QPR got the better of Middlesbrough at Loftus Road
McClaren sees off old club
TONY Pulis claimed poor refereeing decisions led to his Middlesbrough side’s defeat.
On-loan striker Nahki Wells scored a second-half winner for QPR after George Saville had equalised for Boro five minutes after the break, cancelling out Pawel Wszolek’s early opener.
However, Pulis insisted referee Oliver Langford should have awarded the visitors a first-half penalty for a foul on Britt Assombalonga.
And he was also unhappy with decisions made by the officials in the build up to Wells’s goal.
He said: “We had an incident in their box, from a corner, where Assombalonga is rugby-tackled down and the referee is just five yards away from it and doesn’t give it.
“Then we’ve got an incident in the second half where an offside is given but their player had touched the ball last, so Jonny Howson is 100 per cent not offside.
“Not only does he give offside, but the goalkeeper (Joe Lumley) then takes it from the edge of the box from a rolling position when the incident has happened 25 yards away.
“We had four or five players then past the ball when they scored the second goal.
“It’s got to be an even playing field. The referee has got to look at those and we’ll see what he says.”
Wszolek’s fourth-minute goal had given Steve McClaren’s side the perfect start against his former club.
Jake Bidwell collected Luke Freeman’s pass and sent a low cross from the left into the penalty area, where Wszolek scored from close range.
Boro levelled when Ryan Shotton’s ball in from the left was headed out by Darnell Furlong as far as former Chelsea youngster Saville, who volleyed home left-footed from near the edge of the box.
Rangers were down to 10 men at the time as they were waiting to replace defender Joel Lynch, who had just limped off injured.
They regrouped and were back in front nine minutes later courtesy of the excellent Wells, whose goal condemned Boro to their first defeat in seven away matches.
Wszolek found space on the right and pulled the ball back to the on-loan Burnley striker, who cleverly turned away from Saville, shifting the ball onto his left foot, and smashed his shot past keeper Darren Randolph.
The result was a huge boost for QPR after being dealt a major blow by news that defender Angel Rangel and on-loan duo Geoff Cameron and Tomer Hemed all face lengthy spells of the sidelines because of injury.
McClaren insisted his side deserved the win – their first in five matches: “It would have been a travesty had we not won this game. I’m delighted with the win. It was a great win and a great performance.
“We could have scored more goals and we defended resolutely. We had to defend for our lives and what really pleased me was that we battled and fought but some of our football, in what was a tooth-andnail game, was very good.”