Lucky thirteen - report Wednesday, 11th Feb 2015 15:20 by Clive Whittingham QPR halted a run of 12 consecutive away defeats, 11 of them in the league, with a victory at Sunderland on Tuesday night by two goals to nil. A shot in the arm for Queens Park Rangers, a poke in the eye for Harry Redknapp. Rangers secured a first away win of the season at the thirteenth attempt in the first road trip without Redknapp at the helm, comfortably beating Sunderland 2-0 at the Stadium of Light and moving out of the bottom three in the process. The victory, achieved with a style and tenacity rarely seen from this group of players previously, was led from the front and the right by Leroy Fer and Matt Phillips, two players Redknapp bought and then failed to utilise correctly. The result and performance were a particular triumph for caretaker manager Chris Ramsey, whose demand that his team play on the front foot, with flair, and attack opponents, is in stark contrast to his predecessor’s downtrodden demeanour, talk of how hard everything was, and open admission that he saw most Premier League away games as a “bonus” to a club of QPR’s stature. One suggested reason for the record breaking run of defeats away from Loftus Road has been the lack of pace in the QPR team, preventing them springing the quick counter attacks away sides utilise so often in the modern day Premier League. Members of the Cleethorpes and District Knitting Circle have collectively moved faster than the starting 11 Ramsey selected on Tuesday night, and yet by playing high up the field, in possession of the ball, it scarcely mattered. Matt Phillips, the one in the side with genuine speed, ran amok. Read the rest of it here... http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/37852/lucky-thirteen--report
