Championship: Queens Park Rangers 2-0 Nottingham Forest
- Published
Lyndon Dykes scored on his QPR debut having joined from Livingston earlier this summer
Lyndon Dykes marked his debut by scoring a penalty to help Queens Park Rangers open the season with victory over Nottingham Forest at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
The 24-year-old was felled by Tobias Figueiredo after getting into the box, and stepped up to thrash the spot-kick past Brice Samba into the top corner.
Ilias Chair followed up to swipe home a late second for the home side after Dykes had his initial shot clawed away by Samba.
It might have been a greater tally, as Rob Dickie's bundle home was ruled out for a foul early on, but in truth Rangers lived a little dangerously on occasion.
Lewis Grabban missed a hatful of chances throughout the game, in particular glancing wide in the first half and then firing wide when found by the lively Sammy Ameobi.
Ryan Yates also hit the bar as Forest doggedly chased an equaliser, but the late second ensured the Rs hung on to tie up the points and record a first home win over Forest in four attempts.
Queensland-born Dykes, a junior rugby league star in Australia who switched to football thanks to the guidance of his Scottish father, cost Rangers a six-figure fee and has already repaid some of that sum with his opening day heroics.
Since signing for the west London club, he has made his Scotland debut, scored his first international goal and now has a Championship goal to his name.
It was a satisfying win for boss Mark Warburton, who had an unhappy nine-month spell in charge at Forest before taking charge of the Hoops.
Goals proved an Achilles heel for Forest last season as the second-lowest scorers in the top half of the table, and despite adding creativity in Luke Freeman and goals in Lyle Taylor, it was a familiar story for head coach Sabri Lamouchi.
Grabban and Joe Lolley were the only players to reach double figures last term, but both disappointed on their opening appearance of the campaign.
Freeman, who played 112 games for Rangers before moving to Sheffield United, was unable to provide the ammunition on a low-key debut, while Taylor came off the bench but again had limited impact.
QPR manager Mark Warburton:
"That's what we hoped Lyndon Dykes would do. You look at him first at Queen of the South, then look at him for Livingston scoring goals for one of the smaller teams in Scotland, coming up against Rangers and Celtic and really troubling high-quality centre-halves.
"We spoke here about what he could bring and you saw what he can offer in both penalty boxes. His work ethic is outstanding, he can link up play and has an eye for goal.
"Teams became aware of him but we moved swiftly and got the deal done. It's a fantastic piece of business by the club."
Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi:
"In a decent first half we conceded absolutely nothing. Then the first mistake, we gave them the penalty - and we gave them the three points.
"We had at least three chances to come back. After the penalty we created more. Without a mistake, and with more efficiency in the box, the game is in our hands.
"In the first game of the season you need to be patient and clever. But we were not clever and not good enough to make the difference and score."