Sunderland 2 QPR 2: Highlights after Seny Dieng’s equaliser plus Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms goals
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Alex Neil’s side took a two-goal lead in the first half courtesy of finishes from Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms.
The hosts looked like they would see the game out before Ilias Chair’s free-kick halved the deficit.
Dieng then headed home an equaliser after coming up for a corner in stoppage-time.
Here’s how the game played out.
RECAP: Sunderland 2 (Stewart, 31) (Simms, 40) QPR 2 (Chair, 87) (Dieng, 90+2)
Key Events
- Sunderland XI: Patterson, Ballard (O’Nien, 9), Batth, Cirkin, Gooch, Evans, Neil (Embleton, 88), Clarke, Pritchard (Wright, 88), Simms, (Roberts, 60) Stewart
- Subs: Bass, Wright, Alese, O’Nien, Embleton, Diamond, Roberts
- QPR XI: Dieng, Kakay, Dickie, Dunne, Hamalainen, Johansen (Dozzell, 75), Field, Adomah (Roberts, 45), Shodipo (Armstrong, 81), Chair, Dykes
- Subs: Walsh, Gubbins, Masterson, Dozzell, Roberts, Bonne, Armstrong
Alex Neil in his pre-match programme notes
“We made 11 changes on Wednesday evening in the Carabao Cup, as we put so much into the first two league games and I didn’t want to risk any of the lads that have been playing.
“Equally, I wanted to give the other lads an opportunity to come into the team and perform, but the difficulty for them is that we didn’t have much of a balance in the team.
“That’s ultimately my responsibility and naturally we were disappointed to lose, but those games are about you apply yourself and your attitude.
“Some of the boys involved on Wednesday could have a massive part to play this afternoon and everybody will be required to play their part this season.”
Predicted line-ups
Here are our predicted line-ups for today’s match
Predicted Sunderland XI: Patterson; Ballard, Batth, Cirkin; Gooch, Evans, Neil, Clarke; Pritchard; Simms, Stewart
Predicted QPR XI: Dieng; Kakay, Dickie, Dunne, Hamalainen; Johansen, Field, Dozzell; Chair, Dykes, Roberts
The inside track on QPR
QPR lost their opening match of the season 1-0 at Blackburn, before beating Middlesbrough 3-2 last weekend.
To find out more, we caught up with Clive Whittingham from QPR website LoftforWords on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast:
Here’s what he said when asked about Rangers’ key attacking players.
“Ilias Chair is very, very good. Him and Chris Willock are the best two players at the club.
“Chair is driven and knows where he wants to go in his career but I think he lets it get to him when things aren’t going so well.
“Lyndon Dykes, it’s a big season for him. This is his third season in the Championship and he’s shown flashes, he gets into runs of form where he just looks unstoppable.
“He goes on runs of sort of seven goals in 10 games but then goes 20 games without a goal.”
Beale on facing Sunderland
QPR appointed former Liverpool coach and Aston Villa assistant Michael Beale as their new head coach over the summer.
Here’s what he had to say ahead of his side’s trip to Wearside:
“In this league you have to fight tooth and nail for every point. What an atmosphere to go and play in this weekend.
“We will relish that and use it as motivation to go and get the result that we think we are capable of.
“I wish them well as a club because I think their fans have been through quite a lot over the years and it is good to see them on the up.”
Neil on QPR
Neil was asked about QPR’s 3-2 win over Middlesbrough during yesterday’s press conference.
Here was his response:
“I watched the game and I’m not sure the three goals are reflective of the match. Two of them are set-plays and one of them is an absolute screamer.
“There wasn’t as if there were glaring opportunities and they were clinical.
“The one thing they have is they are really dangerous, they have some good forward players and their structure isn’t probably something we have come across in this division for a long time.
“They go about it slightly differently which will be interesting.”
Neil made 11 changes to his side for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday and is expected to recall several players to his starting XI today.
Leon Dajaku remains a major doubt with a thigh problem, while defender Niall Huggins remains sidelined.
QPR have several injury issues to contend with after losing on penalties to Charlton in the Carabao Cup.
Former Sunderland defender Jake Clarke-Salter has been ruled out of the match, while midfielders George Thomas, Luke Amos and Chris Willock are also doubts, as well as full-back Kenneth Paal.
State of play in the transfer market
We’ll start with the latest on the transfer front.
Black Cats boss Alex Neil still wants to add four or five players to his Sunderland squad this month and is confident the club can get deals over the line.
Neil admitted yesterday that no moves were imminent but also said things can progress quickly.
Sunderland were close to agreeing a deal to re-sign Nathan Broadhead from Everton last week, yet negotiations broke down as the 24-year-old elected to join Championship rivals Wigan on loan.
It’s clear the Black Cats still want to bring in another striker, despite the loan arrival of Ellis Simms from Everton.
Sunderland are also in the market for another left-sided defender.
It’s Matchday!
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Sunderland’s Championship meeting with QPR.
Alex Neil’s side are back at the Stadium of Light today after last weekend’s 3-2 win at Bristol City.
We’ll have all the build-up as well as in-game analysis and post-match reaction.
Stick around and refresh the page for live updates.