Queens Park Rangers 1-0
Stoke City: Harvey Vale
steers QPR to third win in a row.
Report and free match highlights from Queens Park Rangers’ Sky Bet Championship encounter against Stoke City at Loftus Road on Saturday; Harvey Vale scores his first goal for QPR to secure a narrow victory.
Harvey Vale’s first goal for QPR secured a 1-0 success over early high-flyers Stoke at Loftus Road, the west London club’s third straight win. Both teams squandered chances before Rangers broke the deadlock in the 75th minute.
The lively Koki Saito dragged the ball back from the right, and Lewis Baker, attempting to remove the danger, unwittingly set up Vale, who fired a crisp left-footed shot into the far corner.
Then, in stoppage time, Liam Morrison saved a Stoke equaliser by clearing Aaron Cresswell’s shot off the line after goalkeeper Paul Nardi mishandled Sorba Thomas’ cross.
Harvey Vale celebrates after giving QPR the lead over Stoke City. Julien Stephan’s side has responded forcefully to their 7-1 defeat in Coventry last month. Their third straight victory since that disaster was well-deserved, with Stoke riding their luck before Vale struck the net.
Rangers generated several chances in the first half, the greatest of which fell to Vale after only four minutes. After Morrison dispossessed Baker deep in the Stoke half, Richard Kone set up Vale, but the former Chelsea player could only shot weakly at Viktor Johansson.
Johansson also saved a Saito shot before Kone blasted wide of the near post after combining well with Rumarn Burrell.
Kone then came close to giving Rangers the lead in spectacular manner, cutting in from the right side and firing a stinging left-footed shot barely wide of the far post.
QPR maintained the pressure after the break, as Johansson saved another chance from Saito, with Vale unable to convert the rebound. Rangers appeared to be in control, but they were fortunate when Million Manhoef missed a sitter from four yards after being found unmarked by Thomas’ left-wing cross.
It was a terrible miss and Manhoef’s final touch of the game; he was replaced practically immediately.
Stoke were swiftly on the back foot again, with Kone headed over from a Vale corner, Nicolas Madsen firing over, and Johansson reacting quickly to save Vale’s left-footed effort.
Burrell then squandered a wonderful chance to break the tie midway through the second half. Amadou Mbengue hoisted the ball forward to Kone, who expertly delivered it in from the left to his strike partner, but Burrell was unable to get past Johansson.
Vale, on the other hand, gave Johansson no chance with a crushing conclusion.
The managers
QPR’s Julien Stephan: “I had a lot of hesitation in the last 20 minutes, and to be honest, I expected Kaddie to replace Harvey on the pitch.
This was the plan. “I wanted to do something unusual with Kaddie one on one against the left-back. “But we didn’t change, and in the last 15 minutes, I felt the lads were still doing well physically, and entering the pitch in these types of games is not easy.
So we decided to stay like this. “Sometimes you feel you have to change and sometimes you feel you don’t have to change.”
Stoke’s Mark Robins:
“A 1-0 defeat may be regarded as narrow, but I didn’t believe we were anything near our best. “I need to place demands on people and observe their reactions and replies because what we’ve been doing hasn’t been indicative of anything. “They have to answer.
You can’t simply do it when you want to; you also have to do it when you don’t want to, when you’re exhausted or underperforming. “I might be overly severe, but I want them to drive themselves. I will not tolerate that.”
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