QPR made it three from three against Luton Town this season as a controversial strike from Michi Frey and a fluke goal from Morgan Fox delivered all three points for the R’s on Monday night.

With Queens Park Rangers in these circumstances, you know what you’re going to get. Or, so we tell ourselves.

Rangers on a run of one defeat in ten games, and four consecutive home wins for the first time since 2017, welcome a team to Loftus Road cratering through four defeats in its last five and on a run of nine consecutive away defeats in which they’ve conceded 25 times. 'Here we bloody well go', we all groan together in unison. Go get the John Jensen preview. Let’s all swap those old stories about Swindon Town again (it was 93/94 Ollie, 93/94). Charity Park Rangers surely swing into action here, keeping Handsome Rob Edwards in his job and sending Luton bastard Town singing back up the M1 in delight. Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme etc etc.

With Luton Town you pretty much know what you’re going to get as well. The Hatters very much the Sydney Sweeney of the Championship – two big ones up top.

They’re going to hang it in on you, they’re going to run, they’re going to be physical, Adebayo and Morris will rampage about, they’re going to win second balls, and they’re going to make you defend for your lives all night. A brutalist approach effective enough to get them to sixth, third and promoted in their last two seasons at this level despite batting with one of the division’s lower budgets. Nathan Jones may not be respectfully and meekly celebrating wins by clambering into the away end beating his chest like some deranged escaped chimp anymore but a tough oppo for a tired, injury hit squad on a cold Monday night after a hectic Christmas.

Thankfully, things were not all as billed.

QPR were uncharacteristically focused and forceful from the off. Ilias Chair, making appearance 250 for QPR, felt like he was rediscovering himself a bit after separate injury bouts, combining well down the left with an improved Kenneth Paal. Kieran Morgan continues to amaze and astound for his age and experience. He was backed by a typically sound Sam Field and another eye-catching display by Jonathan Varane who completed an early rescue mission on a typically high-risk high-reward gamble down the right by Harrison Ashby. The muscular forward play, when it did come, was more often the work of Michi Frey who continues to look anything but a footballer while at the same time being tremendously effective in football matches.

The R’s scored once before half time and really should have had a couple more. Chair’s early centre was perfect for Frey at the back post but his header was tame and poorly directed allowing Kaminski to save. The Belgian goalkeeper had to work much harder to keep Jimmy Dunne’s flying header out a short while later, though how Dunne didn’t make it four goals in eight games against the club he loves to hate the most with a simple rebound only he will know. Skied over.

The fear in these situations is you’ll pay for your profligacy in points. Before that could truly set in Frey turned a beautiful ball round the corner to set Smyth away down the right, he laid it back for Morgan to cross deep, and there was Vigo at the back post to complete the move he’d started with a total bullying of Walters, a chest down that probably involved more than a little arm, and a surprisingly cute finish in off the far post for one nil. Disallowed with VAR? Probably, but that’s why VAR belongs in the sea. If you can’t defend your back post with a couple more stones than this then you deserve everything you get.

Luton were also not as expected. Edwards switched systems to try and alter their losing run, using a back four rather than his preferred three for, I believe, the first time since their League Cup loss here in August. That meant only one up top in a 4-2-3-1, with Morris getting the nod ahead of Adebayo, but they backed him up at 'ten' with a massive Fanne - God, I wish we hadn’t spent that Sweeney line so early in the copy. They have also signed Christ (Makosso) this window so I guess at least they'll have a chance to repent.

Their big chance of the first stanza came on the half hour as Morris freed the speedy Chong and he cut a ball back to be struck first by Bell, then Fanne and finally Liam Walsh. These were blocked in turn with varying degrees of athleticism and heroism by Harrison Ashby, Morgan Fox, and most crucially of all Sam Field right on the goalline. Celebrated almost like a goal by the home crowd.

One nil at half time was really the least Rangers deserved for a first half of three enormous chances created through a visiting team that just seemed wide open through midfield to me. To get even that Rangers had to survive a minute of stoppage time and a final Luton corner. Sadly another one of those peculiar set ups that doesn’t look right even before the ball is kicked allowed towering centre back Mark McGuinness a free run, header and equaliser which stunned Loftus Road into near total silence. Fucking wankers, as a wise Ram once said.

One of those nights after all then? Well it certainly felt that way when the R’s made a shoddy start to the second innings: Varane collecting an early yellow after getting caught the wrong side of his man; debutant Fanne flapping a good chance over from the edge of the box then being allowed to run 40 yards unchallenged before pissing another into the School End; Kenneth Paal winning but then wasting a free kick; Paul Smyth having his cheekbone exposed by Bell’s accidental elbow no more than two feet away from the linesman’s face and somehow not awarded as even a free kick.

