Andre Dozzell’s first goal for QPR helped secure a 2-0 victory that leaves winless Middlesbrough at the foot of the Sky Bet Championship.
Dozzell’s powerful strike from outside the area two minutes before half-time put Gareth Ainsworth’s side in command at the Riverside.
And the 24-year-old midfielder, who moved to Loftus Road two years ago from Ipswich, was among the celebrations 19 minutes from time when Jack Colback hammered in the QPR’s second.
It was a much-needed second victory of the season for QPR but one that has left Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough without a win in five league games.
Neither side posed a threat to either of the goalkeepers in the opening exchanges, despite QPR finding the space down the flanks.
Ilias Chair, who remained at QPR despite reported transfer window interest from Leicester, was involved down the left a couple of times in the opening few minutes.
The Morocco international was able to get to the byline and pick out a team-mate in the area on both occasions without troubling former Rs keeper Seny Dieng’s net.
When QPR did push forward through Chair, Kenneth Paal or Paul Smyth down the opposite flank, Middlesbrough were alert to prevent shots hitting the target.
And it was a similar story in the opposite direction, where Isaiah Jones, Sammy Silvera and Morgan Rogers looked the most likely to create something early on for the hosts.
But the only real chance of note in the first 40 minutes was when Jones controlled a Silvera pass before his shot was stopped by the foot of Asmir Begovic.
That arrived in the 25th minute and Middlesbrough striker Emmanuel Latte Lath was also denied by Begovic 10 minutes later when he tried to beat him from a tight angle.
Smyth highlighted what danger he could pose when he worked his way into the area from the right and his low delivery across the six-yard box was crying out for Sinclair Armstrong to stretch to meet the ball, but it evaded him.
Another Smyth run caused panic in the home defence seconds before Dozzell found himself in loads of space 25 yards from goal. The midfielder’s thunderous drive crashed in off the left-hand post to put QPR ahead.
And in the sixth minute of stoppage time Begovic dived to his right to turn away a downward Darragh Lenihan header from Jonny Howson’s free-kick to keep the visitors in front.
After the restart frustrations started to grow for Middlesbrough.
Lath, who had already been denied by Begovic again, wasted a fantastic situation when Boro had a three-against-one on a counter-attack. QPR were gifted the ball, broke and Dieng prevented Sinclair from scoring at the other end.
Middlesbrough handed second-half appearances to new signings Sam Greenwood and Lewis O’Brien following loan moves from Leeds and Nottingham Forest respectively.
And Begovic was on hand once more to prevent Lath scoring after the striker linked up with Silvera in the penalty area on the hour.
Soon after a phantom whistle brought a short interruption in play, QPR had the important second goal.
Smyth again got to the line and beyond full-back Lukas Engel. His low cross led to Chair’s shot being blocked before former Newcastle and Sunderland midfielder Colback powered his drive into the net, and there was no way back for Boro after that.
'Disappointed' Parker laments disallowed goal in West Brom stalemate
Burnley head coach Scott Parker was left "disappointed" with officials after Jaidon Anthony saw his goal ruled out in their goalless draw with West Brom on Thursday.
The Clarets are now without a win in their last four Championship games, while also failing to score in their last three fixtures in the division.
Anthony, however, thought he had put Burnley ahead in the 59th minute when he headed Lucas Pires' delivery to the back post beyond Alex Palmer.
But referee Tom Nield felt the Burnley winger had pushed Callum Styles in an attempt to reach the ball, thus disallowing the goal, much to the frustration of Parker.
"I've watched it back again - it's a goal. It's a valid goal and disappointing the ref has decided to give that decision," Parker told Sky Sports.
"There's a little hand but nothing to influence the player too much.
"Overall we looked very good, good value. At this present moment the chances are not going in (but) overall today the attacking threat was more positive.
"I am really encouraged by that. It's a young team, in a process."
Anthony also gave his version of events at full-time, echoing the comments made my his manager.
"Yeah frustrating, at the time I didn’t think it was a foul. The defender didn’t seem to complain either," Anthony added.
"I want to score more, I don’t really get too many headers, it felt good going in, I turned around and it was a heartbreaking moment to see it ruled out.
"We haven’t created enough in the past games, but today I felt like we had chances."
Carlos Corberan, unsurprisingly, shared a different view of the incident.
"From my point of view from the bench it was a foul," the West Brom boss said. "In general as a team we were good in the first half and we created some opportunities.
"In the second half they were better than us until the last third of it. They were more compact than us and we struggled to create chances."
West Brom have now drawn their last six games in the Championship, with Thursday's stalemate their third straight draw without a goal at the Hawthorns.
And the Baggies struggled again to find that clinical edge in the final third, registering just one shot on target from the 11 efforts they managed against Burnley.
Despite the result, West Brom moved up to fifth in the table, while Burnley remained in fourth, but the Clarets are now four points behind the automatic promotion places.
Coventry sack longest-serving EFL boss Mark Robins
Coventry City have sacked the EFL's longest-serving manager, Mark Robins, after almost eight years in charge.
Robins returned for a second stint in charge at the Coventry Building Society Stadium back in 2017 and led the club from League Two to the Championship.
Coventry were also 90 minutes away from a remarkable return to the Premier League but lost the play-off final to Luton Town at the end of the 2022-23 season.
They placed ninth last season but did return to Wembley where they were beaten by Manchester United in a dramatic FA Cup semi-final.
Across his second tenure, Robins oversaw 387 matches, winning 157 (D98 L132), averaging a win percentage of 39.97%, a total only bettered during spells with Rotherham United (43.41%) and his first stint with the Sky Blues (51.52%).
It has been a slow start to the 2024-25 campaign, though, and Wednesday's 2-1 defeat to Derby County left them 17th but level on points with Plymouth Argyle in the relegation places.
Rhys Carr, who joined as a first-team coach back in July, has been named as interim head coach.
Kompany unbothered by modest scoreline as Bayern beat Benfica
Vincent Kompany was pleased with the way Bayern Munich attacked at home to Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday, despite only winning 1-0.
The victory ended a run of back-to-back defeats for the German team in the competition, leaving them 17th in the league with six points from four matches.
"It's important for us to win a game this way. In the past, we always scored three, four or five goals, but today we stayed calm," Kompany told the official club website.
"We had 24 shots on goal and the opposition had one. Not every finish was dangerous, but we controlled the game. There are games in which the last pass just isn't as precise as necessary.
"We know we can decide matches within the first five minutes if we're on good form. That didn't happen today. But in the end, it's the Champions League. It was a good game and a good win."
Midfielder Jamal Musiala scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute, turning home Harry Kane's knockdown after Leroy Sane had played the ball across the box.
Sane is yet to start a game in any competition for Bayern this season, coming on in the 56th minute on Wednesday, but his contribution was not lost on Kompany.
"Obviously, I'm really happy to have the quality of Leroy Sane and Michael Olise in the same position - not to forget Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry. You can say Leroy turned this game around today," he said.
The goalscorer Musiala, meanwhile, was pleased after scoring his fifth goal in all competitions for the club this season.
“We had good moments, but the opposition played and defended well. Of course, there are still things we can improve, but it's important to have won the three points," he said.
"I don't know what's going on with me scoring headers at the moment. The ball dropped nicely for me a few times and I just keep trying to get into good positions I can score easy goals from.
"We all knew we had to win tonight and we did a good job. We had a tough time settling into the game, but we can't win by four or five goals every time. Sometimes a 1-0 win has to be enough.”
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