Luton Town 0-2 Queens Park Rangers: Charlie Austin goal helps R's win
- Published
Charlie Austin (left) scored twice in the final game of his first spell with QPR in December 2015
Charlie Austin scored on his first appearance since rejoining QPR as they beat Luton for their first win in 10 Championship games.
The striker re-signed on loan from West Brom on Saturday and was in the right place to nod in at the back post after team-mate Geoff Cameron had flicked on a corner.
Luton were unbeaten in six league matches at Kenilworth Road and should have responded after the break, James Collins slicing wide when through on goal and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu clipping the woodwork with a curling effort from just outside the box.
Centre-back Rob Dickie headed over as the R's continued to carry a threat before substitute Macauley Bonne slotted home a second from an inch-perfect Albert Adomah pass.
Victory moves Mark Warburton's side up to 18th, five points clear of the relegation zone and to within six points of the 14th-placed Hatters.
Former Burnley man Austin, 31, scored 45 goals in 82 league games in his first spell at QPR to earn a move to Southampton but had been restricted to five appearances off the bench for West Brom in the Premier League this season.
He led the line well until being taken off on 59 minutes, poaching his goal and combining well with strike partner Lyndon Dykes.
Luton were off-colour - managing just two shots on target - although Hatters boss Nathan Jones opted not to make any changes until the 77th minute.
On-loan Leicester midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall skewed a decent chance off-target and forced a decent low save from Semy Dieng but Luton have now won just one of their past 19 league games against QPR.
Luton boss Nathan Jones:
"It's really disappointing, we started really well, front-footed, then for the rest of the first half we were really passive.
"We dropped right off, allowed them to do what they wanted with the football, no aggression, no pressure on the ball and that's been absolutely the polar opposite of how we've been here, and that's the really disappointing thing.
"Second half we came out, we wanted to step on to them, we went back to the original game plan.
"Then we were hit by a sucker punch when we were chasing, but it's really disappointing as this was a game we felt was a real opportunity."
QPR manager Mark Warburton:
"Whenever you bring in an experienced pro like Charlie [Austin] it always lifts the squad.
"He'll help all the players undoubtedly, but it's a tough league and we've got to get him fit.
"They score goals freely, they've put good teams to the sword here, so we knew what we would face, but I thought we were very good in the first half.
"Second half, they're going to commit bodies forward, but we dropped off a little bit too deep and were on the back foot but were always going to break on the transition late in the game."