th) 5)
QPR: Maloney 7; Odubajo 5, Sanderson 5, Dunne 6; McCallum 5; Johansen 6, Field 5, Amos 5 (Thomas (57th) 5), Dozzell 6; Dykes 5 (Austin (68th) 5), Chair 6 (Gray (69th) 6)
STAR MAN: Cameron Archer
REF: T Harrington