CHAIR HAS THE FLAIR
Late strike denies Watford top spot
VLADIMIR IVIC blasted his below-par side after Watford blew a chance to go top.
Ilias Chair struck a deserved late equaliser for QPR after Ben Wilmot had put the visitors ahead in just the third minute with his first goal for the club.
Rangers’ leveller prevented Watford from soaring to the summit and Serbian manager Ivic was angry with his team’s performance.
Ivic said: “I am disappointed. I would have said the same whatever the result… but we should have won it.
“It is not the way I want my team to play – without energy, without passion from the beginning. We were lucky to score right at the beginning.
“And we need to think a lot about it. It is too early to say what all the problems are, but we know we had a big problem, especially in the second half, and we need to fix it.
“If we are to have big goals and big targets this season we need to change our attitude for the next game, and have it for every game. My team can give more, much more.”
Opposite number Mark Warburton said: “We more than deserved it and feel it was two points dropped against a very good Watford team.
“We had the better chances in the game and looked dangerous after giving away a poor goal at the start, missing a clearance.
“They are humans, but reacted well and looked a good team.” The visitors took the lead almost immediately from a set-piece.
Joao Pedro and Ken Sema worked a short corner on the left and when Sema whipped the cross in a slight flick left Wilmot free to crash the ball home from a couple of yards out.
It was a first goal for the club for the 21-year-old centre- back from Stevenage and came just days after a debut strike for England Under-21s against Andorra.
QPR responded with Macauley Bonne having a header blocked on the line.
William Troost-Ekong, in Sierra Leone with Nigeria last week, then had a great opportunity to double Watford’s lead but headed Kiko Femenia’s free-kick wide.
Watford’s former England goalkeeper Ben Foster pulled off a brilliant pointblank save to deny Dominic Ball, who had been found five yards out by Chair.
Ivic threw on Troy Deeney and Domingo Quina after the break – before Rangers defender Conor Masterson headed against the Watford crossbar.
Scotland hero Lyndon Dykes joined the fray after 55 minutes – and it was from his flick after 77 minutes that Chair coolly slotted the ball into the far corner with his left foot.
But he had an effort ruled out and picked up a booking for putting the ball into the net with his hand in the last minute. QPR: Dieng 6; Kane 5, Masterson 6, Barbet 7, Wallace 5 (Hamalainen 46th, 6); Cameron 6, Ball 5 (Willock 56, 6); Osayi-Samuel 6 (Adomah 69, 6), Carroll 7, Chair 7; Bonne 6 (Dykes 55th, 6).
Unused subs: Kelly, Kakay, Bettache, Kelman, Alfa. WATFORD: Foster 6; Troost-Ekong 6, Cathcart 7, Wilmot 7; Femenia 7, Chalobah 6, Capoue 6, Sema 7; Sarr 6, Pedro 6 (Quina 46, 6), Gray 5 (Deeney 46, 6). Unused subs: Bachmann, Ngakia, Garner, Murray, Sierralta, Navarro, Crichlow.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Ilias Chair. Scored the vital equaliser and kept QPR moving forward against a stronger side.
REFEREE: Michael Salisbury 7.