Portsmouth 1-3 QPR

I didn’t go to this one because I’m in Norfolk on a family holiday – but I wish I had. Queens Park Rangers haven’t won on the opening day since 2020 – or at Fratton Park since 2000 – so this would have been a memorable trip. Especially after losing at home to Millwall on penalties in the Carabao Cup last Saturday. We went one-nil down after 15 minutes, but came back into it, with three goals in quick succession. By half time, we were top of the league.

On paper, this looked far from easy, with Portsmouth the favourites. In contrast to QPR’s collapse at the end of last season, Pompey only lost one of their last eight, finishing just three points behind us. Not exactly great omens for a trip to Fratton Park – always a difficult place to go.

Julien Stéphan made three changes to the team that lost to the Lions. With Nicolas Madsen unavailable – presumably injured in that game, though no one’s told us anything – Ronnie Edwards moved into midfield alongside Harvey Vale, with Jake Clarke-Salter drafted into the back four in his place. Paul Smyth and Richard Kone both dropped to the bench, with Kwame Poku and Koki Saito playing either side of Ilias Chair in the attacking trio, and Rumarn Burrell replacing Kone up front. That meant we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as follows: Pierce Charles in goal; Amadou Mbengue, Jimmy Dunne, Clarke-Salter and Boy Kempner in defence; Edwards and Vale in central midfield; Poku, Chair and Saito as the attacking midfielders; and Burrell leading the line.

Charles did well to punch away a dangerous cross inside the first five minutes, although he picked up a knock in doing so – nothing serious, thankfully, and he saw the game out. We tried out a new corner routine early on, with Saito taking and Chair peeling off near the edge of the box; Saito found him with a cross, but Chair took a touch instead of volleying it into the net, and by the time he took his shot there were three Pompey shirts in the way.

We stood off them in the first 15th minutes, conceding possession and giving their attacking players far too much space. Not surprisingly, the hosts took the lead in the 15th minute through Terry Devlin, one of their defenders, who was given all the time in the world to set himself on the edge of the box – Chair could have closed him down but, for whatever reason, decided not to. Devlin picked his spot and placed it beautifully in the top right-hand corner; nothing Charles could have done about it.

Kempner picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Kealey Adamson at left back in the 20th minute, and Pompey had another good chance not long after. We were missing Madsen’s creativity badly in this opening period, and Poku looked unsure what to do with the ball whenever Charles found him down the right. Edwards, clearly uncomfortable playing out of position, was booked in the 25th minute after needlessly giving the ball away and then taking out his frustration on the nearest Portsmouth player. Worth remembering we won only six league games away from home in the whole of last season, scoring 21 in total across those 23 trips – this was shaping up to be more of the same.

But then something clicked and for the remainder of the first half we looked like play-off contenders. The equaliser came in the 33rd minute as a result of our first sustained spell of pressure. Had Stéphan realised he’d got the tactics wrong and told the team to go up a gear in the hydration break? Whatever, it was as though someone had flipped a switch. Charles started the move with a good ball out to Poku on the right and this time the Ghanaian took advantage of the opportunity, progressing the ball upfield. After we moved it around smartly, Vale put a looping ball over the top that dropped at Chair’s feet just in front of goal, and the Morrocon got the faintest of touches to steer it home. One-one, and suddenly Pompey looked distinctly ordinary.

Six minutes later we were ahead. Burrell – not a natural target man, but he did well on this occasion – received the ball on the halfway line and flicked it to Chair, who slid it through to Saito running in behind. The Japanese winger beat three Pompey defenders in front of goal, and then stuck the ball in the back of the net, helped by a deflection. Two-one, and the travelling support was suddenly in dreamland.

There were seven minutes added at the end of the first half, and we used them to good effect. Mbengue’s cross from the right-hand corner found Chair unmarked in front of goal; his effort looked like a mis-hit as much as a deliberate chip, but it did the job, dropping in off the crossbar. Three-one at the break and after playing for just 45 minutes Chair had doubled his goal tally for the whole of the previous season. Half-time and we were top of the league!

Portsmouth made a change at the break, sending on Chelsea loanee Ryan Kavuna-McQueen – a Shepherd’s Bush boy who went to the same primary school as all four of my children. Charlie played alongside him in the Mayor’s Cup, and Sasha was his buddy reader. Even as a nipper was so obviously a stand-out talent that his coaches used to tell him to only shoot with his weaker foot, just to give the opposition a chance. It’s not an exaggeration to say the 17 year-old looked Pompey’s most dangerous player after he came on – definitely one to watch. We were all excited to see Ryan come on, even if it was for the wrong team.

The hosts had a free header in the 50th minute, but Connor Shaughnessy put it well wide. Charles then produced two decent saves in the 54th minute (one from Kavuna-McQueen), having thrown the ball straight to a Portsmouth player loitering on the edge of the box – a reminder that his distribution isn’t perfect, even if it did play a part in two of our three goals.

Stéphan made a double change in the 58th minute, bringing on Smyth for Saito, who’d picked up a knock, and replacing Poku with Glen Kamara, making his QPR debut. Two more changes followed in the 74th minute, with Alfie Lloyd replacing Burrell and Jonathan Varane coming on for Mbengue.

The best chance of a fourth goal for the visitors came in the 83rd minute when Vale whipped a lovely ball across the face of goal, but Lloyd couldn’t quite stretch to make contact. Six minutes were added at the end, during which Charles produced another good save in the 91st minute.

A 3-1 win at Fratton Park, then, on an afternoon when we were second best for the first quarter of the game, going a goal down, but thoroughly dominant for the rest – not a bad way to end our opening-day hoodoo. With two goals and an assist, Chair was man of the match, but Clarke-Salter did a decent job at centre back, Adamson was solid at left back, Dunne delivered a captain’s performance, Saito scored for the first time since his opening game of last season, Poku was responsible for some good link-up play, Vale grew into the match, Kamara made a solid debut and Charles proved his bona fides as a shot stopper. A sign of things to come from this squad? Let’s hope so. At the end of the game, and with more than half the teams in the Championship in action, we were still top of the league.

The only negatives were the withdrawal of Kempner and Saito, both having picked up knocks – something to keep an eye on, along with Madsen’s injury. We really don’t want the QPR treatment room filling up this early in the season.

You can watch the highlights on Sky Sports here.