Ilias Chair opened the scoring with his first goal of the season in the 21st minute with a rocket of a finish after forcing a mistake
Derby County’s first game under new manager John Eustace resulted in a 4-0 loss against Queens Park Rangers, leaving him disappointed.
Eustace, who concluded his career at Derby, did not get the dream return he hoped for after joining QPR from Blackburn Rovers on Thursday, as QPR scored twice in either half.
Ilias Chair scored his first goal of the season in the 21st minute, using a rocket finish after forcing a mistake.
Though Ebou Adams, who gave away the ball for Chair’s goal, fired over the bar shortly after, Koki Saito kept QPR in control at half-time with a fine finish 10 minutes before the break.
Chair put the hosts out of sight just before the hour-mark, knocking the ball in at the near post before Ronnie Edwards headed in the fourth nine minutes later to truly put the game to bed.
The Rams are now winless in their last nine league away games (D3 L6), and they slipped back into the relegation zone, with their goal difference now inferior to Hull City’s after the loss.
Eustace can take some positives from the performance, but he conceded that it is not enough at the moment with their league status in the balance.
“We started really well. They scored a really great goal and took the wind out of their sails. This is a side lacking in confidence,” he told Sky Sports.
“We’ve got a lot of hard work on the training pitch now. The manner of the goals wasn’t good enough. There’s lots to take out of the game, lots we can work on.
“The lads kept going, their attitudes were very good. We’ve just got to get back on the training pitch. I wanted to see a good positive performance tonight. I didn’t get it, but we will start on Monday.
“We are in a relegation fight; everyone can see that, and we’ve just got to make sure we are ready for that fight.”
The Hoops surged into the top half of the table thanks to the victory, leapfrogging Watford and Norwich City up to 11th ahead of the rest of the weekend’s fixtures.
QPR have now won back-to-back matches against newly promoted sides, having also beaten Oxford United in December, after going winless in their previous 11 such matches beforehand (D3 L8).
However, given their recent home form – they have won seven of their last eight – the result may not come as a surprise.
Despite the rampant scoreline, QPR only managed 0.88 expected goals (xG) from their 12 shots, not much higher than Derby’s 0.56 xG, and Marti Cifuentes further highlighted their quality.
“I am very pleased, not just with the result but with the mentality to bounce back after the disappointment we had in our last game,” Cifuentes said to Sky Sports.
“It was a difficult start to the game, but I think we showed some quality which was very important.
“With a new manager, we didn’t know what to expect. They played with a back four, which is something they have not done for a while. The first 15 or 20 minutes was quite difficult for us but Ilias showed his quality, which was an important step for us to keep pushing during the first half.
“He can do well everywhere on the pitch as he’s such a good player. We’re trying to make sure he has good impact on the team as he’s coming back from two unfortunate injuries, but he’s a very important player and today once again he showed how good he can be.”
