Austinâs superb strike gives QPR another win please log in to view this image 23/11/2013 By David McIntyre QPR 1 Charlton 0 Charlie Austinâs spectacular goal gave QPR victory in the derby at Loftus Road. Austin struck five minutes before half-time, finding the corner of the net with a glorious 30-yard shot â his eighth goal of the season. It was enough to secure another win for the hosts, who were denied a second goal when substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips hit the woodwork in the final seconds. Rangers boss Harry Redknapp, celebrating 30 years in management â the club produced a special-edition matchday programme to mark the occasion â saw his team struggle to create clear-cut chances before Austin emphatically broke the deadlock. They had plenty of possession early on, with Niko Kranjcar firing over the Charlton bar before Addicks keeper Ben Hamer saved low shots from Austin and Gary OâNeil. Hamer also dived to his right to keep out Matt Phillipsâ 20-yarder just after the half-hour mark. The visitors rarely threatened, although highly-rated midfielder Jordan Cousins tested Râs keeper Rob Green with a long-range effort shortly before Austinâs opener. With his team looking unlikely to find an equaliser, Charlton boss Chris Powell made a double substitution 13 minutes into the second half, sending Yann Kermorgant and Callum Harriot on in place of Simon Church and Bradley Pritchard. But Rangers continued to dominate and the impressive Hamer tipped away a free-kick from Joey Barton before seeing OâNeilâs deflected shot bounce harmlessly wide. Hamer was also down quickly to stop Wright-Phillipsâ attempt from just outside the penalty area as Powellâs men were forced to defend in numbers. Austin fluffed a late chance to score a second, miscuing from 15 yards out following good work by substitute Andy Johnson. Johnnie Jacksonâs wayward free-kick two minutes from time summed up a frustrating afternoon for Charlton, whose defeat leaves them one place above the relegation zone. QPR, beaten only once in the Championship so far this season, remain in third spot. They were worthy winners despite a below-par display and would have doubled their lead in injury time had OâNeil not missed a decent opportunity before Wright-Phillips came within inches of scoring a fine goal. OâNeil had time and space but hurriedly fired over after being found by Johnsonâs left-wing cross. And Wright-Phillips created room for himself on the edge of the box before trying his luck with a curling shot which beat Hamer but came back off the crossbar. QPR (4-4-1-1): Green; Simpson, Dunne, Hill, Assou-Ekotto; Phillips (Johnson 77), Barton, Jenas (Henry 45), Kranjcar (Wright-Phillips 64); OâNeil; Austin. Subs: Murphy, Traore, Onyemu, Young. http://www.westlondonsport.com/qpr/austins-superb-strike-gives-qpr-another-win
The woman "commentating" was obviously a Charlton fan. The Charlton team names rolled off her tongue whereas there were often pauses whilst she tried to remember the QPR names. I don't know which ex-Charlton prat was the summarizer but kept saying "to be fair" and "if I'm honest" and saying it was a very even game! Probably didn't want to upset his Charlton mates.
Make no mistake Charlton was very weak and never at any point looked like a threat ... If they had of scored then it may of woken us up We were in automatic mode BAE gets my vote as mom he was class throughout and knew where the ball was going before he got it It was men against boys and no one who was there could say we weren't a league of football above them Charlton fans were far better than us QPR are still in a coma but stil top of the league ... We wake up and I stand that we will win it by 10 points
Relieved to read that DT. Could not go today but according to the BBC stats we were all over them. Just one more goal would have moved us to second. We need to put more goals away. Given the tightness at the top, goal difference may well be important come May next year.
A disappointing match to be honest, we were totally dominant in terms of possession but failed to convert that superiority into clear-cut chances. Charlton were extremely poor rarely threatening and with absolutely no cutting-edge. Green had one of his easiest afternoons of the season. The goal when it came from Charlie Austin was superbly taken, his turn and set-up were spot-on and from 30 yards he hit as sweet a shot as you'll see leaving Ben Hamer flailing at nothing. That should've been the opening of the floodgates but, if anything, we took our foot off and had Charlton had anything about them they might have got back into the game but they could've played till midnight without scoring, although, to be fair, so could we. Our defence were imperious again with BAE looking a cut above, O'Neil was busy in midfield and Phillips ran himself into the ground. Kranjcar was quiet and a bit disappointing and SWP was unlucky hitting the bar in injury time. Overall verdict - Must do better... Beside the game it was great to meet the Irish Rs again, some for the first time as well as Kilburn over from Canada and DT turning up for a swift pint...
Excellent summing up. I felt it was flat too and put this down as another prosaic win - on a par with the Ipswich, Barnsley and Middlesbrough matches. That said, 3 points is 3 points. The best match thus far has been Derby, but the key difference for me was that second half Derby came out for the win - as we did too - and it made for a good contest. There really are some poor teams in this division - the gulf between EPL and SBC is huge.
Absolutely on the money Soops. Phillips was great in the first half, but faded a touch in the second period and it was no surprise to see him substituted. When he is up to full match fitness he is going to be unstoppable. I think Austin's all round game deserves a mention. He runs himself into the ground every match, makes himself available for an out ball and constantly chases the opponents defenders. BAE is clearly playing in the wrong division, he looks ridiculously comfortable which will occasionally lead to his downfall from time to time when his concentration wanders. The only time we were really under anything like a little bit of pressure is when we brought it on ourselves with some indifferent passing at the back. A better team may have capitalised on this, but then I think that every week and it hasn't happened yet. I'd like to see Johnson play more, he makes such a nuisance of himself and if O'Neil could shoot would have create a goal out of nothing.
To think, a few people on here were criticising Charlie a few short weeks ago. The man is the best striker we have had at this club in years. He will score 20+ goals this season. Enjoy.
