QPR 3-0 Cardiff: Hosts go top of the Championship
QPR 3-0 Cardiff: Wolves target Michael Beale sees his side go top of the Championship with Lyndon Dykes scoring twice and Ken Paal on target after Jack Simpson was sent off
- QPR handed manager Michael Beale what may be the perfect farewell
- Lyndon Dykes’ double helped the home side go top of the Championship
- Ken Paal sealed win with a looping header in 74th minute on Wednesday night
If this does prove to be Michael Beale’s final match as Queens Park Rangers manager, at least he leaves on a high note.
But there must also be a bittersweet feeling of what might have been with this Rangers team shaping up into genuine promotion contenders.
On the day Wolves made Beale their No 1 choice to succeed Bruno Lage, his exciting QPR side comfortably beat a Cardiff team forced to play a man light for 72 minutes.
QPR handed manager Michael Beale what may be the perfect farewell on Wednesday night
MATCH FACTS
Queens Park Rangers (4-2-3-1): Dieng; Laird (Kakay 75), Balogun, Clarke-Salter; Johansen (c), Field; Iroegbunam (Amos 71), Chair (Richards 75), Armstrong (Dozzell 59); Dykes (Bonne 75)
Substitutes not used: Archer (GK); Dickie
Manager: Michael Beale
Scorers: Dykes 19 pen, 33; Paal 74
Booked: Johansen, Paal
Cardiff City (4-3-3): Allsop; Simpson, Kipre, Ng (Sang 46), Nkounkou; Rinomhota, Sawyers (Nelson 21), Wintle (c) (Ralls 76); Ojo, Robinson (Harris 61), O’Dowda (Philogene 76)
Substitutes not used: Alnwick (GK); Etete
Caretaker manager: Mark Hudson
Booked: Ng, Nelson, Nkounkou, Wintle
Sent off: Simpson 18
Referee: James Linington
Attendance: 12,805 (754 away)
The Premier League strugglers are optimistic they can have Beale in place by Sunday’s home fixture with Leicester City and his release clause, believed to be £1million, is no obstacle.
It would be a dizzying rise for Beale, a former assistant to Steven Gerrard at Rangers and Aston Villa who only took the QPR job in June. This was only his 16th match as a manager.
But the proactive and confident way QPR are playing this season explains why Beale is an attractive option to rejuvenate a Wolves team that has often looked lifeless this season.
They didn’t have to be anywhere near their best here, with Jack Simpson’s red card for blocking off Sinclair Armstrong 18 minutes in leaving Cardiff with a mountain to climb.
Lyndon Dykes converted the resulting penalty and his tap-in a few minutes later made sure. Kenneth Paal sealed it with a third after the break.
The win took QPR top of the Championship with Burnley and Sheffield United dropping points.
Ironically, Neil Warnock, who led them into the Premier League in 2011, was on the pitch at half-time being inducted into The Forever R’s club.
While we’re pretty certain Warnock, at 73, has finally hung up his tracksuit, QPR will hope they can find the right coach to continue the bright start to the season under Beale.
As the QPR fans absorbed the news, the reaction can only be described as one of collective apathy. There were no jeers aimed in Beale’s direction, no imploring for him to stay.
A fanbase can’t really form too strong a bond with a manager in charge for such a short period of time, even if the Beale’s imprint on the proactive way Rangers played was clear.
Lyndon Dykes’ double helped Queens Park Rangers go top of the Championship
After Cardiff’s Niels Nkounkou fired the first shot in anger high and wide on four minutes, QPR, and especially their Moroccan mischief-maker Ilias Chair, took command.
Chair had four efforts on goal between minutes five and 15 but failed to convert any of them.
His first deflected into the side-netting after Cardiff keeper Ryan Allsop got into a muddle with a clearance. Another effort was dispatched wide after the visitors again failed to properly clear the danger.
Chair then forced Allsop into a parry from a free-kick just outside the box before an audacious attempt from range landed on the roof of the net.
But the moment that led to QPR’s breakthrough, and indeed set the direction of the contest, wasn’t long in arriving.
Dykes struck the opener from the spot in 18th minute after Cardiff were reduced ten men
Armstrong, a 19-year-old Republic of Ireland youth international, offered a bustling presence on the left side of the home attack.
The teenager skinned three Cardiff defenders and penetrated the box before Simpson blocked him off at the moment Armstrong might have shot.
It looked a penalty and referee James Linington concurred but the red card he then brandished seemed harsh. Simpson did swing an arm to check Armstrong’s momentum but not in a dangerous way.
Dykes blasted home from the spot and Cardiff had little choice but to reshuffle, with midfielder Romaine Sawyers sacrificed for defender Curtis Nelson.
Dykes was now very much in the mood and he stretched out a leg to direct Chair’s cross onto the crossbar as he searched for a second.
Ken Paal sealed victory for the home side with a looping header past the Cardiff goalkeeper
He wouldn’t be left disappointed. On 33 minutes, the irrepressible Chair was played in behind through the right channel and his low cross was tapped home by Dykes from very close range.
Cardiff rallied at the beginning of the second-half but couldn’t halve the deficit to make things interesting again and QPR’s steady stream of chances continued.
Sam Field forced Allsop into a fingertip save over the top and he got down to keep out Dykes’ header as the frontman searched for his hat-trick.
The third seemed inevitable and Paal’s looping header from Field’s cross dropped over Allsop.
‘We’re Queens Park Rangers, we’re top of the league,’ sang the home fans. Not a bad position to go out on.
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