McCLAREN: THAT WAS SOME WIN!
Manager relieved to scrape victory
STEVE McCLAREN described QPR’s first Championship away win of the season as “a huge three points” after a victory at Bolton Wanders.
But the Rangers boss admitted the Londoners put him through the wringer in the closing 20 minutes.
Goals from Luke Freeman and Ebere Eze put QPR 2-0 up after 56 minutes only for substitute Josh Magennis’s 69th-minute free-kick to put the final result in doubt.
Erhun Oztumer wasted a good chance to equalise in the closing minutes, but Rangers hung on for their first away win since last March.
“As I said to them in the dressing room I had to have a near heart attack at the end when the kitchen sink is coming into our box,” said McClaren. “We defended it well, but other days you don’t get away with that. So, I am disappointed in that because we should have been out of sight not holding on.
“We can play football, we can compete and work hard and get results away from home which is tough
“The start of the season was poor,” admitted the former England manager. “But we really only had two bad halves; the second against West Brom and the second against Bristol City.
“The rest have been okay, but this and the other two performances showed we can compete a lot better than we did four or five weeks ago.”
For Bolton, defeat was a bad end to a roller-coaster week that saw the club escape administration at the 11th hour, only for it to be rocked by the death of one-time owner and benefactor, Eddie Davies.
“It was disappointing to end the week on a poor result,” admitted boss Phil Parkinson.
The sombre mood was reflected in the Lancastrians’ flat start. Only a David Wheater clearance prevented QPR taking the lead after two minutes.
Nahki Wells ran on to Tomer Hemed’s header and squeezed an angled right foot shot past Ben Alnwick but Wanderers’ skipper covered back before the ball crossed the line.
There was no escaping after 25 minutes. Wells squared the ball into the penalty area for Freeman to slide in at the near post and guide a shot beyond Alnwick for his first goal of the campaign.
Bolton were livelier after the break and Wheater wasn’t far from heading an equaliser as he climbed to meet Gary O’Neil’s corner after 52 minutes. But any suggestion of a revival was quickly snuffed out as Rangers doubled their lead after 55 minutes. Freeman received time and space inside the area to pick out Eze who turned and fired home left footed from 12 yards.
Bolton’s response was to bring on Magennis to partner debut boy Christian Doidge in attack. And 10 minutes later the Northern Ireland born striker brought the home side back into contention.
Wanderers dominated the closing stages as Rangers looked to protect their lead.
Bolton lost Sammy Ameobi to a first half ankle injury that will keep him out of Wednesday’s trip to Middlesbrough.