An injury time goal on his debut from youth team graduate Tom Hitchock was enough for QPR to see off Ipswich at Loftus Road on Saturday.
Having spent the pre-match build up talking about a number of negative aspects that have become typical of the modern day QPR it made a refreshing change to secure a win against Ipswich with a last minute winner from a youth team graduate.
Prior to Saturday the only player listed on the club’s official website who had come out of the youth team and scored for the seniors was Ray Jones, whose number 31 shirt was retired after his death in 2007. The few players capable of playing first team football who have come through the ranks at QPR, who operate a centre of excellence in a city packed full of state of the art academies belonging to other clubs, have been picked off by the bigger fish before they’ve even had a chance to make a Loftus Road debut. Serial loanee Angelo Balanta doesn’t have a squad number this season.
And neither, prior to Saturday, did young Tom Hitchcock. Being the son of QPR’s goalkeeping coach Kevin could invite cynicism on the merits of his presence at the club but he caught the eye with three goals in seven starts during a loan spell at Bristol Rovers last season and bagged a hat trick in a pre-season friendly at Staines this summer.
Those same cynics probably glanced across QPR’s team sheet at 2pm on Saturday with a wry smile. With two weeks of transfer window left Hitchcock was one of three kids with zero first team experience to suddenly appear on the Rangers bench — Max Ehmer and Mo Sharif the others — perhaps providing a timely reminder to Tony Fernandes and Phil Beard of manager Harry Redknapp’s desire to continue adding players to his squad.
Redknapp will point to injuries to Ale Faurlin, Andy Johnson and Armand Traore but Stephane Mbia, Julio Cesar, Hogan Ephraim, Luke Young, and the injured Samba Diakite all remain contracted to the club but not selected. If the benching of several fresh faced youths was a ruse to extract more money, it backfired in the best possible way.
In the very last minute of normal time, and with a fairly basic Ipswich side apparently about to succeed in their mission of securing a 0-0 draw, QPR launched a final forlorn attack. Shaun Wright-Phillips, switched to the left wing after Junior Hoilett had once again suffered a hamstring injury sprinting for a ball midway through the second half, finally took his full back on the outside to the byline rather than cutting infield into waiting traffic as he had been doing all afternoon to that point. Fast running out of pitch he cut a decent ball back for Charlie Austin on the corner of the six yard box and although he scuffed his left footed shot the ball rolled invitingly through the goal mouth begging for a late arrival at the back post to finish it off. That late arrival was Hitchcock, slamming home the game’s only goal with one of his first touches of the ball in the QPR senior team — he’d been on the field for seven minutes.
It had been a frustrating afternoon for the R’s prior to that. Moments earlier, when Wright-Phillips cut in field and sent a deflected cross into the area which inadvertently found Austin unmarked eight yards out from goal, the former Burnley man lashed a volley against the underside of the bar. That rather summed up Austin’s luck — the goal touch that saw him bag 28 goals last term hasn’t quite followed him to Loftus Road as yet and he missed several presentable opportunities here, although one in the first half where he rounded the keeper and slid the ball into the side netting with the goal gaping wouldn’t have counted anyway because of an offside flag and another from a low Hoilett cross was struck well enough on the turn in the six yard box but hit an Ipswich man and flew to safety. When Austin later ended a flowing counter attack with a powerful first time volley from 12 yards out he must have thought a goal was certain but keeper Scott Loach saved well diving to his right.
Ipswich rode their luck at times. Wright-Phillips, recalled to the team to cover Joey Barton’s wide role with Barton moving infield in the absence of Faurlin and the newly loaned out Esteban Granero, struck a firm volley at goal when the ball dropped to him in the penalty area from a corner but the ball didn’t make it through a crowded six yard box and deflected safely out of play.
The R’s also threatened frequently from wide set pieces with Barton’s delivery providing some welcome consistency and quality in a facet of the game Rangers have been poor in for a long time. Nedum Onuoha headed over from close range in the first half after first Austin and then Clint Hill had kept a corner alive by winning headers in the penalty box. Hill, moved to left back to accommodate the inclusion of Richard Dunne from the start for the first time in the league this season, really should have scored on the hour when he totally miscued a header after being left unmarked in the six yard box from a Barton free kick. The ball bounced back into play off the cross bar anyway and Dunne then smacked a volley wide when he should have at least hit the target. The deadlock was starting to get irritating by this point - the Super Hoops had 14 shots on the goal in this game but managed only three on target.
