|
Pompey secured their first
victory of the season after battling from behind to beat Queens Park
Rangers 2-1 at Loftus Road. They recovered well from conceding an early Kader Dembélé strike, with Freddie Potts soon drilling home the equaliser. And the turnaround was complete after the break, when Callum Lang both won and scored a penalty to ensure all three points would be heading back to the south coast. John Mousinho made a single change from the side that drew with Oxford before the international break. Lang returned from a groin injury to replace Elias Sørensen, with the fit-again Kusini Yengi named on the bench. The were half-chances at both ends when the action started on a warm and sunny afternoon in West London. But the hosts then took an early lead after Nicolas Schmid came out of his area to head the ball clear. It fell straight to the grateful Dembélé, who calmly lifted a shot over the Austrian keeper and into an empty net. And it might have got worse for the Blues, with defenders Steve Cook and Jimmy Dunne both failing to find the target in promising positions. The visitors settled, however, and took the lead after Lang won the ball on the right and surged purposefully inside. His centre was deflected out to POTTS, who drilled a low shot through a sea of bodies and into the net to level the contest. Both sides were continuing to threaten going forward and a misjudged attempted clearance from Regan Poole saw Ilias Chair race through on goal. He tried to lift a shot over Schmid, who stuck out his hand to deny the forward, then dived onto the loose ball. Christian Saydee attempted an ambitious – and swerving – 35-yard strike for Pompey, with Paul Nardi diving to his left to palm clear. There was otherwise some rather rash finishing at both ends of the pitch, with plenty of shots flying into the crowd rather than troubling the keeper. QPR did have a good opportunity to retake the lead in stoppage-time, but after Cook’s header deflected off Poole, a diving Schmid turned the ball behind. Half Time: QPR 1 Pompey 1 It was still proving to be an open affair immediately after the restart, with Poole and Jordan Williams combining to halt Chair’s dangerous burst. Schmid also comfortably deal with a Dembélé drive, as the hosts provided more threat from their positive moments. But the visitors were provided with an excellent opportunity to take the lead when Morgan Fox stuck out a lazy leg in the box. LANG tumbled over it and then, after referee James Linington pointed to the spot, stepped up to send Nardi the wrong way. Mousinho made a switch shortly after that, with Saydee afforded warm applause from the away faithful as he made way for Paddy Lane. The hosts were applying pressure, but Pompey still looked pretty dangerous going forward themselves. Josh Murphy swung in a cross from the left that a stretching Lang could only turn wide at the back post. Kusini Yengi, Sørensen and Terry Devlin all came on, as Mousinho looked to inject some fresh energy into his hard-working side. And they were doing a good job of keeping their frustrated hosts at bay, with Schmid not being overly troubled between the sticks. A display of six additional minutes gave QPR hope they could find an equaliser, but Pompey held firm to secure that valuable first Championship victory. |
||