It was not quite a dream start for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Queens Park Rangers. They were unable to build on the pair of victories achieved by Neil Warnock as caretaker, but it could have been much worse than a clean sheet against fellow yo-yo club Burnley. The new manager has a platform to build on and will have been encouraged by an impressive defensive performance, though their glaring weakness was on full display.
You must go back to 24 October to find the last time a game involving QPR featured more than one goal. Without Charlie Austin, the scorer of 33% of their 24 and introduced for the final half-hour as he continues his recovery from a calf injury, they lack a cutting edge. Hasselbaink, with almost 200 career goals to his name, will relish focusing on their profligacy.
“The clean sheet was very important and we’ll move on,” he said. “The performance was the most important thing. It was very good, especially in the first half even if we suffered a little in the second.”
Burnley are suffering, too – from a severe dose of drawitis. This stalemate extended their winless run to five and, though they remain difficult to beat, losing only one of those games, victories need to arrive soon. “We’re on a funny run, we haven’t won in five but only lost once in 12,” Sean Dyche said. “It’s a good point with a lot going against us.”
Frustratingly for both sides, chances were plentiful. QPR created 17 but only four hit the target. Burnley were as wasteful, testing Rob Green twice from nine efforts.
The first of those came inside 90 seconds when Joey Barton, making his first appearance at Loftus Road since leaving for Lancashire in the summer, almost caught out Green with a free-kick that swung in the strong wind.
QPR soon settled and for much of the half they were on top. Chances arrived often in the opening 20 minutes but their finishing was askew. Leroy Fer, Matt Phillips and James Perch fired over from range, impeded by the blustery conditions, while a left-foot drive from Phillips forced Tom Heaton into a good save. “We thought they would try and press us but wouldn’t be able to keep it up for 95 minutes,” Dyche said. “We absorbed it really well – their efforts were from distance.”
At the opposite end Andre Gray incessantly hassled the QPR defence and almost got on the end of a long punt from Barton only for an alert Green to emerge from his line to collect, but the game was mostly brash and unsophisticated.
Fair but fearsome challenges flew in across the pitch and while effort was plentiful, quality play was sporadic. The introduction of Austin an hour in shook things up and he played a key a role in the move of the game seven minutes after coming on to a warm greeting.
Phillips, shifting to the wing vacated by Junior Hoilett, danced down the left, beating three before feeding to Austin 25 yards out. The former Burnley striker considered shooting but stalled momentarily and fed to Sandro on his right. He failed to connect cleanly and Heaton was down low to save.
Burnley had a spell of dominance at that point but got little change from QPR’s sturdy defence. Barton swung over and also teed up Sam Vokes for a header that landed on the roof of the net, before some last-ditch defending saved them from consecutive defeats. Austin had a curled effort deflected for a corner by Michael Keane approaching the 90th minute and from that Scott Arfield was on hand to clear off the line from Grant Hall.
