Jordan Hugill and Ebere Eze got the goals that lifted Rangers over Stoke on Saturday, leaving MARK Warburton unsurprisingly thrilled.
QPR kicked off their new Sky Bet Championship season with a win with Jordan Hugill’s eight minute opener and Nigeria’s Ebere Eze’s second half finish helping the R’s to a 2-1 victory over promotion hopefuls Stoke City. Stoke’s Sam Clucas’ 78th-minute reply only proved to be a consolation strike and no more.
Speaking shortly after the full-time whistle in Staffordshire, Warburton told www.qpr.co.uk: “I’m delighted – delighted for the players and all of the supporters.”
“The players have worked so hard in pre-season. We’ve brought in 14 new players and they’ve adapted so well, worked so hard and taken on board some good ideas.
“All credit to the players today, Stoke is a tough place to come to and to get three points – that’s a tremendous start of us.”
He added: “We knew that Stoke were going to press us, so we had to play a little less football than we’d like to.
“We’ve got players who can take care of the football, but today we had to deal with a very tough opponent – they’ve got Premier League players in their squad who are very talented.
“So we had to be mindful of that, respect it and do what we had to do. I was delighted with the victory and thought we did really well.”
Clucas’ late goal for Stoke ensured a nerve-jangling ending.
“We were 2-0 up and looked comfortable,” Warburton continued. “We were in control and should have added a third goal.
“Then we gave away a goal. Stoke have a real physical threat and had some quality subs to bring on.
“The dynamic of the last 10 or so minutes changed and we had to deal with that – but we stood up and defended our goal with real passion. All credit to the players, now we can enjoy the journey home.”
