Bristol City bounce back to consign Steve McClaren’s struggling QPR to fourth straight league defeat

Queens Park Rangers 0-3 Bristol City: Matt Taylor opened the scoring before Andreas Weimann’s brace ensured all three points for the away side

Andreas Weimann of Bristol City (center) celebrates after scoring (Getty)

Patience in the QPR boardroom must be disappearing faster than Steve McClaren’s small island of ginger hair.

After facing the worst start to a season in the club’s history, and a 7-1 thrashing at West Brom on Saturday, they found no solace at Loftus Road, as Bristol City collected their first ever victory at the ground.

Looking to switch things up, McClaren made four changes, giving former Swansea captain Angel Rangel his debut, despite concerns over match fitness. The 35-year-old hasn’t had consecutive starts since December 2016.

The game was mostly played in the air to begin with. Every chance they got, QPR would pump hopeful balls forward for Conor Washington to chase, Bristol retaliating with the same style.

Luke Freeman of QPR battles for possession with Marley Watkins (Getty)

It was the home side that should’ve been ahead first on 25 minutes, when Rangel whipped a low ball across the middle of the six-yard box. As it fell to Washington, he fired straight at the keeper. Massimo Luongo tried the spectacular from the following corner, but his over-head kick from outside the box dropped just wide of the post.

QPR continued to push as the momentum carried through the first half, and the chances followed. An excellent ball from Luke Freeman found Pawel Wszolek in space on the left-hand side, but as he dribbled on into the box his shot was blocked easily. You could sense Freeman’s frustration as he mis-hit the follow-up.

The opportunities eventually faded as the Hoops failed to make use of them, and against the run of play, Bristol were suddenly ahead late into the first half. Josh Brownhill’s long, searching ball out to the wing was picked up by Matty Taylor on the break. Dancing past a slipping Jake Bidwell as he turned, the striker found space to curl a shot into the bottom left corner to stun the home fans into a mostly disgruntled silence.

While – if you were being kind – you might put the first goal down to a bit of bad luck, the second was all QPR’s embarrassing defending. As Eliasson broke down the left five minutes into the second half, he had time to spot Andreas Weimann, who had the freedom of Loftus Road to head home - without a defender for yards around him. The same silence followed, but now you could clearly hear the travelling Bristol fans' chants of “getting sacked in the morning” at McClaren.

Weimann then could’ve doubled his tally shortly after as he slipped in the gap between centre-backs Toni Leistner and Alex Baptiste. It was some shocking defending from the pair and the move summed up their lack of communication on the night. Desperate to make a change, off came last season’s player of the year for QPR, Luongo.

Rangers weren’t going down without a tussle, and just after the hour there was a chance to get back into the game when City keeper Niki Maenpaa came out of his box to meet Connor Washington. As the striker rounded him to the left, his ball across goal found Ebere Eze’s, whose shot was blocked agonisingly on the line. As they drove forward once more, substitute Matt Smith left Loftus Road pulling their hair out again, as he headed just over from close range, with 20 minutes to go.

Time was running out, and Bristol looked to kill off the game. Running into the box on the counter, Brownhill had time to control, shoot, and control again as it parried back off Matt Ingram. As he laid a low pass across the box, QPR left Weimann unmarked again to add his second, and Bristol’s third. The visitors had taken their chances tonight where Rangers handn't, grabbing not just their first win of the season, but their first away win of the calendar year.

While the chants of “getting sacked in the morning” were limited to the away section before, they’d now spread to the rest of the ground, as the home fans streamed towards the exits en mass.

In the matchday programme, McClaren had apologised profusely for their previous result against West Brom, branding it a “completely unacceptable” performance, and promising a reaction. But QPR are still glued to the foot of the table, with few excuses left to make.