Hemed gives QPR lift- off
‘OUR SEASON starts here,’ said Steve McClaren after he had just seen his Queens Park Rangers side secure their first points of his reign. The former England boss then launched an impassioned defence of his managerial record after his team climbed off the bottom of the Championship.
Tomer Hemed’s debut goal sealed a priceless three points for QPR and McClaren said the striker’s arrival on loan from Brighton, alongside that of Nahki Wells from Burnley, will kick- st art t heir campaign.
‘We’re moving forward. It felt like the start of the season again,’ McClaren said. ‘We need to build this team around these strikers. That means changing our system, our style and the players have adapted well.’
McClaren was under pressure after his side had conceded 13 goals in four straight league defeats. He said the results would have been different if Hemed and Wells had arrived sooner.
‘Wherever I’ve been, I’ve been a good coach when I’ve had good players,’ McClaren said.
‘Today proved that. The owners have worked for three or four weeks on bringing in two strikers of that quality. We’ve had to bang down doors and they’ve got to take a lot of credit. They’ve had a lot of criticism.’
McClaren made four changes from the side that lost 3-0 against Bristol City on Tuesday. As well as pairing Wells and Hemed up front, Joel Lynch returned to defence and g o a l k e e p e r Matt I n g r a m was dropped for Joe Lumley.
That switch was vindicated after 15 minutes when Lumley turned a strike by Josh Windass, making his first Wigan start, around the post. The home crowd cheered Lumley as if he had saved a last-minute penalty. From the resulting corner, Nick Powell’s header bounced across the face of goal and was only just wide.
Hemed struck 10 minutes before half-time. Wigan failed to clear a corner and as the ball bounced up, he reacted quickest to hook it into the top corner from six yards.
Amid the melee, there looked to be a push on Wigan defender Chey Dunkley. Latics boss Paul Cook was furious it went unnoticed.
‘ I pride myself on not giving referees criticism but I can’t see how he gets that wrong,’ Cook said. ‘ Key moments are massive. We were getting informed from the s i del i nes t hat ot her of f i ci al s informed him it was a foul. We’ve watched it back. If the referee doesn’t think that’s a push, then we’ve all got issues.’
QPR started the second half brightly. Luke Freeman drilled into the side-netting after a cut-back by Wells, while Hemed dragged a shot wide from the edge of the area.
Dunkley went close to an equaliser with five minutes remaining, rising highest to head wide a searching delivery from Lee Evans. As the game creeped towards its finish, the QPR players harried and hassled from the front to keep Wigan at bay.
It was that work-rate which left McClaren, who recorded his first Championship win since Derby’s 2-1 victory over Barnsley in March 2017, most encouraged.
‘The fight was incredible,’ he said. ‘At times it is not nice, it is ugly. But that’s what you’ve got to do to win in the Championship.’