Chair gives Hoops a lift
ILIAS CHAIR kept Rangers standing tall to finally end their Barnsley hoodoo – but manager Mark Warburton told his free-scoring side he wants more.
QPR were heading for defeat until their Moroccan Messi turned on the style to help earn a point.
The Championship’s great entertainers came from behind again just when bogey side Barnsley looked like beating them and now have eight goals in three games.
Chair lifted the roof when he thrashed the hosts back in it with 14 minutes left before having a hand in Charlie Austin’s injury-time leveller.
Warburton said: “It’s easy to blame the travel, having got back from Middlesbrough on
Thursday, but we had to be better than that. I told the players there is no excuse.
“We could have been three down, but equally we could have won it in the end. We were so much better all over the pitch in the second half.
“They galvanised the fans. That’s the loudest I’ve seen the stadium since I’ve been here, but we’ve got to keep producing.”
After doing the double over QPR for the past two seasons, Barnsley looked good for an eighth London victory in 10.
Defender Liam Kitching pumped the ball forward and Rangers wing-back Osman Kakay stepped out horribly late.
Playing Austrian Dominik Frieser onside, the ball was beyond Seny Dieng before he knew it as the hosts waited for a flag.
Kakay and his fellow defenders were soon chasing shadows again.
Josh Benson’s dinked pass freed Callum Styles and he put it on a plate for Cauley Woodrow two yards out – the striker’s 50th goal for the club was probably his easiest.
Woodrow should have made the game safe into the second half – and the let-off allowed Hoops back in.
They found hope when Chair got fed up of his colleagues’ wastefulness and went alone, despite more than a hint of offside, and his mazy run ended with him firing high into the net.
Austin finally buried one of his chances in the 91st minute, sweeping home Yoann Barbet’s cross after more Chair brilliance out wide.
Barnsley boss Markus Schopp said: “We go away with a point, but it really feels like a defeat.
“Our main problem is finishing, we were too naive.”
QPR: Dieng 6, Kakay 5, Dickie 6, De Wijs 5 (Dunne 46, 6), Barbet 6, Thomas 5 (Ball 36, 6), Johansen 7, Dozzell 5 (Adomah 36, 6), Willock 7, Chair 8, Austin 7.
Unused Subs: Archer, Duke-mckenna, Kelman.
BARNSLEY: Collins 7, Sibbick 7, Helik 7, Kitching 7, Brittain 7, Palmer 6 (Moon 60, 6), Benson 7 (Halme 81), Styles 7, Frieser 7, Woodrow 8, Oduor 6 (Cole, 69, 5).
Unused Subs: Walton, Williams, Thompson, Adeboyejo
MAN OF THE MATCH: Ilias Chair. Single-handedly inspired a revival, which never looked likely, to keep Rangers rocking.
REFEREE: Gavin Ward 7.