Marti Cifuentes wants QPR to maintain momentum to Huddersfield game

Posted Sunday, January 21, 2024 by PA

QPR boss Marti Cifuentes is preparing for a vital match against fellow strugglers Huddersfield after his side ended their winless run by beating Millwall.

A 2-0 success at Loftus Road was Rangers’ first victory in eight Sky Bet Championship matches and lifted them up a place, to third from bottom.

And it means they will climb out of the relegation zone if they beat Huddersfield – the team immediately above them – next weekend.

Cifuentes said: “We need to keep on working. Today we are very happy, but we know that we have a very important game next week here again.

“We need to be very focused on the task. The next target is to win against Huddersfield.

“Enjoy the victory today – it was very important for us – and from tomorrow start to prepare for a massive game against Huddersfield at home. Feet on the ground and keep on working.

“I’m aware that no matter what the result next week it is going to be a huge task. It’s an important game but, step by step, we need to get a lot of victories, not just next week.”

Rangers struggled to create clear-cut chances before Chair broke the deadlock in the 27th minute.

They defended well and their win was sealed by Sinclair Armstrong netting a late second.

Cifuentes added: “In all the games that we’ve played, we never gave up and I never felt – even in the worst games we played – that the team was accepting the defeat.

“We have been close in all the games since I took over. We’ve always been in games but haven’t had the clinical touch.

“Today we did, and that made things easier. You could feel the tension, London derby, but definitely the first goal gave us the calm that we needed and from there we played at a very good level.

“Today’s victory was a consequence of a lot of small things we have been doing well over the last few games but unfortunately not getting the points.”

Millwall boss Joe Edwards admitted that his team’s disappointing performance felt like a step backwards.

The Lions won three matches in a row soon after Edwards’ recent appointment but have now suffered back-to-back league defeats.

“In pretty much every department we were not good enough and that’s incredibly frustrating,” Edwards said.

“It can be really frustrating when it feels like there’s a lot of good work going on, good performances, progress and signs we’re building, and then today out of nowhere you have a performance like that.

“QPR are in a difficult position and they came out fighting, particularly in the second half, and we couldn’t match it.

“The flow of our attacks in recent weeks – we’ve been ripping through teams and today we didn’t do that.

“Today we became predictable very early on and I’m not sure why. QPR grew into the game, whereas we just got stuck in our half and played predictable football, which was absolutely not our plan.

“QPR didn’t start well and we settled quickly, but it was like that lulled us into a false sense of security. We were then unable to break into any kind of intensity.”