Kieran Morgan equalised for QPR with his first goal for the club
Teenager Kieran Morgan came off the bench to rescue a point for QPR against Coventry City in just his second senior match.
Haji Wright had given the visitors the lead inside four minutes at Loftus Road in a big game at the bottom of the Championship.
Hoops boss Marti Cifuentes sent on Morgan and Lucas Andersen in the second half, and 18-year-old Morgan’s 63rd-minute volley set up a tense finish with both sides pushing for a win.
Substitutes Ellis Simms for Coventry and Lucas Andersen had late efforts saved but neither side was able to find the winner.
The result moves the home side off the foot of the table while the Sky Blues join them in the relegation zone.
Wright’s fourth league goal of the season got the visitors off to the perfect start, finishing off after Milan van Ewijk had seen a header saved by Paul Nardi following a fluid move on the break.
QPR responded well to going behind, but Coventry frustrated the hosts and home crowd, taking all the time they could to slow the game down and mostly restricting the likes of Koki Saito - who was an early substitute for the injured Kenneth Paal - Ilias Chair, Paul Smyth and Kader Dembele to long-range efforts.
The visitors almost doubled their lead soon after the break with Brandon Thomas-Asante just unable to turn in at the far post as his side took control of the match.
The equaliser came against the run of play as Andersen and Jimmy Dunne combined to set Smyth free down the right.
The Northern Irishman's cross was met on the volley by Morgan in the middle, who sent the ball into the turf and it bounced over Oliver Dovin and into the back of the net.
Nardi produced a superb stop to deny Simms a fourth goal in four appearances against the Hoops before Dovin saved Andersen’s header in the last play of the game.
QPR boss Marti Cifuentes, speaking to BBC Radio London:
“Not the result we wanted. We’re here to win games and it’s only a draw.
“Especially the way we started the game, you can say it’s a positive reaction from the team.
“We start losing after three minutes and Ken (Paal) gets injured.
“We have been creating a lot of chances, what has been missing is in the final third, that’s something we need to work on and we’ll keep working to improve.
“I have much bigger standards than what we set today. But I do believe this team can play and must play much better than we did today."
On Kieran Morgan: “I’m very happy for him, it’s his second appearance for the club. Two good games for him. He will keep working, he’s very humble and keep his feet on the ground and he will be, hopefully, a very good player in the future for QPR.”
Coventry manager Mark Robins, speaking to PA Media:
“I think it was a game between two teams who lacked a bit of belief and confidence.
“We started brightly, got our goal and that gave us confidence and belief for a short spell. But both teams kept giving the ball way; ‘you have it, no you have it’.
“We ended up just giving the ball away too often and couldn’t get that foothold. That could be the lack of confidence because we haven’t won games.
“It was a poor goal to concede. The goalkeeper should have saved it. We can’t concede a goal like that.
“And then when Ellis has a team-mate in a better position to score a goal, you have to pass it to them.”
