Rowett’s up and running
STEVE MCCLAREN insisted that QPR’S season started yesterday after a stunning debut winner from loan Ranger Tomer Hemed.
The former England manager sent for strike power last week after seeing his side lose the first four league matches of the season for the first time.
But Brighton forward Hemed made a huge and instant impact – scoring an acrobatic 35th-minute winner to secure a first win and haul QPR off the foot of the table.
Nahki Wells, an arrival from Burnley, is another member of the loan cavalry that Mcclaren expects to ignite Rangers’ campaign.
And it was Wigan who were left angry and disappointed – with boss Paul Cook (below) furious that Hemed’s goal stood after what looked an earlier push on Chey Dunkley. A delighted and relieved Mcclaren said: “Getting them in on loan has made a huge difference to this club, especially as we had no money to buy.
“We were praying for the transfer window to close and the loan market to open, because that was all we could take. We have worked on those two for four or five weeks.
“Once they came in on Thursday you could see the belief in the other players, they could see we were actually moving forward. Now we know we’ve got people on the field who can score goals.
“We said on Thursday that it felt like the start of our season again, and we need to build our team around these two strikers, even if it means changing our system and our style.
“It’s a nice fresh start. The fight was incredible and you have to do that to keep a clean sheet.”
Cook, meanwhile, raged: “We are getting informed from the sidelines that the other officials have told the referee it is a foul before the goal.
“We have watched it back. If he doesn’t think that’s a foul we have all got issues. It has changed the game, goals change the whole dynamic of a match.
“I can’t see how he gets it wrong. We were in the ascendancy and that put us on the back foot.
“It is about getting the key decisions at the key moments right.
“They are massive, and if they JAMES MCCLEAN went from tunnel bust-up to tunnel vision as Stoke boss Gary Rowett finally won his first game.
Mcclean was involved in an angry exchange with his keeper Jack Butland as they made their way off at half-time against Wigan in midweek. But the Irishman stayed focused on the job in hand and let his shooting boots do the talking as he whipped in Stoke’s opener to pave the way for a hardearned victory.
Rowett can now see light at the end of what was a dark tunnel of his own, and didn’t hesitate to praise Mcclean’s unselfish contribution.
He said: “He’s got his reward because he works so hard. He’s an easy player to criticise but you can never criticise his commitment to the team.
“He has not performed as well as he liked in his first few games. But what summed it up for me was when we were 2-0 up and he ran 60 yards to make a tackle. His goal was reward for that commitment.”
Hull boss Nigel Adkins said: “It’s challenging in the Championship. We’re frustrated. Maybe we didn’t get that little bit of fortune. We conceded a goal from a corner and have to deal with that.”
You could feel the tension in the bet365 Stadium before a ball was kicked with Tom Jones’s Delilah barely raising voices on the terraces when the club classic is normally belted out with gusto.
These, though, are strange times in the Potteries after Stoke’s woeful start to their season in the Championship and there hasn’t been much to sing and dance about. But hold on. It only took nine minutes for the fed-up faithful to finally hit the heights when Mcclean (below) scored his first goal for the club following his £5million move from West Brom.
Hull keeper David Marshall flapped away a Joe Allen corner and Mcclean rammed home through a ruck of players to bring the house down. Stoke desperately tried to go further ahead but it was Hull who threatened danger with Fraizer Campbell snatching at a chance when he had time to steady himself.
And then Campbell’s flicked header from Todd Kane’s corner caused the kind of panic Stoke’s dodgy defence could do without.
But the pressure was eased after Marshall saved brilliantly from Mame Diouf in the 59th minute.
Sixty second later Diouf’s shot bounced off Ondrej De Wijs and wrong-footed his keeper.
Hull’s hell continued when Evandro was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 60th minute and then Marshall was alert enough to save from Peter Etebo and substitute Benik Afobe.
Now the volume could be pumped up.