Ipswich were limited in both ability and ambition. Referee Michael Naylor twice issued warnings about time wasting very early in the second half suggesting a 0-0 draw suited the Tractor Boys, but they could easily have won the game themselves. Striker David McGoldrick, signed permanently after a successful loan spell last term, was blocked out of a chance in the fourth minute after Richard Dunne lost the ball with a poor header. Dunne certainly grew into the game after that and denied McGoldrick a clear sight of goal with a fine tackle ten minutes from half time, although he was then indebted to Robert Geen who made a fantastic sprawling save to deny Daryl Murphy after the loose ball had fallen to the Irish striker in the penalty box. Green, abused throughout by a sizeable travelling support from Suffolk because of his Norwich connections, will have certainly enjoyed that one, and another stop deep into the second half when Dunne got lost among his own limbs and gave McGoldrick a sight of the School End net.
The keeper couldn’t do a lot about Elliott Hewitt’s low drive before half time, which again came after Dunne had initially halted a Town attack with a crunching tackle, but thankfully for the home side the shot was a couple of feet wide of the post.
If anybody was going to pick Ipswich apart it looked like being Joey Barton who seemed to revel in starting in the centre of midfield for the first time this season and guided Rangers around the park with real class and panache. The goal itself came from a free kick deep in the QPR half, the second in quick succession where referee Naylor could and should have allowed play to continue with Rangers in possession. Not in the mood to argue, Barton acted quickly and sent a raking pass out wide to Wright-Phillips to set up the winner. An unlikely midfield partnership with sworn enemy Karl Henry may yet have legs if Ale Faurlin is out for any period of time.
But at times in the first hour QPR were too reliant on Barton and needed something extra. Bobby Zamora continues to struggle and draw the ire of the home crowd — ironic cheers greeted Redknapp’s decision to remove him and send Hitchcock on late in the game — and his lumbering presence blunts the attack somewhat, with creativity from midfield also in short supply.
For those reasons it was an earlier substitution and another player making his first appearance for the club that had more effect on the pattern of play overall. Shorn of Hoilett’s creativity through injury the introduction of Gary O’Neil just before the hour was crucial. Every pass he played was positive and well executed and the way he directed the players around him and organised the team was impressive for a man who has been with the club for such a short period of time. Redknapp spoke about bringing the right sort to the club this summer and O’Neil certainly seems that on this evidence. Rangers wouldn’t have won the game without him, and even amidst the hysteria of the winning goal he could be seen frantically trying to put a five man midfield set up in place to hold onto the victory.
Rangers could still have thrown it away in injury time regardless of his efforts. With virtually the last kick of the game a ball rolled free invitingly 25 yards out from goal and left back Aaron Cresswell tried his luck from range with a fierce shot that deflected an inch wide of the post with Green scrambling and panicking. That meant a nerve jangling last second corner but although Tommy Smith rose highest and headed goal wards he could only direct the ball straight at the goalkeeper.
The day belonged to Londoners, and their 20 year old debutant striker who was embraced by his father on the field at the final whistle. With the hyperbole surrounding the start of this year’s Premier League making the sport even more loathsome than usual, it was a moment to restore a little faith in both football and Queens Park Rangers. Chastened and humble, could this sort of thing become typical of a new QPR?
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QPR: R Green 7, D Simpson 6, R Dunne 6, N Onuoha 7, C Hill 6, S Wright-Phillips 6, K Henry 6 (J Jenas, 77, 6), J Barton 8, D Hoilett 6 (G O'Neil, 56, 8), B Zamora 5 (T Hitchcock, 83, -), C Austin 6
Subs not used: B Murphy, M Ehmer, Yun Suk-Young, M Sharif
Goals: Hitchock 90 (assisted Austin/Wright Phillips)
Ipswich S Loach 7, E Hewitt 6, L Chambers 6, T Smith 6, A Cresswell 7, J Tabb 6, C Skuse 6 (R Tunnicliffe, 45, 6), C Edwards 5, L Hyam 6, D Murphy 6 (P Taylor, 63, 5 (F Nouble, 86, -)), D McGoldrick 6
Subs not used: M Crowe, F Veseli, C Berra, P Anderson
Bookings: Tabb 60 (foul)
QPR Star Man — Joey Barton 8 I was very tempted to give this to Gary O’Neil because I thought he really improved QPR when he came on, but across the game as a whole Barton was the most impressive QPR player on view with an excellent, imaginative range of passing the guided the team around the field.
Referee — Michael Naylor (South Yorkshire) 7 No major decisions to make really but threatened to lose control at one point in the second half by not punishing poor fouls on first Dunne and then Barton more sternly, and then cracking down in the wrong way by blowing up for fouls when there was an obvious advantage to play and getting pernickety about the placement of free kicks. The goal itself came from a QPR free kick that really should have been allowed to play on. Overall though, not bad at all.
Attendance — 17, 075 (1,700 Ipswich approx) Very decent atmosphere inside Loftus Road, good to hear the crowd sticking with the players during a frustrating match. Not entirely convinced the abuse of Bobby Zamora, particularly given the lack of striking options available to Redknapp, is really a good idea though.
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Pictures — Action Images