All change for Mcclaren as QPR finally stop the rot
Steve Mcclaren went into Saturday’s Championship game on a run of four successive defeats and as a favourite for the sack – always assuming Queens Park Rangers could afford that option.
He came out of it looking like a managerial genius after his big decisions paid off.
Mcclaren dropped goalkeeper Matt Ingram, who had conceded 10 goals in the previous two games, and watched 23-year-old under- study Joe Lumley keep QPR’S first clean sheet of the season.
He also gave debuts to his two Premier League loan signings, Tomer Hemed, of Brighton, and Nahki Wells, of Burnley, and was rewarded with a 35th-minute winner from Hemed and plenty of movement and enterprise from Wells.
“We said on Thursday that it feels like the start of our season again,” Mcclaren said. “Because we’ve got two strikers and we need to build our team around these two strikers, even if it means changing our system and our style.”
Mcclaren had been working on the loan captures of Hemed and Wells for a month, both moves finally completed last week after the closing of the transfer window for Premier League clubs.
But both also bring the invaluable quality of Championship know-how and confidence that they can thrive in that most competitive of divisions.
Hemed, who scored from close range after a QPR corner, won promotion with Brighton two seasons ago, Wells likewise with Huddersfield Town.
“In this division, there are no easy games, if you want to win matches in the Championship you have to suffer and work hard,” Israel striker Hemed said.
“But I believe that if we have chances we can score goals. I have experience in this league so I know all teams have tough spells, either early on or later in the season. But things can change in one week, and hopefully this is the game where it changes.”
Queens Park Rangers
Subs Booked Wigan Athletic
Referee Set-pieces have been Rotherham’s biggest threat this season and so it proved again as Sean Raggett’s header saw off Millwall yesterday.
Raggett, on a season-long loan from Norwich City, nodded in after a short throw-in was played back to Will Vaulks to hit a precise cross.
The win could have been more comfortable if Michael Smith had taken a golden chance in the second half, while Ryan Williams and Ryan Manning also went close.