Norwich head coach David Wagner was delighted with his side’s hard-fought 1-0 win over QPR – despite admitting it had been a below-par attacking performance from his side.

The Canaries made it back-to-back wins in the Championship after a poor run that had seen Wagner’s position called into question, with Hwang Ui-jo’s 21st-minute goal settling a scrappy encounter.

That proved to be the hosts’ only effort on target but the boss wasn’t complaining afterwards.

“I think a 1-0 win like that is perhaps the best sort of win for me in the circumstances,” said Wagner.

“Everyone knows we can score goals – the stats tell you that – but we have been conceding too many goals and to keep a clean sheet was very pleasing.

“We were very organised defensively, kept them as far away from our goal as possible, and didn’t give them many chances.

“The guys out there all did their job because as a team we need to be more solid than we have been.

“Was it our most entertaining game offensively? No, but you can’t always score two or three goals to win a game and that is back-to-back wins now, which feels good, certainly much better than it did a few weeks ago.”

Wagner was full of praise for Hwang, who has been the subject of allegations regarding his personal life in his home country.

“It hasn’t been easy for him but his head is with us and he proved what a good footballer he is,” said Wagner.

“He has great technique, good work ethic and he understands the game well. He took his goal really well and gave us 70 minutes or so, which is more than I expected after his international duty.”

A scrappy game with a scarcity of goalmouth action at either end was settled by a well-taken goal from South Korean striker Hwang, who is on loan at Carrow Road from Nottingham Forest.

A pass through the middle from Gabriel Sara caught the visiting defence napping and Hwang was able to run through unopposed before beating Asmir Begovic with a powerful low shot into the bottom corner.

That was just about the only clear-cut opportunity Norwich created all afternoon while it was a similar story for the visitors, with a stoppage-time strike from Sam Field that flew narrowly wide perhaps their best moment.

QPR boss Marti Cifuentes felt his side had competed well but admitted they needed to improve in and around the opposition box.

“In the three games since I took over we have competed well and certainly haven’t been worse than any of our opponents,” he said when reflecting on start of two draws and a defeat.

“I have seen some good things in all our performances – and I have seen improvements again today.

“We were well organised and played the ball around well at times but the most important thing here is the result and I am obviously not happy with that.

“What we need is more sharpness in the final third, in and around the box. We need to be able to penetrate and score goals, otherwise all the other good things don’t count for anything.

“What I have seen here so far both during games and on the training pitch is a group of players who are committed to the cause and are working hard to turn things around – now we need to get the results to go with that.”