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Newcastle United 1-0 Queens Park Rangers
Match Reports, 15:45, January 15, 2012
Leon Best scored the only goal of the game as Newcastle laboured heavily to a 1-0 win over Mark Hughes' Queens Park Rangers side.
With Neil Warnock shown the door earlier this week it was hoped that the arrival of Mark Hughes would bring about an immediate change in fortune for QPR but, despite their best efforts, it wasn't to be for them in the end today.
From the very first whistle it was the visitors who looked bright and the arrival of Hughes appeared to have brought the best out of players like Jay Bothroyd who have struggled so far this season. Tim Krul was immediately forced into action to deny Akos Buzsaky before the big Dutch stopper denied Bothroyd on five minutes.
QPR continued to apply pressure and Shaun Wright-Phillips' half volley clipped the cross bar before Bothroyd curled a shot from the edge of the box onto the post.
Newcastle were struggling to get going and Paddy Kenny was untested until the visitors were caught with the ultimate sucker punch as Best's superb first touch brought him inside Anton Ferdinand before placing his shot into the corner to give Newcastle the lead eight minutes before the break.
There were more chances for QPR after the break and Bothroyd will feel he wasted the best of the lost when he fired over from six yards after Heidar Helguson's fine knockdown found him in space.
Hughes threw on on-loan Man Utd striker Kiko Macheda with 15 minutes to go but the hosts held out for a vital three points that lifts them into sixth in the Premier League table, despite the absence of top scorer Demba Ba. However, QPR remain in the bottom three after this latest defeat that leaves them on a run of nine league games without a win.
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