A strike from substitute Georgie Kelly denied new QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes victory in a 1-1 draw at Rotherham in the Championship.
The Spanish coach took charge of his first game with the Londoners following the departure of Gareth Ainsworth and was heading for a win after Ilias Chair put the visitors ahead before Kelly struck.
Chair provided the first spark for the visitors when he dashed in off the left flank before curling an effort just wide of the post from the edge of the box.
With both teams struggling for form and in the relegation zone, it was no surprise to see few chances created in the opening 20 minutes.
Rotherham’s first shot on goal troubled Asmir Begovic as Christ Tiehi’s bouncing effort came through a crowd of bodies before being touched out for a corner.
They had a better opening moments later but Fred Onyedinma and Jordan Hugill got in each other’s way before the latter lashed over the top on the angle.
Hugill again got clear down the right-hand side but this time opted to try to find Sam Clucas instead of shooting and QPR survived the danger.
Chair was proving the visitors’ chief instigator and he again cut in from the left before firing off target from the edge of the box.
Onyedinma forced a parried save from Begovic and the rebound just eluded Cafu for what would have been a tap-in.
QPR went in front on 50 minutes and it was the dangerman Chair who produced the magic.
He cut inside and evaded a Rotherham challenge before curling an unstoppable effort beyond the reach of Viktor Johansson.
The away side were buoyed by the goal and almost got another through Elijah Dixon-Bonner but his effort was turned against the woodwork by Johansson.
Cohen Bramall created a good chance for the Millers as he scampered down the left and found Cafu but he could not get enough on a glancing header and it drifted wide.
Rotherham’s leveller came on 70 minutes as Bramall delivered it, with his free-kick being lashed in at the back post by Kelly.
Chair again tested Johansson with a low stinging drive but it was held onto by the Sweden international.
Rotherham were also going for the win and came close to taking the lead when Hakeem Odoffin saw his header crash back off the woodwork.
An end-to-end finale saw both sides threaten to nab the points.
Jimmy Dunne was just inches away from getting a touch on Kenneth Paal’s wicked cross for the visitors.
QPR should have won it in added on time but Johansson managed to keep out a shot from Charlie Kelman from point-blank range.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
