Hull City vs QPR match report: Joey Barton sent off as Rangers fall to late Dame N'Doye winner

Hull City 2 Queens Park Rangers 1

(Getty)

Joey Barton and Rob Green have probably driven all their managers to despair at some time or other, and now it is poor Chris Ramsey’s turn. Queens Park Rangers responded marvellously after Barton picked up a straight red card for what appeared to be a sly punch at Tom Huddlestone, only for Green to make an unfortunate misjudgement in the final minute to hand Hull City three vital points.

Barton’s action was ridiculous even by his standards. Hull were protesting about a foul by Rangers Darnell Furlong on Robbie Brady around the half-hour mark – it wasn’t that bad, and Anthony Taylor, rightly, considered a yellow card sufficient – but Barton, as captain, first pushed Brady and then, when Huddlestone came up to add a few words, appeared to swing his fist into what might euphemistically be described as the City player’s lower midriff.

Out came the red card and, having picked up a yellow in each of his previous seven league games, Barton had ended the sequence in the worst possible way.Remarkably, Rangers, who had fallen behind when Steven Caulker’s misjudged clearance of Huddlestone’s free-kick was volleyed in by Nikica Jelavic, still went into the break level.

Matt Phillip’s curling cross from the right was a beauty, but the manner in which Charlie Austin rose between Michael Dawson and Alex Bruce to glance home a header was outstanding. It was his 14th Premier League goal this season, making him the top-scoring Englishman.

Ramsey re-organised his team, and as is often the way, 10 men found 11 hard to break down, at least until the final few minutes, when Green produced a world-class save to deny Dame N’Doye.

Nikica Jelavic put the Tigers ahead in the first half (Getty)

Moments later, however, Brady crossed from the left, and Green, in coming to collect, allowed N’Doye to get in front of him and head into the empty net.

Ramsey said he’d rather not comment on Barton’s idiocy until he had “reviewed the incident in the cold light of day”, but acknowledged that Barton had apologised to his team-mates. Barton did so on social media, too, tweeting: “I’ve let my teammates down today and being someone who puts the team above everything else I’m gutted about that.”

Trying to take the positives, Ramsey said his players had reacted “fantastically”, adding that there were no questions over Barton’s captaincy. Hull manager Steve Bruce said: “You can’t be punching people in the knackers, but when the red mist comes we all do stupid things.”

Dame N'Doye grabbed a late winner for Hull (Getty)

His acquisition of N’Doye, for £3m from Lokomotiv Moscow, looks as if it could make all the difference for the Tigers. “I’ve never known a player take a wage cut to the level he has to come and play in England,” he said. “He’s a centre-forward and, with Jelavic looking back to his best, it’s giving us the dimension you need at the bottom of the table.”

Hull: (3-5-2) McGregor; Dawson, Bruce (Ramirez, 52), McShane; Elmohamady, Livermore (Hernandez, 67), Huddlestone, Meyler (Aluko, 82), Brady; N’Doye, Jelavic.

QPR: (4-4-2) Green; Furlong, Ferdinand, Caulker, Yun; Phillips, Henry, Barton, Kranjcar (Traore, 78); Austin (Zarate, 74), Zamora (Doughty, 64).

Referee: A Taylor.

Man of the match: Jelavic.

Match rating: 7/10.