Dramatic QPR draw ‘a step in the right direction’ – Cifuentes
QPR boss Marti Cifuentes praised his team for at least showing some fighting spirit in their 1-1 draw at home to fellow strugglers Huddersfield.
The hosts were poor in a vital match for both sides at Loftus Road, where Jack Rudoni’s late goal looked like leaving third-from-bottom Rangers six points adrift of the Terriers, who are immediately above them in the Championship table.
Kenneth Paal equalised in the fifth minute of stoppage time by kneeing a cross from Ilias Chair into the top corner of the net.
“Not a good performance and it was generally a poor game. I’m not very pleased with our performance,” Cifuentes admitted.
“Having said that, we knew there would be tension in this game because it was so important to both sides, so you could see we couldn’t get the grip on the game that we would have liked.
“Then we had to accept that the picture of the game was a lot of fight, a lot of duels and aerial situations.
“So I want to praise the guys, because after conceding a goal in that minute and having the courage and personality to chase the draw, and then to keep pushing to try to get the victory, shows that even when we’re not having our best performance the team is competing well.”
A win would have taken QPR out of the relegation zone, where they have been since September.
They remain in deep trouble, although their plight would look much worse had they not found an equaliser.
But Cifuentes insisted: “To be able, on a day like today, when many things didn’t go well, to pick up a point, I think is a step to the next level and in the right direction.
“The first thing is to be competitive and the second is that, even on the bad days, you can pick up points. Hopefully we can maintain that.”
29/01/2024 @ 3:56 pm
Never mind T Block – the message will sink in when we run out of games and they finally see the drop coming. Hopefully the new striker will shake them up a bit, its hard to drum up enthusiasm when you cant score. At least Dykes seems happier in his new role. I still think as I did several seasons back, that they look lazy during most games – doing just enough to avoid the drop – a very dangerous game if Im right. Mind you, the ref played his part too, with the yellow bias and free kick ball marking but I didnt think they were that bad on Sunday, just looked lethargic.
Willock available for sale – any takers on the horizon, or will it be virtually a freebie again.
28/01/2024 @ 5:09 pm
Absolute B………..s of a performance !
We should get fined for breaching the FA’s rules of starting a game with only 10 players, Willock the ghost don’t count.
Breathtakingly arrogant behaviour of a team that thinks they’ve won before the balls even been kicked.
Exactly the same at Barnsley away a couple of seasons ago.
I genuinely feel for Chair, his anger at his teammates was there for all to see.