Queens Park Rangers manager Julien Stéphan believes his side’s patience and growing maturity were key to their 2-1 victory over Lincoln City at Loftus Road.
The hosts made an impressive start against the Imps, taking the lead through Richard Kone after 11 minutes, but were pegged back by Dom Jefferies before the break. Rangers dominated much of the second half without finding a breakthrough, until Glen Kamara struck with ten minutes remaining to secure all three points.
It was a result that Stéphan felt demonstrated his team’s development, particularly after previous matches against Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End had ended in draws despite promising performances. For the Frenchman, the most pleasing aspect was his players’ ability to recover from Lincoln’s equaliser and maintain their belief in the approach that had served them well early in the contest.
“It’s a great win, it’s a great win,” he told press after the game.
“We knew that it could be a tough game and it was a tough game.
“I think the players started the game very well, with good intention, very dominant, good control, scored good goals after a good situation, good movement collectively.
“Kept the control during probably 30 minutes and the first little mistake that we did, we conceded a transition and after the game turned during six, seven minutes to create a better momentum for them.
“And yeah, we knew that we needed to correct just a couple of things during half-time. We didn’t restart very well the first five or six minutes, but after it was OK.”
The decisive moment came through Kamara, who finished after an impressive passage of attacking play involving substitute Ilias Chair. Stéphan was particularly delighted with the build-up, believing the goal demonstrated how his side had improved collectively rather than relying solely on moments of individual quality.
“We created good momentum during the second half, didn’t score. But I think the big improvement that the players did, if I compare to Bolton or a game like this, Preston, when we didn’t win, we stayed with a draw, it’s like they continue to believe and they continue to stick to the plan and they scored.
“For me, a beautiful second goal. Not only the relationship between Chair and Kamara, it’s all the situation before. The collective movement was just outstanding.
“So they deserve a big, big credit to be able to stay calm and I think it’s a good sign of maturity. And yeah, it’s a good sign because I think we grow the last week, the last month.
“We are better now collectively. It doesn’t mean that it was perfect and we have a margin, of course. We can develop some things, especially in the last third, to be more clinical, to have some better decisions sometimes.
“But I enjoyed a lot to see these players playing like this and to work with them every day on the pitch because they want to progress. They want to learn. And yeah, it was a good one for us.”
While City were left to reflect on a third successive Championship defeat, Rangers could take encouragement from turning their second-half dominance into a winning goal rather than settling for another draw.
For Stéphan, the result was further evidence that his squad are beginning to turn their improvement on the training ground into results on the pitch.
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