Hull City 2-1 Queens Park Rangers

  • Published
Dame N'DoyeImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

N'Doye was a £3m signing from Lokomotiv Moscow on transfer deadline day

  • QPR play 58 minutes with 10 men

  • Austin scores 14th league goal this season

  • Hull secure first back-to-back wins this season

  • Jelavic becomes Hull's record Premier League scorer

Dame N'Doye scored his second Premier League goal in as many games as Hull City earned a late win over 10-man QPR to move clear of the relegation zone.

Nikica Jelavic volleyed the home side into a 16th-minute lead from Steven Caulker's poor headed clearance.

Charlie Austin then headed a first-half equaliser for QPR just minutes after Joey Barton had been sent off for lashing out at Tom Huddlestone.

Hull move up to 15th, while QPR are above the drop zone on goal difference.

Media caption,

N'Doye may make difference - Bruce

Both sides headed into the match buoyed by recent victories, and Hull manager Steve Bruce stuck with the same team that beat Aston Villa 2-0 at the KC Stadium last week as he sought his first back-to-back wins of the Premier League season.

After a nervy start it was no surprise that the breakthrough came from a set-piece.

Huddlestone's lofted delivery was only partially cleared and Jelavic was waiting to volley past Rob Green to notch his eighth goal of the season and become Hull's all-time leading Premier League goalscorer with 12.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Joey Barton has been sent off nine times in his career

QPR responded quickly as debutant right-back Darnell Furlong - son of former Hoops striker Paul - mustered their first effort on goal. But his powerful header from the edge of the area was beaten away from the top corner by goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

Furlong was then indirectly involved in a pivotal moment when his foul on Jelavic, for which he received a yellow card, resulted in the scuffle that led to a red card for visiting captain Barton.

Barton, who was on a Premier League record run of seven consecutive yellow cards, appeared to be playing peacemaker but a soft shove on Hull defender Alex Bruce was followed by a swing at Huddlestone's groin and referee Anthony Taylor deemed it a sending-off offence.

Media caption,

Hull City 2-1 QPR: Chris Ramsey interview after defeat

A feeling of injustice galvanised the away side and when Matt Phillips delivered yet another curling cross from the right, Austin headed home. The England hopeful was close to joining Hull in £4.5m move from Burnley in 2013, only for Tigers to pull out because of concern over the striker's knee.

Austin, who has scored 44 goals for QPR since the that move broke down, was keen to remind the home fans of what they missed out on, celebrating his equaliser by hobbling about holding his supposedly dodgy knee.

But it was Hull, and birthday-boy N'Doye who had the last laugh, as the 30-year-old Senegal striker, a £3m signing from Lokomotiv Moscow on transfer deadline day, headed in at the death after being denied by a great save from Green moments earlier.

Hull City manager Steve Bruce: "I think it's happened to us five or six times this year when we have conceded late on, so we were due one, that is for sure. Robert Green made a great save just 30 seconds before and I thought: 'We would take a point from here.'

"When we did get 2-1 up we had five centre-forwards on the pitch and I thought 'what am I going to do now?' It was back to the school days.

"It's always been important for us that Nikica Jelavic stays fit. That was the key for us. He was injured in the warm-up at Arsenal in October, he had an operation and came back too quickly from that. We needed something if Jelavic broke down, and Dame N'Doye I first saw in Denmark in the Champions League.

"We had to work extremely hard to get him but he has now got two in two games, and that could just be the difference."

QPR manager Chris Ramsey: "I am absolutely disappointed for the players, they could not have given more today. They tried to keep that point we had at half-time, but we cannot let it crush us because we have got more games to come.

"Robert Green made an outstanding save, but unfortunately [there was] a lapse of concentration right at the end, and that is what happens in the Premier League.

"It was a long time to go with 10 men, and to be honest for parts of it we tried to play but it was difficult. Hull are a very good side."

Image source, PA
Image caption,

Charlie Austin has scored 14 Premier League goals for QPR this season

Image source, Reuters
Image caption,

Nikica Jelavic was also on the scoresheet in last week's win against Aston Villa

Image source, Reuters
Image caption,

Joey Barton was on a Premier League record run of seven consecutive yellow cards

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Dame N'Doye celebrated his 30th birthday with a goal

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