Another catalogue of misses were still to come. Alfie Lloyd, on as a substitute for Frey (in conclusion QPR’s squad is a land of contrasts, thank you), immediately stripped McGuinness for pace on the flank, cut infield on an Ilias Chair assist, drew Kaminski one on one, chipped Kaminski one on one, and watched in disbelief as the ball trickled wide of the open goal after he’d already started to celebrate. Luton, stupefied, gave Lloyd the ball straight back to have another go and he struck the base of the post from 20 yards. Jack Colback, also on from the bench, was in on goal from no range at all within two minutes as the visitors rocked and rolled from repeated punches. He somehow allowed Kaminski to save when the goalkeeper shouldn’t have even been in the equation.

The substitute circus continued when Lloyd, having quite the cameo, combined with the industrious Saito in fine fashion to free Ilias Chair into the area for that check back and curled jump shot he loves so much. The ball left his foot with a fizz, curled exactly as he intended, beat Kaminski all ends up, and flashed past the post. With this and the Celar ‘goal’ against Sunderland at that end I’m starting to think we’ve got a hole in the net down there.

You miss chances, chances plural, like this… You have luck like that Lloyd shot off the post… You don’t tend to win games. It’s not your night. One of those footballing things. You have to put teams away when you have the chance or thou shalt be punished. It’s the rule. However, thankfully, on Monday night this crossed the streams with another bit of ancient lore about things not going for you when you’re down the bottom end of the league table. Doom spirals can become self-perpetuating things, through lack of confidence, and plain fickle fate.

After bloodied Smyth had been replaced by Saito and Ronnie Edwards had emerged for his Rangers debut, bizarrely and briefly in midfield to begin with, QPR used the thinking time the injury had given them to craft one of the worst free kicks I’ve ever seen before in my life. Paal’s feint to shoot was bought by nobody, and his square pass was so undercooked Nakamba almost intercepted it to run clean through on the goal at the other end. Just imagine. How much did that bloody training ground cost? Morgan’s bodycheck on Nakamba was crucial, allowing the ball to squirm just about as far as Chair after all. His shot was woeful, miles wide, but at this stage we’re just grateful we’re not all chasing Mr Marvellous 100 yards back down the pitch. And, while we were all breathing that sigh of relief, Morgan Fox, trying to jump out of the way, inadvertently backheeled the ball in the opposite direction, wrong-footing and stranding Kaminski entirely, and scoring a frankly ridiculous second Rangers goal. Excuse me Egon, you said crossing the streams was bad.

Rob Edwards looked to the sky. Two months ago that shit was happening to us, now we’re the beneficiaries. You score a goal like that and it is most definitely your night. Miss all you like, that’s a win right there.

Luton huffed and puffed at the house for the final 20 minutes. Strikers Adebayo, Woodrow and Brown were all summoned from the bench to form a flat front four. THEN THE LARGE WOMEN AGAIN. It was a testing aerial bombardment. Nardi saved well with his legs from Morris piling in at the back stick.

Luton though were increasingly a bit of a rabble. An unhappy rabble at that. They pissed away a chunk of their own time with a hokey cokey triple sub. Tom Holmes so incredulous he was being taken off he initially refused to go. Don’t blame you mate, you stand your ground, much funnier this way. Shades of Steve McClaren's final game in charge at QPR there. Not a generally a sign of a manager with a lot of authority or shelf life left in him. The Hatters’ main strength in this league previously was a consistent ability to be more than the sum of their parts. Here, with the liked of Chong, Adebayo, Morris, Kaminski, McGuinness and others out there, they were considerably less.

The football was still being played predominantly by Rangers for whom Chair and Paal continued to combine and Morgan looked a class apart – always in space, always with time, always an option, never a wasted ball, playing the game at his own speed. Sam Field’s coverage behind them all, culminating in a tremendous charge across field to deny the lively Chong a clear path into the penalty area at the death, was exemplary.

The home side should have been pegged back in seven minutes of injury time when McGuinness, for the umpteenth time in the game, got a free run on his marker at a Luton corner. Rangers hadn’t handled the former Cardiff man (and an effective blocking operation) at set pieces all night and here, with almost the last kick of the game, it seemed certain they would pay for this with a concession, two points pissed away, and 700 jubilant Luton fans giving it the biggun back to White City tube. Somehow he planted a free header over the bar from six yards with the goalkeeper a mere bystander. When it’s your night it’s your night, and when it’s not it’s not.

Gripping stuff. A barnstorming game, flying from end to end, a catalogue of chances, should have finished about 5-3. Instead, QPR win 2-1. D - it is written.

No Charity Park Rangers after all then. Rangers bucking that horrible trend – performing, and winning well, against an out of form team when favourites. How refreshing. Marti Cifuentes' team, five points adrift at the end of November, start January closer to the play-offs than the relegation zone.

One thing that doesn’t change that often - QPR usually get a positive result against Luton Town, particularly in W12. This was the third time already this season Rangers had come out on top in this fixture – something a certain somebody was keen to point out to his fan club in the away end at full time.

Job Dunne, again.

