Sunderland’s protests before Jack Colback red card, Jack Clarke silences boos plus Hemir celebrations at QPR

As the Sunderland fans celebrated another away win following a 3-1 victory at QPR, Black Cats striker Hemir walked over to the travelling supporters.

The Portuguese forward had only come off the bench in the 83rd minute at Loftus Road but was fully involved in the post-match scenes with the entire squad.

Hemir then picked up a hat which had been thrown to him by a supporter, before putting it on and walking over to hug some of the away contingent.

It wasn’t always plain sailing for Tony Mowbray’s side, though, with the visitors falling behind in the 12th minute to Kenneth Paal’s low effort.

Yet a red card for QPR midfielder Jack Colback nine minutes later was a significant moment, before Jack Clarke’s deflected effort, as well as goals from Dan Ballard and Abdoullah Ba, helped make it back-to-back wins for The Black Cats.

Here are some of the moments you may have missed:

A minute’s silence for Morocco and Libya

Before the match there was a minute’s silence as a mark of respect following the recent tragic events in Morocco and Libya.

QPR playmaker Ilias Chair, who has played 13 times for his country, walked out with the Morocco flag over his shoulders, before players from both sides gathered around the centre circle.

Tensions simmering before Colback’s red card

Before Colback’s sending off, tensions were starting to simmer as Sunderland players were left unhappy with a couple of physical challenges.

First Paul Smyth aggravated Niall Huggins by pushing the Sunderland player off the pitch, while Trai Hume was on the end of a similar challenge on the opposite flank.

Black Cats captain Luke O’Nien let his feelings known to referee Dean Whitestone as he gestured how many incidents had gone unpunished.

That was before Colback was shown a straight red card for a late and reckless tackle on Jobe Bellingham in the 21st minute

Jack Clarke silences critics

Despite their man advantage, Sunderland struggled to break QPR down for the remainder of the first half, with the hosts dropping back into a 5-3-1 formation.

Clarke was also receiving stick from the home supporters after colliding with QPR defender Osman Kakay and appealing for a penalty which wasn’t given.

Yet the Sunderland winger soon silenced the boos when he cut in from the right and drew the visitors level, with his shot taking a big deflection off Rs defender Steve Cook.

Tony Mowbray’s bold change

After being forced to withdraw Pierre Ekwah in the first half due to a dead leg, with Alex Pritchard taking the midfielder’s place, Mowbray made a second substitution at half-time.

Patrick Roberts was introduced in place of full-back Niall Huggins for an offensive change, which often left just O’Nien and Balland back against QPR striker Sinclair Armstrong.

Ultimately it paid off, as Roberts linked up with Pritchard before Sunderland’s second goal, with Sunderland making the extra man count.

Pierre Ekwah eases concerns

While Ekwah was forced off in the first half, the French midfielder did walk back onto the pitch after the match to applaud the away fans.

The midfielder was hobbling a little, yet Mowbray said after the match the injury isn’t a serious one.