CHERY’S THE ICING ON TOP OF CAKE
Dutch ace nets two in QPR win
CHRIS Ramsey thanked director of football Les Ferdinand for putting a Chery on top of his QPR side as they bid to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Tjaronn Chery, their new Dutch midfielder, scored twice as the R’s won a six-goal thriller that saw Charlie Austin bag the other two in their first home win of the season.
Chery struck either side of halftime before Austin’s edge-of-the-box shot spilled through keeper Kelle Roos.
Rotherham’s Jonson ClarkeHarris and Tom Thorpe hit back for the Millers but Austin’s late penalty ended any hope of a fightback.
“Les found him for me,” Ramsey said. “He sends people out to source players. He did the deal to bring Chery over so thank you, Les, for this.
“He plays anywhere in the front group. He’s a very skilful player, brought up in the Dutch style, where they’re very technical.
“We decided to play him off the striker despite having Massimo Luongo, whose probably as good as him in there, but we’ve got to get them both in.
“He’s about goals and creating goals. What he’s had to do, which he’s finding a little bit difficult, is the defending part.We haven’t got the luxury of not defending as a team.”
Austin, who QPR rejected a bid from Norwich for on the morning of the game, came under scrutiny from West Ham co-chairman David Sullivan this week and hit back in style with his two goals.
And Ramsey has told him his dream of playing for England at next summer’s Euros is still possible while in the Championship.
Austin was called into Roy Hodgson’s squad in May for the Republic of Ireland and Slovenia games but didn’t play.
He hit 18 goals last season as the R’s finished bottom of the table and speculation has seen him linked with West Ham, Newcastle, Everton and even Chelsea so far this summer, but Ramsey is hopeful of keeping him beyond deadline day.
“Ambition is a big thing and when you’re a footballer you always want to play as high as you can,” Ramsey added.
“And let’s be honest, if he wants to play in the Euros next summer he’s going to be eyeing a move back to the Premier League but Roy Hodgson has picked players from the Championship before, so he may be better off here scoring a hatful.”
The visitors were equal to Rangers in the opening exchanges but came undone from the best move of the match after 42 minutes as James Perch was fed down the right wing.
The former Newcastle man crossed for Austin who layed on for Chery to curl in the opener.
Chery’s second before Austin added the third seemed to kill the game but Clarke-Harris struck on the break and Thorpe from a corner late on.
Rotherham boss Steve Evans, whose side drop to the bottom of the Championship table, slammed the decision to award a late penalty with the match on a knife-edge.
Substitute Sebastian Polter went down under a challenge from Chris Maguire before Austin slotted home from 12 yards.
“We had a couple of half chances but didn’t take them,” Evans said.
“It was a good performance, but goals always change matches, it was a very good finish and a good passage of play to open us up for the first.
“We showed some character, but then the referee makes an awful decision and gives the penalty and that kills any hope we have of an equaliser.”