Links >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread

QPR: Nardi 7; Ashby 6 (Colback 69, 6), Dunne 7, Fox 6, Paal 6; Field 7, Varane 7 (Edwards 61, 6), Morgan 8 (Clarke-Salter 88, -); Smyth 6 (Saito 61, 6), Chair 7, Frey 7 (Lloyd 69, 6)

Subs not used: Dixon-Bonner, Madsen, Kolli, Walsh

Goals: Frey 24 (assisted Morgan), Fox 62 (assisted Chair)

Yellow Cards: Varane 49 (foul)

Luton: Kaminski 7, Walters 5 (Clark 86, -), McGuinness 7, Holmes 5 (Hashioka 86, -), Bell 5; Nakamba 6 (Adebayo 74, 6), Walsh 6; Chong 7, Fanne 6 (Woodrow 86, -), Nelson 6 (Brown 77, 5); Morris 6

Subs not used: Andersen, Kraub, Krul, Mpanzu

Goals: McGuinness 45+1 (assisted Nelson)

Yellow Cards: Chong 56 (foul)

QPR Star Man – Kieran Morgan 8 Getting better and better every game.

Referee – Andy Davies (Hampshire) 5 Bit Championship. Luton will say the first goal should have been disallowed for handball and how the linesman hasn’t spotted the elbow on Smyth from that far away I just cannot understand. Accidental, perhaps, but certainly a free kick taking out a player running down the line in possession like that. Davies’ obvious instruction to his assistants to wait for him to signal before indicating their own decision probably didn’t help in either instance – he clearly didn’t want a lino flagging for something he didn’t want to give himself. I’ve run the line for referees who insist on this – “offsides and throw ins, I don’t want you giving free kicks” – and I hate watching it almost as much as participating in it. On the positive side he did give the game every chance and tried to let it flow without giving every little thing as a foul, which I do have a lot of time for.

Attendance – 14,025 (1,010 Luton) They’ve celebrated in a certain way. Again.

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Pictures - Reuters Connect

hoops_legend added 23:17 - Jan 7 Love it Clive. I thought Saito was bright as well when he came on
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062259 added 00:32 - Jan 8 Nosebleed
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Hugey added 06:40 - Jan 8 Lovely nod to the wise ram of Wembley in there! Thanks for the great report
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ShotKneesHoop added 09:43 - Jan 8 Clive, looking at the photo you have loaded of Jimmy Dunne, it looks like he wants to be tv games host. He is the new Brucie…. Huge chin, big grin, didn’t he do well, good game, good game and even a bit of Ted Rogers 3-2-1 thrown in for good measure.
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Marshy added 10:06 - Jan 8 We may have had some luck with the goals, but a thoroughly deserved win. The Frey goal you could argue it was ball to hand / arm, but probably would have been chalked off with VAR. The Morgan Fox goal was hilarious. I was laughing as much as celebrating. I loved the Alfie Lloyd “cameo”, but surely he deserved more than the 6 you gave him Clive? Kieran Morgan’s man of the match was fully justified. What a talent at such a young age. If he develops at the same pace we could have a very valuable asset.

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Northernr added 10:10 - Jan 8 Ah the ratings, always the ratings. Thought about a 7, but he did miss the chances. Should score the first. Was he as good as Field?
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francisbowles added 11:33 - Jan 8 Thanks Clive excellent report, as always, and loved the closing line. On the ref, imho, he really shouldn't be giving out such instructions at this level. The officials have worked their way up through various leagues and should be capable of giving an opinion on fouls and handballs. It's not as if he, Davies, is brilliant at making these decisions unaided. Blocking. I know it is a commonplace now but when did this become part of the game. It used to be called obstruction or even a foul if there was contact. It's an American football tactic that has assimilated itself into what used to be the beautiful game.

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extratimeR added 11:38 - Jan 8 Yes, great night Clive, spot on about Morgan, always has time, and always facing the right way to move forward, seems to have great understanding with Varanne, ( very, very skilful) Field in his best spell of season, not sure who to compare Varanne to? Masson? Venables? Eddie Kelly? ( Mention it quietly Taarabt? Great match report Clive! Cheers!
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HastingsRanger added 15:07 - Jan 8 Great entertainment. First half was particularly good for R's. Frey didn't think it was a goal either, not initially celebrating! However, the need to take chances really mattered and it could easily have been a draw. My main concern, as you pointed out, is the "McGuinness, for the umpteenth time in the game" free header. One goal and a terrible miss. That needs to be sorted out, before other teams cotton onto it. The other is the obsession with playing out (slowly) from a goal kick, especially in the second half, which often ended up with a punt, usually into touch. Nothing gained, apart from missed heart beats! However, much of the style is great to watch. The team spirit is there too. Also, the new players are coming on well, as evidenced by Nardi not being the automatic MotM award. Great to see Clarke-Salter and Colback returning. I thought the match officials did not do their job regarding Smyth, it was a head injury and was ignored by linesman and referee. The linesman must have seen the clash, regardless of intent. Perhaps a cup run might be on this season!! Or will it be put down to protecting our Championship status! What a turnaround though.

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