Preston deny Stephan winning start as QPR boss

Milutin Osmajic scored 15 goals for Preston last season

Milutin Osmajic's superbly-taken equaliser prevented Julien Stephan making a winning start as QPR boss as Preston claimed a point in their Championship opener at Loftus Road.

The Montenegro striker raced on to a route-one clearance from Preston goalkeeper Daniel Iversen to chip a beautifully delicate finish over Joe Walsh.

QPR winger Karamoko Dembele had earlier created Rangers' opener with a driving run into the Preston box, his cross ricocheting in off Ben Whiteman from Andrew Hughes' attempted clearance.

The R's came closest to winning it as Dembele's fierce strike was well pushed away by Iversen while Preston enjoyed plenty of late pressure but could not convert that into clear-cut openings.

North End fashioned the game's first chance, courtesy of debutant Thierry Small's inviting cross that Lewis Gibson met flush with a header that he could only divert wide of Walsh's upright.

And it seemed it was not going to be Preston's day when Hughes' efforts to clear the danger from Dembele's solo run and cross only resulted in an own-goal for helpless team-mate Whiteman.

The R's had been knocking on the door before that, Dembele twice going close, stretching and just failing to divert in a teasing Ilias Chair cross before stinging Iversen's palms from an acute angle.

But their threat – Dembele's second-half effort apart – faded after Osmajic's classy leveller as Preston gained the ascendancy for lengthy spells without really extending Walsh too often.

What was the talking point?

Fans of both of these sides may have harboured fears of a hangover heading into the new campaign, so miserable have their respective 2025 calendar years been thus far.

QPR lost 10 of their final 18 league games last season and placed boss Marti Cifuentes on gardening leave before he eventually resolved a protracted exit and went on to join Leicester.

Preston's malaise was even more pronounced, staying up by just a point on the last day of the season, having won just one of their final 15 games during an awful downturn in form.

But both sets of supporters will have seen enough here to have reasons for optimism that better times could lie ahead this season.

Rangers were incredibly bright going forward in the first half while Preston shook off the losing habit of the spring to respond well to going behind and earn a point Paul Heckingbottom's side fully merited.

Ben Whiteman's own-goal came just four minutes before half-time - but Preston levelled only three minutes into the second half

Which players stood out?

Both sides featured a sprinkling of summer arrivals but the majority of players on show were with these clubs last term and it was a handful of those who made the biggest impacts.

Chair was his usual box of tricks for Rangers, at the centre of almost all of their promising moments in the final third and even trying a cheeky lob from his own half that drifted wide.

But it was Dembele, in his second season at Loftus Road, who shone brightest, the run that yielded the opener one of a number of impressive forays from the former Celtic youngster that could have led to further goals.

Preston stopper Iversen, too, deserves a mention, not only for two smart stops to deny Dembele but also the quick-thinking long clearance that created Osmajic's excellently-executed equaliser.

What's next?

Both sides are in Carabao Cup first-round action on Tuesday night against lower-league opposition.

Preston head to League Two club Barrow (19:30 BST), while QPR visit newly-relegated League One outfit Plymouth Argyle (19:45 BST).

What the managers said

QPR head coach Julien Stephan to BBC Radio London:

"It was a very good first-half performance from the players. It was not perfect but it was very, very good.

"Sometimes we did not have enough players in the box to finish a situation so we need to learn and improve on that.

"The goal we conceded at the beginning of the second half had an impact on the players and it was a difficult 15-20 minutes after that but they tried.

"I am a little bit disappointed with the result but not the performance."

Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom to BBC Radio Lancashire:

"It's a good point overall when you're away from home and you go behind. To come back and be the stronger team in the second half, I'm pleased with.

"Average first half but much more intent and aggression and how we want to play in the second half.

"I've always said it will take a good team to beat us when we play with that mindset."